Fallbrook garden blooms anew with students' imagination

Education to Career Network of North San Diego County

Special to The Village News

If residents took a stroll through the Fallbrook Community Garden on a sunny afternoon earlier this fall, they would have enjoyed a scene of plentiful homegrown fruits and vegetables that provided healthy organic meal options for local residents and their families.

From tomatoes to squash and corn to chili peppers, a wide variety of carefully maintained crops were cultivated and recently harvested throughout 30 plots, which are currently being prepared for the planting of winter vegetables.

As prosperous as the garden is today, that had not always been the case. It wasn't until last summer that students in Palomar College instructor Sheri Cully's English as a Second Language class finished a unit on healthy eating at the Fallbrook Education Center and decided to get involved with the garden on their own that it started to bloom once again.

Fallbrook originally developed the community garden to encourage residents to grow their own fruits and vegetables, but high plot rental fees and water costs discouraged community members from participating, leaving the garden almost entirely empty and unused.

When a student in Cully's class presented the idea of advocating for lower plot rental and water fees for the entire community, the instructor didn't hesitate to show her support.

"My students knew about the dormant garden after wrapping up our unit on healthy eating, and saw the garden's potential to be beneficial for our entire community," Cully said, who has been teaching English as a Second Language courses for Palomar College in Fallbrook for the past 36 years.

"They decided they wanted to take a chance on it, and I assured them I would be there to help every step of the way," she said.

Cully also said she knew it could be a great externship opportunity as well, encouraging her students to further cultivate their English learning while learning to cultivate the garden.

Cully invited local experts to speak to her students about organic gardening and sustainable gardening practices. She also created a Facebook page and group so that students could document the entire project. What began as a student's inquisition soon turned into a lesson in civics.

The students and Cully congregated outside of regular class time to meet with Courtney Provo, district manager of the Mission Resource Conservation District, the agency having supervision over the Fallbrook Community Garden.

Provo directed the students to prepare a formal wish list for the garden and to present it at the next board of directors meeting of the Fallbrook Utility District. The list included no yearly fee to use the garden, free use of plots and free water use for anyone in the community to use for their garden plots.

After making their pitch for how they would use the space to continue their learning and provide for their families, the students were overjoyed when the board voted unanimously to grant every one of their requests at the May 20 meeting.

"We were so surprised when we learned that the whole garden would be free for everyone in Fallbrook to use," Marisela López, a student who spoke on behalf of her classmates at the board meeting, said.

"This has been a fun adventure for not only our class but our families as well. We are teaching our children the importance of healthy eating and being involved with their community," Azucena Hernández, another student involved in the initiative, said.

Today, students and their families join other community members on a regular basis to plant, water, harvest and divide their produce amongst themselves. Thanks to this group of inspired students and their supportive instructor, the garden continues to bloom for all of Fallbrook to enjoy.

To learn more about Palomar College's Fallbrook Education Center, visit www2.palomar.edu/pages/fallbrook.