Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

The Garden and Shared Table

The 5/6 students are off to a fantastic start in the garden. They have been working in small groups to weed, harvest, water, mulch and label plants. Maeva and Madi did a brilliant job cleaning out the chicken coop. Plums and apples have been harvested from the fruit trees. Wesley and Jack took charge of setting up and running our first share table, which was a great success. 

The students will continue to run the share table on a Wednesday afternoon in between the Senior and Junior Buildings. We ask students and families to please take what they know they will eat at home. If families have any extra produce from their gardens that they would like to share with the school community, please bring it to the garden shed on a Wednesday morning and the students will add it to the share table. Please try to remember to bring a reusable bag on Wednesdays if you would like to take produce home.

Karen Biscan

Gardening Specialist

In the Kitchen

What a great week we had in the kitchen.

'Brilliant!' That’s how I would describe our new ovens. They have been installed and are working beautifully. It is wonderful to have ovens that keep correct temperatures and timers that work. To test them out the Grade 5/6 students made a selection of seasonal pizzas.

Our fruit harvest has been bountiful in the last couple of weeks.

The plum harvest has been prolific. We have harvested kilograms both yellow and red fleshed plums. I have been busily preserving them by making Plum Jam and a Mild Spicy Plum Sauce to sell through our Mud Brick Café. 

We also have an apple tree that produces extraordinary amounts of fruit every year. This year we explored different ways of using apples. We discovered that they can be used for both savoury and sweet dishes. The children made a delightful apple and béchamel pizza. To their delight it was actually a favourite  amongst the selection of pizzas we made.   We also used our apples to create a “sweet” pizza, an Apple Crisp Pizza to be exact.  It is very much like an apple crumble  and drizzled with caramel sauce to serve. YUM!

Please find the recipes for our pizzas attached along with a basic dough recipe.

We will have figs and tomatoes coming along in next couple of weeks.  Hopefully I will have enough time to make some Fig Paste and a selection of chutneys, relishes and sauces with our tomato harvest.

If you have any spare jars floating around home they would be most gratefully accepted to help with our preserving. If you could give them a clean and remove the labels it would be most appreciated. 

The children in Grade1/2 Wells will be enjoying the kitchen each Friday during term 1. 

We are seeking parents/carers from Mrs Wells class to support in the role of volunteering in the kitchen to assist the children in learning new skills and how to safely work in a kitchen environment. 

You do not need to be a “Master Chef” to join us. 

Please see the volunteer flyer attached if you are able to help out.

*** Please note  you will need a current Working With Children Check.

Their program will be based on learning basic kitchen skills, these include grating, cutting, peeling and slicing.

The students will also continue to learn about healthy eating and will make a variety of foods using the fresh produce from our garden.

Last week the children in Grade 1/2 made Carrot and Sultana muffins. This followed on from learning to grate vegetables last week. The children’s skills are improving each time they “have a go”. So next time you need some cheese or carrots grated at home, ask them to help. It is great way to help develop both their fine and gross motor skills. 

These sessions continue to reiterate general hygiene, kitchen safety, the importance of turn taking and offering a safe environment to try new foods.

Sue O’Mealley

Kitchen Specialist

Parent Volunteers Needed 

Jars Urgently Needed

We desperately require clean jars with labels removed please and pop lids for preserve making in our kitchen garden program. Before you pop them into the recycling, please save for school. Jars can be dropped off to the office.

Recipes

Some interesting pizza toppings to try!

One of our families sent in this photo of their Savoury Apple and Bacon Pizza.