After 40 bloomin’ years on the job, Debbie Togliatti is hanging up her trowel.
The gardening specialist at the Oshman Family JCC preschool — or, as she calls herself, “gardenista” — will retire July 10. She leaves behind a legacy of planting Jewish values one child, one seed, at a time.
Her friends at the JCC in Palo Alto threw her a farewell party on May 9, with nearly 200 well-wishers on hand. Togliatti’s colleagues past and present extolled the Giving Garden and its impact on the children she served.
“It was the best day of my life,” Togliatti, 70, said of the event. “I can’t tell you how I felt so celebrated and honored.”
“It was a beautiful day,” added Tamara Thiel Prizant, the JCC’s director of community engagement. “Just seeing decades and decades [worth] of people across generations show up for Debbie in such an extraordinary way. It was an amazing event.”
In 1996, Togliatti began teaching at what is now called the Leslie Family Preschool. Soon after the 2009 opening of the Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life (which includes the JCC), she saw a ripe opportunity. Togliatti could impart enduring Jewish values, such as kavod hateva (honoring nature) and hazan et hakol (nourishing all), by getting kids’ hands dirty.
“When we arrived here in 2009, we didn’t have the garden we have today,” Togliatti said. “It was a landscape with junipers and prickly plants, but nothing for kids. In October of that year we had a family volunteer day, and we created [a garden] from the ground up.”
Togliatti’s approach is simple. The preschool has 14 classes, with kids ages ranging from 18 months to 5 years.
“Each class gets a half-hour slot per week,” she said, “so every kid has time in the garden. [They] care for the garden, planting, watering and mostly eating. I wrote a book called ‘Growing Jewish Values: Cultivating Your Jewish Roots in Your Own Backyard,’ in which I identify basic Jewish values pertaining to the garden, such as not wasting water, sharing the bounty and being kind to the spiders, bees and ladybugs.”
What does the garden grow? Usually something yummy.
“Right around Passover, we plant for summer,” she said. “We plant cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins and corn. Then, in the fall, these plants are done. And the kids plant for winter: broccoli, kale, lettuce, spinach and peas. The hard part for them is waiting.”
The garden now covers roughly 5,500 square feet, with additional planters scattered across the play area. So it isn’t small potatoes to care for this patch of Earth.
Togliatti credits her green thumb in part to her upbringing in Gilroy, a small city south of San Jose that famously calls itself the garlic capital of the world. She also found herself drawn to teaching because she loves the curiosity and wonder that children embody.
Raised in a Catholic household, she knew little about Judaism when she was hired by the JCC in 1996. That changed quickly. “I was exposed to Shabbat, then the harvest festivals,” she said. “It really resonated with me. I found so many connections. Twenty years ago I converted.”
She has used the garden as a living metaphor to impart her understanding of Judaism. Students plant seeds in the classroom, then transplant them to the garden. Togliatti pushes the kids to understand what each plant needs, from proper watering to composting, and even earthworms.
“We have a worm bin, which we bring out on a table,” she said. “The kids will hold them and watch them eat garden debris. We want them to see there is very little waste.”
As her reputation grew, Togliatti had opportunities to lead workshops in gardening for preschoolers as far away as Poland, Italy and Israel. Ilana Gelemovitch, the preschool director, has watched Togliatti work her magic over the years and affirms her positive influence.
“Debbie is the example everyone wants to follow when it comes to teaching kids about nature and taking care of the Earth,” she said. “She explains things to kids in ways only she knows how to.”
Having just turned 70, Togliatti felt the time was right to step away. She lives on a working farm in Los Altos Hills and plans to spend more time there. She also wants to write a children’s book. Yet the JCC garden will remain a part of her life. She intends to volunteer there and share her knowledge with the next generation of children.
Ultimately, Togliatti said, she drew the most satisfaction watching her students gradually become more confident as young gardeners and then realize that “I can do this.”
Without missing a “beet,” she adds: “Parents can’t believe their kids will eat raw kale and raw broccoli.”