Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Organic school garden dream grows

“Kids love and thrive in a natural setting,” says Carmen Donez, teacher extraordinaire. Donez guides and instructs several grade levels at Fallbrook Street Elementary in the arts and sciences of life. Included in her repertoire, and fundamental to her teachings, lies the sustainable, organic garden she has created outside her classroom.

Teaching children the essence of coexisting with nature, Donez inspires “sharing, nurturing and caring citizens” from her own memories of working the earth as a child. Catalyzed by her parents and naturalist Cesar Chavez, she can’t imagine life without a garden.

Her young and excited students literally devour the gardens they help to grow, eating such delights as tomatoes right off the plant. The kids have been able to eat the food they grow directly since the first garden beds took root in 2001.

Donez worked hard for an entire year to get the gardens installed and deserves much credit for her passion and perseverance to manifest nature in the cemented school grounds. She gratefully received volunteer help from many people and organizations, including some wonderful Marines, parents and community and state groups.

When the gardens were leveled to make way for new and improved infrastructure and technology at the school, she persisted and inspired a new garden for her flock. The point is to “make the world a better and more beautiful place,” says Donez.

From indoor gardening using cups and trays to planting redwoods and vegetables outside, the garden has evolved to stimulate fundamental connections to the earth in the young. Donez teaches awareness, appreciation, balance, contentment and understanding through these gardens that she and several teachers manage.

Through understanding the individual needs of a plant, a child can come to understand her or his own needs and in turn evolve into a strong and compassionate individual.

The “Life Lab” Donez has inspired once included a functioning greenhouse and a pen-pal exchange with a classroom of kids in Ohio. While communicating with the Midwest, the children were able to listen to chirping birds, once thought to be the messengers of the gods, who come from miles around to sing and flitter about in the gardens. Worms are also bountiful and their value to the soil and plants is not left out of the lesson plans.

Through the help of many local and out-of-town businesses, groups, individuals and teachers, Donez has brought great teachings to the youth of Fallbrook. We look forward to seeing the kids and the gardens at Fallbrook Street Elementary continue to grow and prosper with continued community support during these difficult economic times.

 

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