Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

SAKG Programme 

News - from the kitchen & garden with Chris and Hadley.

Gardening

The last two weeks of Garden Classes have been jam packed with Spring jobs and making frog zines. The 4, 5 & 6’s dedicated themselves to 2-3 weeks of frog zine making, which the grade 5’s then presented at the Healthy Waterways excursion on Friday 11 September. Students chose one of four species of local frog that occur in the Mount Alexander region and then constructed a 6 page zine (minnie magazine) with specific facts about each species. They used their research skills to record and present information on their frog including; habitat, frog call, breeding cycle and physical attributes. The zines are fantastic and hopefully over term 4 the grade 4 & 6’s will have a chance to present theirs to the younger grades. 

For the last day of Garden Class for Term 3, the grade 5 & 6’s finally got to dig up the underpants that we buried back in early Term 2. In Term 2 we buried the underpants in 3 different spots on the school grounds, one area with deep leaf litter, one with bare earth and one area with grass. Our aim was to compare the different soil areas by looking at the degradation of the underpants over the last 5 months. After digging them up, we also tested the pH of the soil to further investigate what might be going on in the soil. We actually found that many of the soils across the school grounds are quite acidic.

The younger years (prep – 3) have been learning about Spring in the garden and planting vegetables and flowers from seed. It’s always amazing to see how vegetables and flowers grow from tiny little seeds. 

Sadly, I will be finishing up as the Garden Teacher at the end of Term 3. To mark this occasion the preps & 1’s enjoyed a mud kitchen session for their final garden class of term 3. It was amazing to see all their beautiful imaginative mud pies, cakes, brownies and slices! 

Although it has been short, it has been a pleasure to be part of the vibrant Taradale School community. Thank you to all the staff and families for making me feel so welcome! 

Cooking

Grade 4 and 5 Cooking 

Week 10

In Cooking this week, Grade 4 and 5 celebrated the amazing salad greens, spinach, silverbeet, herbs, onions and spring onions we have in the garden and made Silverbeet and Potato Tortes, Greens and Herb Quiche with Mashed Potato Crust (GF) and a delicious Salad of the Imagination with a tasty dressing on the side.

From the garden, we used eggs, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, walking onions,  spring onions, celery, thyme, oregano, fennel, parsley, chives and cos lettuce.

Frankie, Perla, Thea, Douglas and Ulla worked with Julie to make the Silverbeet and Potato Torte. They first made the olive oil pastry so that it had time to rest.  They then grated the tasty and parmesan cheese and washed and dried the silverbeet, perpetual spinach, greens, herbs, onions and spring onions for the filling.  They chopped the silverbeet and  perpetual spinach finely and salted it and washed it to soften the leaves. After recess they divided and rolled out the pastry for 2 tortes.   They carefully divided the filling onto the pastry base and added the pastry top.  While the Silverbeet and Potato Tortes were cooking they cleaned down the tables and set them. 

Thea, Perla and Frankie made the Salad of the Imagination with a delicious dressing.

Vega, Jayden, Sidney, Owen and Cooper worked with Chris to make the Cheese and Greens and Herb Quiche with Mashed Potato Crust (Gluten Free).  Cooper and Jayden cut the potatoes into small pieces and mixed them with oil and baked them in the oven until they were soft enough to mash to form the quiche crust. Sidney and Owen chopped the greens and herbs and grated the cheese.  Vega floated the eggs  to check they were fresh before she whisked the eggs and milk for the filling. Everyone helped mash the baked potatoes to make the crust. There were quite a few preparation steps for the filling and the crust and a few steps to the cooking process (see the recipe) but it was worth it. The team did  great job checking the recipe and cleaning up after each step.

After recess, everyone worked well together to  finish their dishes, clean up, set the table and plate up. 

The recipes for the dishes we made are attached.

This is what they said about cooking this week …

5 stars, top notch Potato Torte!  I chopped the greens for the quiche. Owen

I made the Cheese and Greens Quiche with Potato Crust.  Sidney

The best Gluten Free dish I’ve had at school . Vega

I made the quiche, it was easier than you think.  Jayden

David, Jane, Lea and Emma enjoyed the leftover Cheese and Greens Quiche with Potato Crust too.

Grade 2 and 3 Cooking 

Week 9

In Cooking in Week 9, Grade 2 and 3 made Carrot and Potato Muffins and Apple, Rhubarb and Brown Sugar Muffins and served them at their Geo Expo in the afternoon.

We used rhubarb, parsley, chives and herbs and edible flowers from the garden. 

Allie, Aleida, Phoebe, Poppie and Matilda and Ella worked with Kristie to make the GF Carrot and Potato Muffins. Ella, Matilda, Aleida, Phoebe grated the carrots and potatoes and squeezed out the juice so the muffin mixture would not be too wet.  They grated the cheeses and measured out the gluten free flour and herbs and spices. Poppie and Matilda chopped the parsley and chives finely and mixed them in to the muffin mixture. They whisked the eggs and mixed the ingredients together, then carefully spooned the mixture into the muffin pans. Ella made her muffins without eggs or cheese and cooked them separately in the airfryer. 

Johnny, David, Percy, Oliver Nicholas and Noah made the Apple, Rhubarb and Brown Sugar Muffins.

Nicholas and David and Oliver peeled and grated the apples. Johnny and Bobby and Percy measured the ingredients and whisked the eggs.

Nicholas and Percy and Bobby did the final mixing.  Then Johnny and David and their group put out the muffins papers in the muffin tins and everyone took turns spooning the mixture into the muffin tins.

Everyone did a great job to have their muffins ready to cook over recess. 

After recess, while the muffins finished cooking , everyone cleaned the kitchen, and Percy and Noah and Oliver and Johnny stacked, washed and wiped the dishes and put away them away.

Allie and her group picked flowers from the garden to decorate the platters. Poppie and Oliver and their team cut up the cantaloupe, watermelon and strawberries for the Fruit Platters.

When the muffins were cooked and cooled, Johnny and David and their team arranged the muffins on plates and platters and Allie and her group decorated the platters with edible flowers and herbs from the garden.

Well done Grade 2 and 3 for a great cooking session, we can’t wait to hear what your visitors to the Geo Expo thought about the delicious afternoon tea you cooked.

The recipes for the two types of muffins we cooked are attached.