The Farm

Farm project yields lessons for county's foster teens

By: LORELL FLEMING - Staff Writer 4/23/06
ESCONDIDO ---- For a group of foster teens at San Pasqual Academy, a student farm project is providing lessons about agriculture, nutrition and life.

The project calls for the students to work with their agriculture teacher, Scott Murray, on a 20-acre tract at the school's 238-acre campus on the floor of the San Pasqual Valley. The goal is to produce vegetables and herbs for the campus's food service operations, and to sell some of the crops to San Diego chefs and to San Diego school districts.
The simple pleasure of planting seeds, applying nurture and reaping the harvest of hard work is not the norm for most of the students at the San Pasqual Academy, a public residential education campus for foster youth.
But Murray said he wants to teach his students lessons that will affect their character, work ethic and self-esteem ---- all while teaching them skills that could help them round up employment when they leave the academy at the age of 18.

"We're trying to provide these youths with the idea that benefits come from putting in some hard work," Murray said. "The world is what you make of it. You can have tough times and have the scars that show it. But you can still make something of life."

The farm project also calls for the students to make sellable gift packs ---- of avocados for example. An internship program, in which students are paid to learn skills while working on the farm after school, is also part of the project.

Donations, and money from fundraising events, helped finance the work.

In addition to the farm project, a one-acre, fenced-in, student and community garden is being developed as an outdoor classroom and community garden. It will be a source of organic food for the campus kitchens, according to academy literature about the garden program.

Murray said he hopes seeing agriculture up close will positively affect the students' nutritional habits as they learn about the fruits and vegetables they cultivate and harvest.

When Murray and the students are in the farm field or the avocado grove they are rehabilitating, even a weed presents an opportunity for the students to learn something.

On the way out to the grove last week with a few of his students, Murray stopped and plucked up a weed that jutted out from a patch of grass. He told the about the weed, which is called "Stinging Nettles," and the students appeared to soak up the facts about the weed that Murray poured on them.

Reaping the benefits
Clifton Hidds-Narcise, 15, said he is getting a lot out of the farm project ---- ranging from an education about nature and garden nurturing, to life lessons such as self-discipline and teamwork.

"It teaches discipline," Hidds-Narcise said of the farm project and being in Murray's class. "We have fun. But we also have to get work done. There is that line of consequence because your grade is what you do.

"When I'm done with this project, I'll have self-discipline," he added.

Foster children in group homes elsewhere in the county may also benefit from the farm project, Murray said, because one of the goals is to eventually sell produce and fruit on behalf of those homes.

Murray said another part of the program would be to bring youths from the homes to San Pasqual for "Farm Days," which would be held four times a year to teach young visitors about gardening, harvesting and cooking.

There are more than 7,000 foster children and 1,500 foster families in San Diego County, according to the academy's latest information sheet.

Foster teens cite the lack of a safe and stable home as the primary challenge they face, academy officials said. A typical foster teen in San Diego County will move between homes an average of 10 times and will attend five or six different high schools, according to the county.

Officials estimate that 42 percent of the county's foster teens leave the foster care system without their high school diplomas or GED diplomas, putting them at a greater risk of becoming homeless or dependent on the welfare or criminal justice systems.

Dachuray Davis, 14, said learning and working on the farm project helps her self-esteem.

"It's an accomplishment to see how things change for the good and know you had a part in making that good change," Davis said. "And, it's helping the environment and making things nice. Before, the field was covered with weeds and dead plants."

About the academy
The site where the San Pasqual Academy sits was once owned by a group of Seventh-day Adventists, who later sold the property to the county of San Diego. County officials promised the San Pasqual Valley community that the land would be maintained for agricultural production.

The academy opened in 2000. While the county owns the campus property, the academy is operated by the nonprofit group New Alternatives. The San Diego County Office of Education directly runs the academy, according to Murray.

The campus' residential population is 128. The goal is to eventually reach 250, Murray said.

San Pasqual Academy serves mainly high-school aged foster children. But there are a few middle-school aged foster children who live at the academy, and attend school where other San Pasqual-area students do. These middle-school children are siblings of some of the older foster children, Murray explained.

"It's the only foster group home in the nation that has a large amount of kids, has its own high school and has a farm," Murray said about the academy. "I'm pretty lucky. There's not many people who can say their work is their passion. I love working in the world of agriculture and I enjoy working with these kids. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them, and to hopefully inspire them."

Contact staff writer Lorell Fleming at (760) 731-5798 or lfleming@nctimes.com.