In Bridgehampton, we have our own school farmstand

Have you heard about Sprouts, the Bridgehampton School’s new farmstand? At Sprouts, students work after school and during the summer. It’s a unique part of our school, because not many schools have their own farmstand.

What makes it even more unique is that the students can work at Sprouts and get paid. There is another upside to Sprouts — we can use the things we grow for a healthy lunch.

About 8 1⁄2 years ago Ms. Judiann Carmack-Fayyaz asked the principal if she could start a greenhouse. Ms. Carmack-Fayyaz knew that many people were eating a lot of processed foods, and she wanted to teach kids about what they eat and how to be healthier.

The greenhouse is where it all started. In the greenhouse we sell what we grow to a restaurant and at our farmstand, and the students also can eat it for lunch. The greenhouse is cared for mostly by middle and elementary school students. Some of the plants we grow are basil, arugula, garlic, cilantro and spinach, and we are working on a new strawberry patch. During the summer at the Bridgehampton School summer camp, the kids get to plant things and then get to cook them.

But Sprouts isn’t just a farmstand that students can work at, Sprouts can help with careers in farming. Working at Sprouts is mostly for high schoolers and middle schoolers. They sell not only vegetables and flowers but also coffee, tea and vases. To work here you have to be 14 or older.

Marie Hand and Thomas House’s sixth- and seventh-grade students, Bridgehampton School