Bonny Eagle Middle School students will soon have an opportunity to learn about growing food, and then taste the fruits of their labor at the school lunch salad bar.

Construction of a greenhouse just outside the middle school has begun with money raised by staff and volunteers of Rippling Waters Organic Farm in Steep Falls.

“It’s a great project,” said Deb Howard, the middle school assistant principal. “It’s another tool for learning.”

Richard Rudolph, executive director of the farm, said he hopes for the greenhouse to be finished by the end of the month and for the first vegetables to be planted in February or March. As the greenhouse will primarily provide food for the school lunch salad bar, crops will include greens, radishes, tomatoes and cucumbers. Excess food will be donated to local food pantries.

The greenhouse will have three raised beds within its 28 feet by 48 feet walls made of polycarbonate sheets, which are thicker and more permanent than plastic. General contractor Thomas Blackburn is overseeing the construction work.

Operating costs for the greenhouse will be minimal, just electricity for lights and propane for a back-up heater. The structure will make use of passive solar heating, and 55-gallon tanks of water will keep the greenhouse warm over night. Extra heat during the day will heat up the water and, since water holds heat longer than air, the water will release heat throughout the night.

Sydney Tyson, an Americorps volunteer with Rippling Waters Farm, will work with teachers to help them integrate the greenhouse into the curriculum. In the beginning, sixth-graders and sixth- through eighth-grade special education students will work in the greenhouse. Tyson will help teachers work growing food into science, math and social studies lessons.

“There’s all kinds of things you could do in there,” Rudolph said. “It’s just a great learning laboratory.”

Rippling Waters Farm staff currently work with students and staff at George E. Jack and Steep Falls elementary schools in Standish by planting outdoor gardens and connecting gardening to classroom lessons.

For the first time this summer, Rippling Waters offered a paid program for high school age students to learn about growing food at the farm. Rudolph said he hopes to expand programs to young people of all ages, and the greenhouse fills the gap between elementary and high school aged students.

Rudolph said the total cost of the greenhouse is expected to be around $49,000. More than $21,000 is still needed to supplement funding already received. So far the greenhouse has been funded by a $25,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a $1,000 grant from the private foundation Maine Initiatives and $1,500 from the town of Standish.

Rudolph said requests have been sent out to banks and foundations for additional funding, and in the meantime he is applying for a bridge loan to cover construction costs.

“What we’re really hoping to do is create a whole new generation of folks who love to garden,” Rudolph has said. “It’s kind of a lost art.”

Jerry Worden and Phil Webber, both self-employed carpenters, start to build a greenhouse at Bonny Eagle Middle School. The 28-foot by 48-foot greenhouse will sit just off the south side of the school.