Mr. Coursey's Garden...How it Grows!

   

Mr. Charles Coursey

     Charles Coursey came to teach at Pershing in 1999 as a History teacher. He had retired from Florida and decided retirement was not for him yet and thus came to teach at Pershing. I remember meeting him and we became good tea-drinking buddies; I could always count on him to provide me with some of his specialty brands of tea, and I did likewise.

     We also shared a love of orchids. Although I still grow a few species at home, Mr. Coursey grew most of his in Florida. Drinking tea and sharing orchid culture was how I remember first talking to him about his fondness of growing vegetables in his garden. One year, I bought him some organic Old German tomato seeds which yielded the best tasting, meaty tomatoes the size of grapefruits!

 
 Nine years ago, a former principal asked the faculty to come up with classes to enrich our students' lives. Mr. Coursey didn't think twice about what class he wanted: it was the Garden Club. As years went by, his club became more popular and through his determination, it became an official class and has been one for three years.

     In his class Mr. Coursey introduces basic concepts about soil, how vegetables grow, and their nutrients. He also cooks some of the produce for the students to taste and eat. One such student said to him recently, "Mr. Coursey, you are making us like vegetables!"
     The vegetables are eaten raw, boiled or steam. Every now and then, when time allows, he will let some of the teachers taste his delightful produce.


     The garden has now over 28 varieties of vegetables. Since the garden is not funded by the school, Mr. Coursey sells his produce to the faculty and staff. He also has a Farmer's Market for the public, in the school's parking lot, where he and some of his students sell the produce on Saturdays.

     Recently, in an October blog entry, I suggested simple things we all could do to reduce our carbon footprint and help the earth. I also suggested to eat more plant based foods. As I mentioned in that entry, less consumption of meat and dairy products may lead to less of it being produced since about 18% of emissions come from the raising of livestock for food. Eating one plant based (or meatless) meal a day can be a start. Not only are they delicious, but they provide more nutrients than processed foods.

   
      Eating more vegetables helps us in more ways than one. Let's continue to support local gardeners and farmers by buying local fresh produce. And perhaps one day, you will also grow your own vegetables like Mr. Coursey.




R. Aguilar