Kitchen Garden
From Simone & Jill
LA6C
LA6C are a grade 3-4 class who came to Kitchen Garden for the last two weeks of term 2
Week 1
Thursday 18 June
We started our first class with an Acknowledgement of Country before going outside to explore the garden: looking for what was growing, ready to use, in danger of being lost to snails (tally: hundreds). Rainbow chard was all harvested from one bed to be used tomorrow, clearing the bed for soil remediation and re-planting. Another dying perilla was pulled up, with the plant and its seed heads being placed under the pear tree with fresh compost from the storm water drain (thank you Working Bee !!); fingers crossed for spring seedlings! After lunch we discussed the indigenous seasons from three perspectives – Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Eastern Kulin, focussing on the latter and the City of Melbourne’s seasonal calendars which highlight books in its collection. Inside rainbow chard and parsley were prepared for Friday, sunflower seeds sorted and journaling completed.
Friday 19 June
Today LA6C made a savoury torte using garden-grown corn & leafy greens. We discovered self-seeded leeks growing when we were clearing a garden bed the day before, so we used the biggest one in the torte filling.
Each table could either make a large torte to share or individual ones, and every table chose to make their own cute tortes. They made and rolled out the pastry then filled it with the vegetable mixture they’d prepared.
The corn was planted in term 4 last year & grew over the summer holidays. When we didn’t have any Kitchen Garden in term 1, Jill picked & froze the corn, ready to use later in the year.
Week 2
Thursday 25 June
Following Acknowledgements of Country today, we cut pieces containing eyes from seed potatoes; last year’s crop was such a success we’re hoping for the same again! Outside, the pieces were planted (and covered to keep out predators), along with geranium, carrot, pansy, beetroot and Asian green seedlings. Rhubarb was harvested and prepared for tomorrow and eggshells crushed to protect the new seedlings. Windy conditions were simulated to help pollinate the corn and hundreds of snails jailed. Everything was fertilised with Seasol – thank you to enthusiastic grade 5/6 students: Elroy and Noor for keeping a supply going as long as it was needed and also to Snow, Keira and Matteo for helping in the garden. We managed to get more done outside than had been planned.
After lunch we discussed composting, looking at the base ingredients that go into our vegan mix, and built eggshell walls before coming inside to make lemonade with home-grown lemons brought in by Kingsley.
LA6C made many great contributions to our garden journal, including about the really long worms we saw as we gardened.
Friday 26 June
It was a really cold winter day today, so perfect timing for a nice warm crumble. We combined apples with rhubarb from the garden & the students put the creaming skills they practised last week in the garden bed remediation to good effect by creaming butter into flour & combining it with oats and cinnamon. The crumbles looked, smelt and tasted great; particularly yummy served hot with cold yoghurt on the side.
We had a surplus of drinks to go with our crumble: warm apple-peel tea that we made from our apple peelings, and cold lemonade that was made yesterday. LA6C even got to watch 30 minutes of the Australian soccer match once they had tidied up & their crumbles were in the oven!
After a relaxing time eating & drinking, everyone worked quickly to get the dishes done & get the room packed up for early finishing time at end of term.
It was a real pleasure having you in Kitchen Garden, LA6C. We hope you enjoyed it too!
Thank you to all the helpers who came in - Doug, Maureen H, Helen & Maureen K
Please click through all the photos below to see LA6C in action
