Kitchen garden
Billanook Kitchen Garden
Welcome to our 2025 kitchen garden!
Students will, on a fortnightly rotation, spend two hours cooking a variety of dishes from around the world whilst learning all about kitchen and food safety. We eat our dishes in a communal dining room, around tables where students will set the tables correctly and enjoy (hopefully try) the food they have cooked together.
Students will then spend an hour, in the next week, in the garden exploring and learning all about how to grow our own produce to eventually cook with. The garden will provide students with knowledge from soil health to plant care and harvesting our produce. Our mantra being “How does nature do it?”, replicating nature as much as possible in our gardening.
In the holidays our fence and foundations for the garden will be established providing us with a blank canvas to create a fantastic space for growing and understanding food from the seed up.
The kitchen garden will rely heavily on volunteers to help us each week, in the kitchen and garden, and we welcome, not only parents and carers, but also extended family i.e grandparents. Our community garden and cooking space welcomes your shared knowledge and we would love to embrace family recipes from around the globe. So please if you have cuttings from plants or methods tried and tested feel free to flick me an email or pop into our kitchen space for a chat. Knowledge shared is a wonderful thing, especially sharing our traditions and cultures through food.
Please see Jenny or Leanne in the office with a copy of your working with children check if you are popping in.
We are using an app called Sign up. You simply click on the link provided and add your name to any date you would like to come in and help us. Of course day’s change, things happen so if you can no longer make a session you have signed up for, go back to the date on the app and remove yourself.
To ensure all students can actively participate in the kitchen garden program please let us know if there are any accommodations we should include for your child's safety. I have the information provided in your enrollment for allergies and anaphylaxis risk. I am very happy to meet and discuss any concerns or answer any questions you may have.
Kirsty.edwards@education.vic.gov.au
Our 2024 year was really fun and some students have found a love of growing, gardening and cooking which is beautiful to see.
Our timetable below is normally set days. However I have two daughters graduating this term and of course they are on my kitchen garden days ! So some sessions have been swapped around so that classes do not miss out.
| Date | 9-10am | 10-11am | Recess | 11.40- 12.40pm | 12.40pm- 1.50pm | Lunch | |
| Feb Wed 5th | 3B Cooking | 3B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4C Garden | ||
| Fri 7th | 3A Cooking | 3A Cooking | 3C Garden | 4A Garden | Planning | ||
| Tues 11th | 3C Cooking | 3C cooking | |||||
| Wed 12th | 3B Garden | 3A Garden | 4C Cooking | 4C Cooking | 4B Garden | ||
| Thurs 13th | 4A Cooking | 4A Cooking | |||||
| Wed 19th | 3B Cooking | 3B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4C Garden | ||
| Thurs 20th | 3A Cooking | 3A Cooking | 3C Garden | 4A Garden | Planning | ||
| Wed 26th | 3B Garden | 3A Garden | 4C Cooking | 4C Cooking | 4B Garden | ||
| Thurs 27th | 4A Cooking | 4A Cooking | 3C Cooking | 3C Cooking | Planning | ||
| March 5th | 3B Cooking | 3B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4C Garden | ||
| Thurs 6th | 3A Cooking | 3A Cooking | 3C Garden | 4A Garden | Planning | ||
| Wed 12th | 3B Garden | 3A Garden | 4C Cooking | 4C Cooking | 4B Garden | ||
| Thurs 13th | 4A Cooking | 4A Cooking | 3C Cooking | 3C Cooking | Planning | ||
| Wed 19th | 3B Cooking | 3B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4B Cooking | 4C Garden | ||
| Thurs 20th | 3A Cooking | 3A Cooking | 3C Garden | 4A Garden | Planning | ||
| Wed 26th | 3B Garden | 3A Garden | 4C Cooking | 4C Cooking | 4B Garden | ||
| Thurs 27th | 4A Cooking | 4A Cooking | 3C Cooking | 3C Cooking | Planning |
Please, if you have any questions feel free to reach out.
Thanks Kirsty