DENVER — Bruce Randolph School is building a new green house in an effort to grow more produce at the school while teaching students about agriculture.
Three years ago the school opened it’s hydroponic farm, allowing students to grow produce indoors.
“It's a really great opportunity for our students, for our community. So basically, what we do in here is we grow produce in water instead of in the ground directly. And so it's a different way of growing food and a quicker way of growing food,” Mariah Middlebrooks, Bruce Randolph School Farm Educator said.
Middlebrooks said the hydroponic farm has the capacity to grow 10,000 pounds produce annually, which she said they do on an order basis, meaning they're not growing any excess food that could up being wasted.
"While we are fighting food injustice, we are fighting food waste," Middlebrooks said, adding that last year, she thinks the school grew around 5,000 pounds that went directly to the students.
Middlebrooks said the produce is free and the school is located in a food desert, with the closest grocery store about a 15-minute car ride away.
“It may or may not be the case for every family to have a vehicle, and so then that makes it even more hard to get to a grocery store and able to buy fresh produce. It's very easily accessible to buy things that aren't healthy for us. So our goal is to make fresh produce and to make fresh food accessible for our community and for our students and for their families,” Middlebrooks said.
She said when families are in need, students can come in and ask for produce. They also partner with local organizations to distribute food across the Denver metro area.
Students said they have noticed the impact their work on the hydroponic farm has had in the school and within the community.
“There's always students and staff coming in. They grab their little bags, their compostable bags, and they just start grabbing what they can. And I just enjoy seeing how our work has led to people being fed,” Liczeth Nunez, a senior at Bruce Randolph School said.
Student Kimberly Serrano said she’s glad to see how their work is impacting the Bruce Randolph School community.
“I also enjoy watching people take advantage of something that's free and that they can eat later on,” Serrano said.
For student Ashley Prieto, the skills she’s learned at the school’s hydroponic farm are translating into her personal life.
“What I learned here, I was able to use at home and grow my own strawberries. So I feel like it's going to be helpful, and I can just help my dad from now on, and show him what I learned here,” Prieto said.
The students said they look forward to using their new greenhouse as well.
“We’re very lucky. Denver Foundation helped us with our grant money, and we are now about to finish building our new greenhouse, another way for us to grow whatever we can, really to teach our students different ways of growing food, different ways of growing different kinds of plants,” Middlebrooks said.
Middlebrooks added between the green house and hydroponic farm the school will be able to increase their ability to teach agricultural skills and serve their community.
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