Kitchen and Garden and Sustainability News

Kitchen

Another amazing harvest of tomatoes this week which made a delicious tomato and basil risotto.  Our apple tree has also been very generous which meant we had a great addition to our zucchini relish and a key ingredient for our much loved Upside-down Apple and Ginger cake.

The Grade 6 MasterChef challenge has been set and our Grade 6's will take part in the big cook off in the last week of term.  Our theme is Autumn Harvest and a mystery box of ingredients.  We can't wait to see what our students decide on cooking for the challenge.

Look out for some Easter treats at reception next week.  Part of our class next week is an Easter bake which is always a bit of fun. 

Garden

Our brilliant garden has been very productive with heaps of tomatoes, zucchinis & apples being harvested for future projects in the kitchen. Capsicums are coming along too and our pumpkins look amazing. 

It is fantastic to see such enthusiasm from so many super helpful students during recess and lunchtimes. They have been eagerly watering, harvesting, weeding and seed collecting. It is a pleasure to share all the wonders of the Patch with them all.

This week in Garden class, the Year 6 group were very busy propagating herb, succulent and perennial cuttings. We talked about the how plants grow especially when they have no root system. We used local raw honey to give them all a little energy boost. The students now have their own little plants to look after and nurture along. It was a very productive day with over 150 little plants all working hard to produce roots and grow into a healthy plant, just in time for the Annual Fresh Food Fair!! Yay! 

We have quite a few little seedlings that will need to be planted in the next couple of weeks so if you can spare an hour or 2 on a Wednesday prior to term end, we would love to have you come and get your hands dirty. 

Lastly our Kitchen Garden Captains are busy organizing lunchtime rosters for students to get tasks done during the week. They will also be starting up a roster for the school holidays and will need your help to come in and check on the garden, pick produce and water zones where the sprinklers don't quite reach. We really need our wonderful school community to raise their hands and donate a small portion of time to come in and help make sure our beautiful patch it looked after when our students head off on term break. 

Please email me your availability and we can log it into the roster :)

clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov.au

Volunteers

We need your help! The kitchen and garden is a really fun place to spend an hour or 2 and we would love you to come and help out the students. 

Every Wednesday the kitchen and garden comes alive and the students thrive cooking and playing in the garden, however they need your help! If you have a special skill to share or simply want to come and get your hands dirty then please get in contact with Clancey or Fleur. Your help is extremely valuable and we need more wonderful people to come along to our sessions:

Clancey for garden classes – clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov.au

Fleur for kitchen classes - fleur.kilpatrick@education.vic.gov.au

Don't despair if you are not free on a Wednesday!! Please get in touch with us as there are so many opportunities to make a difference. There are lots of things you can do.

*Volunteers require a working with children check, a my gov certificate to show double vaccination status and will need to do a brief induction at the office prior to volunteering. 

Please find attached the Kitchen Garden Program timetable.

Sustainability