SAULT STE. MARIE — As spring approaches, the Sault Tribe is helping locals take advantage of the warmer season with gardening kits.
For the past two years, the tribe has been gifting garden seed kits to local residents interested in growing their own food. Participants do not have to be a tribal member to participate, they only have to pick up the kits themselves.
“This helps us grow food sovereignty,” said Madeline Gallegos of tribal community health. “We don’t have to be as reliant on grocery stores and inflation prices.”
Participants have the option to choose one of several different kinds of kits.
One of the options includes a salsa kit with different kinds of peppers, jalapeños, tomatoes and cilantro seeds. With this kit, anyone can grow and then make their own personal salsa.
Other kits include a pickling kit with cucumbers and dill, a kid’s choice kit with watermelon and pumpkin seeds, and a four sisters kit, which includes the culturally significant plants.
“Because of the weather up here, gardening can be hard, so we choose good seeds for the area,” said Gallegos. “Some of the seeds will still need to start growing indoors just to be safe from the cold.”
The program, now in its third year, has grown more popular each spring. Last year, just over 200 seed kits were given away. This year, the tribe ordered 300 kits to meet the growing need, and still received more requests than they had planned for.
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Online ordering became available in the last week of February and was expected to be open until April. However, the large number of requests forced them to close early. More than 600 requests were made in less than a week.
“We tried to order extra but we were blown away at the number of requests,” said Gallegos. “Unfortunately, we had to close requests for this year, but next year we’re planning to expand the program.”
While the tribe will fill every request that they can, some who requested kits will not be able to get one this year. Fortunately, this is not the only seed kit program in the area.
The Bay Mills Health Center is also hosting a similar program, which is also in its third year. Bay Mills sends kits only to those who reside in Chippewa County, unlike the Sault Tribe which services the whole EUP region.
While the two groups have very similar programs, they have different timelines. Bay Mills includes some live plants with each kit. This is designed to help people who are just starting to grow their own food and may need help.
As a way of supporting these gardeners, some of the more difficult plants come already planted and ready to continue growing. Because of this, Bay Mills sends out their gardening kits in early June.
Bay Mills will begin taking requests for kits in May.
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com