The Good Ground School & Community Garden, at the Hampton Bays Middle School, provides a working model of a successful joint school and community effort. Teachers integrate lessons in the garden and the hoophouse into the curriculum. About 30 community members tend the adjacent raised beds growing fruits and vegetables in season.

Working with Good Ground, the school’s food service provider uses their organic tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, arugula, peppers in school menus. The specialty pizzas have been a hit among the students. A summer school program provides another opportunity to share the joys of gardening through direct experiences. Good Ground was established in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension and NYS Healthy Places Grant in 2011.