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Garden growing at Portales elementary

PORTALES — The seeds of both vegetables and knowledge were planted Tuesday afternoon at James Elementary School, as eight second grade classes worked on their new community vegetable gardens.

The gardens, which will yield onions, tomatoes, and various other vegetables, was the idea of Healthy Kids New Mexico Roosevelt County Co-coordinator Caron Powers.

"When I came and wanted to present it with Miss McKinney (Deanne, James principal), all I had to say was, 'How do you feel about a garden? What do we need to do?' She was on board," she said.

Powers enlisted the help of Gardensource Nursery and Landscaping owner Curt Jaynes, who, with the help of his employees, walked the students through the process of planting and maintaining their gardens.

Jaynes emphasized the importance of instilling in children a reverence for organic living, so they can adopt a healthy lifestyle early.

"I think it's important that children learn how to garden from an early age because of the health benefits of growing a garden, and if they have the tools and the know-how to plant, they can be successful at it," he said, mentioning that he visited James a week earlier to teach the students about composting. "Now they know about composting, they know about how to protect the environment by returning to it what we take from it, and how to get a good garden."

A number of students said they enjoyed the hands-on nature of gardening, as well as the food that is grown as a result.

Joshua Martinez, 9, and Leo Cordova, 7, agreed that digging in the dirt was their favorite part of making their garden.

8-year-old Alyssa Rodriguez, however, wasn't so quick to say she enjoyed digging.

"The dirt gets in my fingernails," she said.

Second grade teacher Kelli Ramirez said she looked forward to watching the children grow as a result of working on this project.

"I think it's awesome. They're learning how to work together, they're learning how to plan, what the compost is. It's just going to be fun to watch them grow, and us be responsible for them," she said.

Powers said a harvest is planned in May to show the students the fruits of their labor. The Portales Recreation Center will help maintain the garden for the summer, and Powers said she hopes to add six more beds, so "eventually every classroom will have a bed."