SAKG NEWS

With the recent spell of warm weather everything is thriving in the garden. During garden classes Jodie has been talking to students about the different types of germination of seed, focusing on direct sowing with a demonstration of how to grow carrots and potatoes. She has also brought three froglets in from home, with the hope they enjoy the school's pond and stay! 

For rotations the grow team continue busily planting vegetable seedlings in the garden. Last week students planted beans, pumpkins, marigolds, chilli, basil, cucumbers and zucchini. This week they will be planting spring onions, leeks and more cucumbers and pumpkins. The animal team have been cleaning out guinea pig cages and making sure that water is topped up to all animals during warmer weather. The observe and create team have been "Roving Reporters", noticing things in the garden by drawing, talking and writing. They have also harvested jonquil leaves and arranged them on racks to dry so that we can make baskets next year. And lastly the harvest team picked the last of the snow peas and lettuces, pulling up the plants so that the garden beds can be replanted. This week we are picking the broad bean crop. 

EVERYONE has been watering our young plants carefully due to the warmer weather and we hope Midland Irrigation comes soon to renovate our watering system. 

In the kitchen this week Kate has heated things up a little with a Thai Green Curry, served with veggies and chicken and rice. This is a lovely meal to share, and the students are learning basic skills like cooking rice on the stove, a very useful technique when a rice cooker is unavailable, and how to put together a dish so that all the ingredients are cooked just right. The carrots needed longer than the eggplant, and the snow peas hardly needed to be cooked at all! While some students have found that the curry is quite spicy, and needed drinks of milk to counter the spice, most have enjoyed the dish. It is lovely to see the students sitting together and sharing a meal that they have prepared together.   

For dessert this week we have made Boba Tea, with tapioca pearls and mango flavoured tea. The jury is divided on whether or not the Boba is a hit, some have loved it and others have found the texture a bit strange. We have also had some hit and miss when making them, not cooking the starch for long enough or over cooking it, resulting in a crystalised mess. Trial and error and if at first you don't succeed......an important lesson for kids to see adults implementing in their efforts as well. 

In addition to this we have been preserving our bountiful harvest from the garden, chopping and dehydrating herbs such as coriander and chives, spring onion and rosemary. This will see us through those times of the year when the harvest is slower. We have also been preparing chopped and frozen portions of pear so that we can make crumble even when the fruit is not so plentiful. 

Our grade ones have continued making lamingtons and vegemite pasta in keeping with the theme of Australian food. Kate whole heartedly recommends the vegemite pasta, it is simply delicious and most students wanted seconds!