NRCS Helps Environmental Education Center Extend Growing Season

Common Ground High School/Urban Farm/Environmental Education Center is located on a 20-acre site in New Haven. The high school offers programs that connect people of all ages with the natural world, while helping them develop habits of sustainable living. It is the only charter school in Connecticut that focuses on the environment, and prepares students for success both in college and environmental leadership. The urban farm is a model for sustainable agriculture and the food they grow helps contribute to a healthy food system for New Haven residents. The laboratory is used for environmental research for sustainable living, and the study of natural and human history.Through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the school was able to install a Seasonal High Tunnel on the farm.

Last year, the school’s urban farm produced 6,201 pounds of fresh, healthy, organic produce; 43 varieties of vegetables; raised 30 chickens, five ducks, five turkeys, two pigs, one rabbit, and one sheep. The food grown is sold at local farmer’s markets or prepared in the school’s commercial kitchen to provide free lunches for all students.

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