Kitchen Garden Update
Week 5 – Kitchen Garden (Year 4s)
The Year 4s had their first Kitchen Garden session for 2025! To get back to basics, students are working through a variety of activities this term to build a foundational understanding of:
- Caring for the chickens
- Managing food waste collection and processing it into compost
- Identifying basic garden and kitchen equipment
- Mapping out what is currently growing in the garden
Students also learned about the differences between perennial and annual plants, as well as the distinctions between native, indigenous, and introduced species.
Two groups from each class worked in the staff room to prepare some delicious snacks to share with their peers. They made cheesy (vegan) chickpeas in the air fryer along with mini zucchini pizzas.
The Giant Russian sunflowers have been in full bloom this past month, and we’ve enjoyed watching insects visit each one. Cleo discovered a beautiful blue flower wasp, and we have observed resin bees visiting the pollinator hotels.
Week 6 – Kitchen Garden (Year 3s)
The Year 3s completed their second round of garden activities. Two groups spent the session in the staff room cutting up vegetables and making chickpea and avocado hummus.
Other groups researched the nine benefits of keeping chickens and spent time observing and interacting with our friendly flock. Not only do the chickens provide us with fresh eggs daily, but they also produce natural fertilizer, help keep our garden free from pests, and are excellent at recycling kitchen and garden waste. One group was even lucky enough to witness Henrietta lay an egg! Karsten can describe it in detail if you’re interested.
We will be looking for more helpers to care for the chickens over the school holidays— Sign up below
Week 8 – Kitchen Garden (Year 4s)
This week, the Year 4s completed two more activities from our six-part Back to Basics rotation. Joe and Hannah (Dash’s mum) worked with small groups to identify and name the tools in our garden shed. Did you know the difference between a spade and a shovel? A shovel (with a scoop-shaped head) is designed for moving soil, whereas a spade (with a straight edge) is meant for digging into compacted soil.
Some lucky students also got to taste raspberries straight from the garden with Allison!
Meanwhile, two groups from each class spent time in the staff room cooking zucchini fries and delicious jam drops made with fig jam from our own garden. Thanks to Joe M for his homemade jam made with the fruit from our fig tree. We have also recently harvested zucchinis from our garden.
The Jerusalem artichokes have bloomed and will be ready for harvesting soon.
The recipes from this term can be found below;
Upcoming Excursion – Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show
We are looking forward to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show this week!
- Year 3s will attend on Wednesday 26th March
- Year 4s will attend on Thursday 27th March
Please remember to provide your consent for this excursion via Compass.
Thank You!
A huge thank you to our parent helpers for giving up their time to support us in running these sessions—we couldn’t do it without you!
😊 Chantel and Allison