Sibley — Cooking and conservation don’t normally go together, but for the Friends of St. Catherine Creek Refuge the combination is a winner.

The group recently completed their second cookbook, “Cooking with Friends 2,” that will be sold to raise money to build and environmental education center at the refuge.

Charman Cupit, manager at the refuge said the first cookbook was such a success that it was a no-brainer to compile recipes for a second.

“The first one went over so well, and we still had people asking about it and people requesting that we do a second one,” Cupit said.

So Cupit and the Friends of St. Catherine Creek got busy compiling recipes and formatting the cookbook that just recently returned from the printer.

“We probably spent four months gathering recipes and me typing them in personally,” she said.

And after having personal contact with basically every recipe in the book, Cupit said she couldn’t pick a favorite, because they all seemed tasty.

The hardback book contains over 300 new recipes that Cupit said are all easy for home cooks.

“Most of (the recipes) are from Friends group members with a few from their family members,” she said. “There is a good variety. They all seem great. I didn’t notice very many that you wouldn’t already have most of the stuff to make it.”

The recipes are divided into several different categories to make navigating the cookbook even easier.

There are main dishes, appetizers, vegetables and sides, desserts and a miscellaneous category that Cupit said contains recipes for dishes like salad dressings.

The cookbooks are now available from any Friends of St. Catherine Creek Refuge group member or at the refuge. They are $12 each.

Cupit said there are also a few of the first editions remaining that Cupit said are for sale as a package with the new book for $20.

The books are fresh off the press, but Cupit is hoping they catch on as well as the original cookbook since the money will help to further the refuge’s mission of providing conservation education to students.

The cookbook is not the only fundraising effort going on right now. The Friends group will also be selling raffle tickets for a Bad Boy Buggy.

Tickets are $10 each and will go on sale on March 3, Cupit said.

“It will help with teaching about the environment,” she said. “We want to use St. Catherine Creek Wildlife Refuge as a tool to teach conservation.”

Cupit said the refuge is particularly focused on educating children about conservation and the environment and knows the construction of an educational center will help with that.

“What we want is to be able to teach them in a classroom setting and then take them out into the field,” she said. “That way they get not only classroom education but hands-on learning.

“We have talked to some educators because we want the center to meet state standards.”

Cupit said although the center should attract school groups, it would be used for all children who were visiting the site.

“It gets them out to enjoy the outdoors,” she said. “You’d be surprised how many kids have never been out here.”