College Hill Learning Garden

We designed this educational and demonstration garden to teach local students about environmentally friendly water use, food, energy, and waste systems. It is open for field trips and group tours by appointment.

The College Hill Learning Garden is an education and demonstration garden designed to teach local students about how they can help cities transition to ecologically friendly water, food, energy, and waste systems. Open to the public since April 2016, the garden is owned, maintained, and operated by the SFPUC. 

The Learning Garden contains many interactive features, including a habitat pond, off grid solar panel system, a composting toilet, rain gardens, vegetable planters, orchard trees, a vermicompost bin, and more. Located just off of Cortland Avenue in the Bernal Heights neighborhood, the site’s physical landscape was co-designed with the program's unique curriculum.

College Hill Learning Garden is available for class field trips, summer programs, and group tours. The learning garden can accommodate up to 40 students. Field trips generally last two to three hours, while summer programs are 90 minutes long; both are free to any public school or organization serving public school students. 

Group tours of the garden can be requested for any group (student or adult), last 1 hour, and are available according to the field trip availability calendar. See the events calendar below for all available dates and times. 

The Urban Stewards Program

The Urban Stewards Program is based on eight unique topics, aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and SFPUC Big Ideas. Classes are encouraged to come for the full series over the course of a school year or summer, but are also welcome to schedule just one field trip, a 3-part series, or a custom series designed to suit specific learning objectives. Please keep in mind field trips are available depending on staff capacity, schedule availability, and are reserved via a first come, first served basis.

The Urban Stewards Program topics are:

	Living City Site Exploration Come explore the College Hill Learning Garden through a self-guided scavenger hunt that brings each student through the seven main themes of city sustainability demonstrated on the site.
	Our Healthy Watersheds Learn about urban water systems, rainwater, and watersheds through exploration, modeling, and stewardship. Learn to read the SF Watershed Map and build our regional watershed with garden materials. Older students build small water filters using natural materials.
	Rain Gardens Discover how rain gardens are used as a tool to protect our watersheds through exploration of the three on-site rain gardens. Create rain garden models using natural materials and explore rain garden plants via watercolor.
	Planting for a Healthy Planet Learn how to take care of our environment through place appropriate planting. Students explore plant adaptations to drought-tolerant and water-loving conditions by becoming familiar with native plants on site.
	Power in the City Learn about urban power generation by exploring renewable energy sources on-site and options for using power sustainably at school and at home.
	Urban Food Systems Discover how to grow healthy, sustainable food in the city and help us care for our edible garden. Students learn to define and illustrate an urban food system, seasonal foods, and participate in a garden taste test.
	Full Cycle, Zero Waste Investigate how the city recycles materials by learning about our water catchment systems, compost bins, worm bin, and composting toilet (one of the city’s first). Students feed the 3 bin compost system & vermicompost bin, and explore the role of greywater and wastewater in our garden and city.
	Our Shared Habitat Explore the various habitat examples on site and learn how to help create a biodiverse and interdependent city through stewardship. Students learn about SF wildlife, how to read animal tracks, and build an urban wildlife habitat with natural materials from the garden.

Ready to book your field trip or tour of the garden?
See the event calendar below for available dates and times, and complete the online request form. An educator will contact you once your request has been received to coordinate further.

Share calendar (external link)

Field Trip Requests

External link