Kitchen Garden Update

Our Kitchen Sessions

After grating and freezing the excess of zucchinis that we harvested in Term 1, we finally got to explore cooking with them last month. 

All Year 3/4 classes had a Summer Zucchini Harvest cooking session in the kitchen. We made cheesy zucchini slice, baba ganoush style zucchini dip, easy ‘two ingredient’ flatbreads, salad of the imagination and vegan apple muffins. 

As usual the flatbreads were a hit with every class and went perfectly with the zucchini dip. 

Some students from each class went out to the garden to collect edible weeds and plants we have growing to add to their Salad of the Imagination. 

Each group put their own spin on the muffin recipe with some adding coconut and dried fruits while others used mashed the banana in the recipe, and some sliced it on top. 

Students practised eating their feast by passing the sharing plates around their table to ensure everyone got a taste and any seconds was divided equally. 

The recipes can be found below if you would like to explore them at home;

A huge thank you to all the adult helpers who volunteered again to help us make the sessions so varied and rewarding. We couldn’t do it without you!

In the garden

In the garden we continued to look after the chickens by cleaning out their coop, ensuring they had enough food and water, monitoring them while they explore the school grounds and collecting their eggs. 

Some students from each class made the chickens an enrichment treat. They used a variety of ingredients (including meal worms) to bake them a healthy and delicious block which not only gives them plenty of nutrients but also helps keeps both their mind and bodies active while they peck at it. 

All classes collected the compost, added food scraps and leaves to our bays and swept and collected rubbish from around the garden and school grounds. 

As it is getting cooler, we have noticed a lot less cabbage butterflies in the garden but an increase in caterpillars which, thanks to the students who collected them, also make tasty treats for the chickens. Some students sowed broad bean seeds and planted cauliflower, broccoli, kale and cabbage seedlings ready for winter. 

Disappointingly we had a significant amount of produce removed and vandalised in the garden over the last few weeks. We had three pumpkins disappear sometime last Friday which impacted what we cooked in the kitchen sessions this month. Earlier in the term all the figs had been taken just before we could harvest them to make jam. 

If you notice anyone not from the school community in the garden, please let a member of staff know or remind them that the garden produce is for the students. Also, we would appreciate children not playing near the garden beds as running around them can often result in produce being knocked on to the ground and damaged. 

Thanks,

Year 3/4 students and teachers

Chantel and Alli