Make every day 'Earth Day'

Organic gardens and nutrition in every Fallbrook school – that should be our goal!

We support organic farming and gardening, and we hope one day to see each Fallbrook school have an organic garden program, all of Fallbrook farmed organically and homes full of organic gardens. We could call Fallbrook an Eco-Village. Imagine this community full of healthy, vibrant and robust people and plants at every turn. It’d be a Garden of Eden right here in Fallbrook!

Sound too far out? It’s already begun. In fact, it began 13 years ago, in 1994, when Rocky Peak (the Peak) began to sponsor a volunteer project at Ivy High School. An organic garden was started as an after-school class with six raised beds and several fruit trees to boot. Today, there are 98 citrus trees (mostly tangerines), a greenhouse and 30 beds full of wonderful vegetables. All of it is organic and has always been so. No “’cides” of any kind on the entire school campus for over a dozen years. How great is that? We are proud of the program Ivy High has built, as the gardens are now the science class for the students.

In addition to having a strong base at Ivy School, the Fallbrook Schools Organic Garden Project has spread its wings into Live Oak Elementary, Potter Junior High, Fallbrook Street and now the district office over yonder on Iowa Street. We still have a couple of schools to expand into as resources become available. It’s great for the youth of Fallbrook, who gain the privilege of participating in the art and science of building garden beds, planting seeds and plants, caring for the plants, harvesting produce and, most importantly, cooking and eating the harvest! What is more noble than caring for Mother Earth in the right way? Pick a tangerine off the tree and eat it. Skip the vending machine altogether.

Shouldn’t we be showing all of our youth how to grow food and plants organically? Someday our youth will be caring for us. Let’s show them how to do it right by starting with the most important element of health: organic food!

This organic garden mission is affiliated with the Bob Burnquist Global Cooling Challenge (which is helping to fund us), the Fallbrook Land Conservancy and the Mission Resource Conservation District to grow and plant native plants in their restoration projects. This has created the ability for students to participate in community service as well as enhance their education.