Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Lutticken.
Bob, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in San Francisco, and I am a sixth-generation San Franciscan. My family was in the grocery business then went on to open four restaurants in the SF Bay Area. I played baseball in the San Diego Padres organization from 1986 – 1992, then used that experience to coach the varsity baseball team at Poway High School. While coaching at PHS, I learned I liked teaching young adults, so I decided to become a teacher. I started my career at PHS but quickly learned about Abraxas Continuation High School and moved over to the Abraxas campus. I have been here ever since. These are the kids I have the biggest impact on, so I am drawn to this side of teaching. My colleagues and I started a garden on a tennis court in the front of school and it is this aspect of teaching that paired me with PUSD’s CTE program. We have won many accolades over the years in the garden however it is the day to day learning by the students that keeps me excited about where this program is headed. With a generous donation from a local family, we were able to put in an outdoor kitchen in our garden. We have now started a true farm to table culinary program in our garden that teaches our students how to cook healthy meals. The food we grow in our garden is donated to needy families in our community. We have just eclipsed the 12,000 pound produce donation mark, which is a testament on how much effort our students give towards growing food.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Creating new educational programs is always a challenge however we have great leadership so the major obstacles were smoothed over with foresight of how this program will impact student learning. Some of the struggles along the way dealt mainly with building the infrastructure of the garden itself. We have 40 raised beds. We built a 12,000 gallon aquaponic system out of concrete that took over nine months. We irrigated 7,200 square feet, as well as an orchard consisting of 25 fruit trees. Three years ago, we had an extremely cold January on record which introduced a parasite to our pond and killed over 200 of our Tilapia fish. This set our aquaponics program back about nine months. There have been struggles along the way but students are resilient and each setback has led to program improvement.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
There are two things I am most proud of within the Abraxas Garden:
Learning – Our garden is used as a learning hub for many other classes on our campus. Our construction class designs and builds all the projects in the garden, including the pond and garden growing beds, as well as our off-grid solar projects that have won great recognition within our District and community. Our art teacher has developed a garden art unit where students can use the garden as an art gallery to showcase their talent. One of our senior English classes includes a unit about the economic and health risks of the Standard American Diet. We have special needs classes that help plant and tend to the garden daily. These Transition students, aged 18 to 22, use the garden as a work sites to build skills they will use to transition into their adult lives. The bulk of the work done in the garden is by the agriculture class and the aquaponics class every day. Now we have a new culinary program that teaches our students how to cook healthy meals straight from the garden. Our culinary program has been so impactful that it has a student waiting list to get in.
Sustainability – Our aquaponic pond has been using the same water for over three years and the biology class takes charge of tracking the water evaporation rate data. Since our garden is organic, we use fish emulsion to fertilize the produce in our raised beds. A drip irrigation system ensures that no water is wasted because each plant has its own mini water source. Our active compost program supplies the soil to our garden beds each season. We water our 25 fruit trees with our filter waste water from our aquaponic bio filters. We have a solar-driven vertical garden hydroponic system, too. Solar power is used to run the air diffusers in our pond and in the lettuce growing beds. We grow California native plants around the perimeter of our garden to show visitors how beautiful and eco-friendly native plants can be when used in landscaping.
Teaching students about sustainability while growing healthy food to donate to needy families, as well as teaching young adults how to cook, sets our program apart from all others. This is a win for everyone and this is what I am most proud of as a teacher.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was an active boy, playing sports and exploring my surroundings. I have always been interested in food. My family-owned grocery stores and I learned the produce business early in life. I believe this had a big impact on how I view growing vegetables in my agriculture/aquaponic classes.
Contact Info:
- Email: rlutticken@powayusd.com
- Website: www.abraxasgarden.com
- Instagram: abraxasgardenkitchen
