BBSD Garden Project

Greenhouse and raised beds

Bristol Middle-Senior High School is in its 5th year of gar­den­ing. Initially, the pro­gram began by re-purposing unused class­rooms into green­hous­es and build­ing ver­ti­cal hydro­pon­ic sys­tems. The unused court­yard was con­vert­ed into a ful­ly func­tion­al school and com­mu­ni­ty gar­den which includes raised beds, con­tain­ers, green walls, ver­ti­cal struc­tures, and a hydro­pon­ics sys­tem. In 2017, stu­dents assem­bled an out­door green­house when the unused class­rooms were ren­o­vat­ed for instruc­tion­al pur­pos­es. The pro­duce from our gar­den is shared with the fam­i­lies of stu­dents, staff and the local food bank dur­ing peri­ods of excess har­vest. During our after school and sum­mer camp gar­den pro­gram, stu­dents engage in cook­ing projects to pre­pare and eat pro­duce from the garden.

Aquaponics

The project has received mul­ti­ple grants; most recent­ly being award­ed an addi­tion­al 3K grant from Lowe’s Toolbox for Education which will be used to beau­ti­fy the walk­ways and com­mon areas of the gar­den to make it a more invit­ing space for fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty gar­den events.  Our pro­gram is a learn­ing expe­ri­ence for stu­dents, offers healthy, organ­i­cal­ly grown veg­eta­bles to their fam­i­lies and neigh­bors, and builds con­nec­tions between our school and community.