Transcriber: Tonya Sills Reviewer: Ilze Garda
The big question is how do we teach our community
how to be better stewards of our land, water and soil?
I believe that the answer is food.
We all eat.
Raise your hand if you compost at home.
Well, then you all know that composting makes me so happy.
These mountains of compost behind the library at my school
have given me hope that old dogs can learn new tricks.
We sent 1700 pounds of food waste to the landfill every week.
Now we compost 100% of our food waste, decreasing our carbon footprint,
increasing the water holding capacity, and the soil fertility.
And saving money, lots of money.
We save over $20,000 a year.
Each student, each faculty participates in this food wastes system.
It is my hope - and they do it every day -
and it is my hope they take this home with them
and teach their families and friends that composting is normal,
it's not just for farmers.
Composting is just the beginning.
Learning where our food comes from, to me that's the key.
A new opportunity in 2014 arose.
Karen Bentrup, our volunteer garden manager, and I
stood behind the science building and viewed the wasted landscape.
This land had been abused and neglected for years
with chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and soil compaction.
The irrigation had broken the year before,
and the once lush, chemically-fertilized lawn
had turned into a dust bowl,
with the soil flowing down the hill with each infrequent but intense rainfall,
and, of course you know, the New Mexico wind.
Well, now the irrigation was fixed, they were about to reseed
with a more high-water-use Kentucky bluegrass.
And Karen and I said, "Whew, we got a better idea."
We wanted to grow food organically and sustainably,
but we wanted more than a school garden.
So we turned to Gary Nabhan for inspiration.
In Gary's new book "Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land",
he teaches us that food can be grown sustainably
even in the face of climate change.
So with Gary's words of wisdom,
Karen's incredible farming knowledge, and my tenacity,
the Desert Oasis Teaching Garden was born.
Our vision of a small school garden had grown into a teaching institute
where we could plant seeds of hope for tomorrow,
implement desert-adapted agricultural practices,
unify the power of technology
with the diverse New Mexico cultural heritage,
but most importantly, to demonstrate respect and reverence for our planet.
But to do this, we needed a team, so we cultivated those people back there:
the students, the alumni,
the parents, the faculty, and the local experts
to help us build this garden.
With water rebate money, we were able to hire a designer
to create a design for us that would embody our values.
This design included things like a food forest, terrace drylands,
a fruit and nut tree orchard, demonstration gardens,
vegetable gardens, and even an outdoor classroom.
But before we began, we needed to build the soil.
So we spread 67 cubic yards of homegrown compost
over the first quarter acre of our land.
I'm telling you, that took us two weeks.
And then, the next thing we did is we planted a cover crop
to break up the hardpan and increase the fertility of our soil.
By the end of the summer, we had a pollinator heaven.
But soil health was not our only problem.
We had a gofer infestation that was enormous.
There were so many holes that I began to worry
those children would fall through never to be found again.
So we had to teach them.
This is the New Mexico Extension Officer, Sam.
We had to teach the students how to trap and, yes, recycle the gofers.
We also had a lot of dying trees
because of that broken irrigation line I was telling you about.
Well, the trees, the beautiful pine trees that had been there for years
were beginning to die.
And so we had to dig out the soil and build these soil sponges,
and soil sponges help to kind of capture that water in the soil
and slowly deliver it to the roots of the tree.
Next one.
We then raised ten beds - more to come - to put our vegetables in.
We are growing organically,
and these vegetables will soon be irrigated
with water harvested from the roof.
The students using their math and computer skills helped me to estimate
the appropriate size and number of these cisterns
that will soon store the water.
Every spring we have a lovely greenhouse where the students will seed and grow
the plants that we will sell to our community to raise funds.
Last Saturday, we raised $1,000; we have another sale coming up soon.
In the fall, the students harvest the produce, the organic produce,
and then they send it up the hill to the dining hall for everyone to eat.
Of course, children of all ages enjoy our pet worms
whose castings we create a compost tea with
to fertilize our vegetables.
We also hold incredible workshops.
Tiana Baca, who is in the audience today, and Barbara Garrity
helped us create these beautiful baskets out of irrigation drip tape.
We also hold workshops
to teach our community how to build those soil sponges
and how to take better care of their trees in a desert system.
Tiana here and Karen over here, and Julie
are holding "Ask an Organic Grower" presentation.
We also have national experts as well,
like Sandra Pastel from the Global Water Policy Institute,
come and enrich our community knowledge.
At the Desert Oasis Teaching Garden, we believe that everyone must eat.
Well, they all eat, but since everyone eats,
they can all participate in reducing the human impact on the planet.
With every bite we take, every hole we dig,
every seed we plant, every tomato we harvest,
every worm we grow, and every drop of water we collect,
we can begin to understand and cherish
the intricate and complex relationships that make up our life on this planet.
Our goal is to reach beyond the school boundaries,
out across the globe to other desert communities.
We encourage both young and old to learn through experiential education.
We welcome all to come and learn at the Desert Oasis Teaching Garden.
Thank you.
(Applause)