Around the Garden
FREE Farmstands
Produce grown at Berwick is shared at our free farmstand with students, families, staff, and neighbors. Check back here for upcoming farmstand dates and community events.
Award-winning community garden
Berwick Alternative Community Garden took first place in the Community Garden category at the Home and Garden Show garden awards and received the 2024 Harvest Award for Education Garden of the Year from Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.
A Certified WILD School Site
Berwick Alternative is a certified WILD School Site through the Ohio Division of Wildlife. WILD School Sites are the action extension of Project WILD: school grounds where students, teachers, and the community learn about and benefit from wildlife and the environment. At Berwick, the garden is part of that outdoor classroom.
We are part of the CCS Farm to School Program:
Stewardship of Berwick Alternative Community Garden is part of the Columbus City Schools Farm to School program, which puts gardens at schools across Columbus so students learn by growing. The program engages students through experiential learning, puts more fresh produce in front of them, teaches cooperation and solving things, and introduces careers in agriculture.
Because school gardens run only during the school year, planting starts in August, and low tunnels and frost cover keep crops going through fall and winter so there is something to plant and harvest every month school is in session. Everything harvested goes back to students for tastings in the classroom or cafeteria, and leftovers go home with recipes so families can cook together.
CCS teachers are also working with Ohio State on a USDA-funded pilot to build a month-by-month guide for growing through the school year.