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"I have been working with school arden programs for a number of years, and part of that started through my public service work," said Murray, board chair for the county's Mission Resource Conservation District and former board chair of the Greater San Diego Conservation District. Both districts support school garden programs to educate kids about food and conservation issues," he said.
Murray came to the academy to install the new program at the request of an "old friend," Ben Blake, San Pasqual's lead psychologist who described the acreage as "pretty extraordinary."
Nearly a decade ago, Murray developed the organic campus project at Fallbrook High School 's continuation Ivy Campus. "I've been interested in this concept of introducing kids to healthier eating and being involved in growing food. Through my work with Slow Foods, we have an education program and we've been talking to high schools about helping them start more gardens," Murray said. The San Diego chapter of Slow Food USA was founded by its current president, Gordon Smith, a chef and soon-to-be author with ties to Del Mar and Encinitas.
The local chapter follows the mission and guidelines drafted in 2000 by the national organization. Those being that "the movement works to promote the food traditions that are part of the cultural identity of this country, an identity that is in danger of disappearing forever from the tables of what author Eric Schlosser calls our "Fast Food Nation.'"
"One of the things the county promised the community is that they would return agriculture to the site," said Murray of the academy's farmland acreage.
He said one of the challenges San Pasqual identified was that there is not enough work for the students. Because of the campus' remote location, some of them work at the Wild Animal Park or North County Fair. This, Murray said, is where the on-site farming program comes in.
"One of the foundations of the program we're doing is to create, No. 1, a vocational program so the students can gain work experience on site and earn pocket money and, No. 2, a health-oriented program, because as we bring organic food into their diets, produced on site, the quality of their diet will go up, and they'll get more exercise," he said. "Our objective was to set up a one-acre student community garden on the edge of a 20-acre agricultural field because we feel it's very important for the students to have a place where they can do what they want along with the other members of the community," he said.
"We've made progress with the students. The kids are getting very turned on to the program, especially because it gives them an opportunity to do something physical and outdoors, out of the classroom." During the next three weeks, before school resumes on Aug. 29, the day after the benefit event, Murray said they will finish the tractor work on the field, put the compost on the site and build the garden beds.
"The students will be able to work with me, getting paid in an internship program, to set the fence up and get the garden ready," he said.
When school begins, Murray said there will be two days of orientation, then regular classes will start and he will be teaching an elective program with two classes in the afternoon.
"Then we'll have three-hour internship programs in the afternoon where the students will work on the student community garden and on the student farm - and get paid," he said.
As of 2005, Slow Food USA oversees the activities of more than 12,500 members and 150 chapters. The Slow Food movement was founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in response to the opening of a McDonalds in Rome 's historic Piazza Spagna. Slow Food has grown into a worldwide movement that defends what it refers to as "eco-gastronomy" and is dedicated to the preservation and advocacy of traditional, sustainable farming and preparation of food. Slow Food now exists in more than 45 countries with 70,000-plus members.
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