The School Garden and Apiaries at the South Bristol School started as a dream by a group of students in 2019 that wanted all the students to learn about gardening and bee keeping. A PreK to 8th grade school, South Bristol School is located on a long peninsula in Midcoast Maine in a community made up of lobster people, clammers, artists, authors, educators and professions of all types. Planning, decision making, creating a beautiful outdoor classroom, collaboration among themselves and the community, hard work and grit, composting, caring for the environment, harvesting and community service are incorporated into this program designed by students for students!
During the school year, all of the students dig their hands in the dirt while in the summer, the students and dedicated volunteers care for the garden. The School Garden and Apiaries are active year round highlights of guidance class and Summer Garden Club.
During the school year, students plant seedlings that will eventually go into the garden space. Students prepare the beds for planting and learn about companion planting and garden design through books and videos. Part of class every week in the spring involves reading books about gardening and bee keeping, planting the gardens and tending to the space. One highlight is “Chef Thibodeau” visiting classes to prepare foods and talk about different cultures, families and communities around the world. Kids will be shown how to prepare different dishes from other cultures such as Thai lettuce wraps, Moroccan Chili and mango wraps. Cool Beans, a venture out of California, is a great resource for these lessons.
The Summer Garden Club is a mix of students from every grade and even some alums who dedicate themselves one day a week to tending the garden, preparing food to try, creating artistic things plus taking field trips to visit different farms and participating in community service. The Summer Garden Club will often make food from their harvest or the generous donations of the Lincoln County Gleaners. Chef Thibodeau picks a recipe for the kids to prepare and students learn how to make pickles and jam, make salsa and put a fresh spin on the veggies that they harvest. Students have really enjoyed this experience as a part of the garden club, learning how to try new foods and bringing these ideas home to their families.
Volunteers in the community fill in the gaps to make sure the gardens are watered and weeded when students are not on campus. Much of their success is the fact that the program is truly a community effort…even the South Bristol Fire Department stops by when their rain barrels run dry!
The last phase of their project is the goal of making the space more wheelchair friendly. Their plan is to create a path from the garden space to the greenhouse so that anyone that uses a device can participate and traverse it easily.
In 2024, Deb Thibodeau, their school garden coordinator, received a MSGN School Garden Caretakers Grant funded by the Sewall Foundation. Designed to pay school garden champions for their work, the grant also offers a public form of recognition of the important work being done every day using school gardens to educate the next generation of the stewards of the earth.
This garden has been completely grant funded and the students have had their hands in this aspect of the process as well. Funding has come from various private and public grants that believe gardening is an important part of a school curriculum including Seed Money, MOFGA, Whole Kids Foundation, Maine Agriculture in the Classroom, Maine School Garden Network, National Agriculture in the Classroom, Forever Friends Foundation, MEEA and 5210 in Lincoln County. Grant money has been used for projects such as expanding the garden space, purchase of supplies and materials, art projects and more. They are continuing to look for funding so that the Summer Garden Club can continue in 2026. South Bristol School appreciates all of their grantors, volunteers and students who keep their garden and bees growing strong!
Want to know more?!
- Deb Thibodeau dthibodeau@aos93.org
- Resource Pages
- Partner Organizations
