Community Effort Keeps School Garden Growing

Rafael Gama points to a soil bed where a few plants are sprouting.

“We put in trenches in the soil,” the fifth grader at La Fetra Elementary says. “It’s been taking a long time, but it’s been fun.”

But soon, Gama and other students at the elementary school will harvest new vegetables from their garden including red cabbage, green cabbage, broccoli and many more fresh vegetables and plants.

For five years, the garden at La Fetra Elementary School has been lovingly looked after by teachers, students and parents. Growing from one soil bed, to several patches cared for by each classroom, the garden is the centerpiece of the school’s campus.

“Students get involved in the building, the planting, weeding, watering, fertilizing, and making seed soil for the greenhouse,” said Jeanie Greeran, the school’s computer tech and garden coordinator. “Not only do they learn about what it takes to keep a garden alive, it teaches them responsibility and the community effort involved.”

Each year, the school anticipates the garden’s harvest. Last year, teachers prepared stuffed bell peppers for the students, all made from peppers grown in the garden. “The girl scouts brought over some of the vegetables and it was absolutely delicious,” raved new principal Carlos Moran.

Often times, the garden has become an essential part of the students’ learning.

In Katy Mendoes’ fifth grade class, the children are learning about the significance of cotton in colonial America. Mendoes’ students are growing cotton in their own portion of their garden.

“They didn’t know how cotton grew on plants, and now they have a chance to see it when the pod forms and when it opens,” said Mendoes. “It’s really amazing.”

Donations and volunteer work have kept the garden alive and growing over the years.

A butterfly garden, a water fountain and a greenhouse were added over the years. Parents also donated their time to paint whimsical murals on the walls.

But it hasn’t been just the La Fetra community that has taken part in the garden. The volunteer work extended to Azusa Pacific University, where about 20 students arrived on Sept. 17 as part of its community services project City Links to restore the garden to its current glory.

Upon returning to the campus after the summer break, the garden had become overgrown and unused materials and junk had gathered.

The college students spent the entire day cleaning up soil beds and removing weeds.

“APU was just remarkable,” said Greeran, pointing to an area that was once piled high with junk that had accumulated through the years. “In one day, it was all gone.”

“It was nice before they came, now it’s just gorgeous,” added Moran.