Kitchen and Garden & Sustainability News

Easter Kitchen Garden Stall

Check out our plum jam and lemon and poppy seed Easter cookies at our Kitchen Garden Stall (near reception). Some great little Easter treats for the family. 

Kitchen News 

Pizza week with all our Garden goodies.   Potato and Rosemary and Tomato and Basil were our toppings for this season and we followed them with our lemon and poppy seed Easter cookies.  Check out our recipes below.  Our students loved making dough for both pizzas and cookies.  Maybe a fun Easter family activity for you all?

Jam and Chutney Crew

We would love to start up a Preserving team who is available to come in a couple of times a term to whip up some jam or chutney at times of high harvest. 

If you are interested in being part of this group, we would love to hear from you!

Please emailfleur.kilpatrick@education.vic.gov.au or clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov.au

Garden News

Grade 4 & 6 have had a super productive time in The Patch this fortnight. We have prepared all the garden beds ready for our Autumn planting and mulched everything beautifully so that the soil and plants are protected from hot weather and the moisture stays in the soil as long as possible.

Our fruit trees have all finished now and we are appreciated the last of our apples we picked earlier in the term.

Tomatoes are still ripening which is brilliant and we have a huge stock of them in the freezer ready for our next preserves day (contact us if you would like to help out!).

Term break is almost here and we will need a little help with the chickens and garden over the break. If you are free to help out, please clink the link below and pop your name in. I will send info on what and how when I know who is coming along :)

Chicken & Garden Roster

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c8aqmlclYcgX41us3DIS1pjzye4mkNaKVVlVAb4-WpI/edit?usp=sharing

Budding Gardener

Archer lovevs spending time in The Patch! He opten comes in to help out with tasks and he is learning all about the chickens and tomatoes.

Last week he helped us water and also harvested all the tomatoes.

Creative Crew

The students got their hands dirty making seed bombs this fortnight. We made some with native flowers to throw around the from native habitat garden and then some to throw around the veggie patch with coriander seeds. We had such a great time sharing stories about out upcoming holidays, art work we have been creating and composting. The students worked great in a team and shared the workload well. 

Seedling Foster Program

Last week our seedling foster program kicked off and we have 10 amazing families who have taken some seedings home to look after until they are ready to plant in term 2.

What is a seedling foster program you ask??!! Well, it is where the a class plants up some seeds during a garden session or lunch club and we ask school families to take these seed punnets home and 'foster' them, nurturing them until they are ready to bring back to school to plant. The best part is that your child doesn't have to be participating in the garden program to take advantage of this program, so that means even our foundation families can help out in the garden by 'fostering' some seedlings :)

We have developed an instruction and data sheet that will help you with looking after them and the children can also participate in the growing by documenting the plants growth and taking photos. I have attached a copy of the fostering form so that you can see how it all works and what is expected. It is such a fun way to continue learning at home for our students and you're also helping us to grow successful seedlings to plant out in The Patch. If you are interested in joining this fabulous new program, please come and see my in the garden or email me at clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov.au

No experience in growing is necessary!  If you are not sure, please please please reach out and I will help you through the process!!

Thanks for your support of the Kitchen & Garden Program

GARDEN WATERING HELP NEEDED

We are in need of some garden helpers please. You dont need to be a gardener you just need to want to help and have a spare hour or half hour to help. The weather has encourged the weeds to grow and also patches of the garden are a little dry where the sprinklers dont quite reach.

Please contact me if you can help in any way! 

 clancey.mckenzie2@education.vic.gov .au 

Earth Hour 

Our Surfside Earth Hour was a great practice run for the official Earth Hour last Saturday (23rd March).  Lights were turned off, students got outside, books were read and small group work was shared.  Electricity plays a big part in our learning these days and it can be a very useful tool but our Surfside Earth Hour was a great opportunity to share great discussions about our need to look towards more sustainable energy sources.