Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden
SAKGP Garden and Kitchen Programme
News - from the kitchen & garden with Chris and Eve
Our cooking and gardening classes are each Tuesday
We would love to have more volunteers in both the garden and kitchen classes.
No garden or kitchen skills required, enthusiasm to support the students as they learn is all you need.
If you would like to know more, come into the office and see Chris (Principal)
gardening with Eve
This week in the F/1 and 2/3 class we had an investigation and celebration of wonderful composting worms. The students first learned about the anatomy of worms, what they eat, and the magical way that they turn scraps into fertiliser for our plants. We talked about 'greens' and 'browns' and how we need a combination of the two to breed up microorganisms and kickstart the composting process. Worms love to eat microorganisms and as they do they also eat the partially broken down scraps that the microorganisms are living on and in. The students got to take a look at some worms from our worm farm and also some finished castings and some worm wee. Afterwards the kids split into four groups and rotated around some different activity stations: One group used 'greens' to make some worm muesli by cutting up weeds, garden prunings and fruit skins with secateurs while another group practised cutting and ripping up 'browns' (newspaper and cardboard) to add to the muesli too. The third group used light pink playdough to make worms - complete with their ridges/segmented skins and saddle. We used the worms to create letters and spell out the word WORMS (See pic). I also managed to horrify the kids by referring to worm tea/wee as 'worm juice'! Whoops! The fourth group used yarn 'worms' to pose and then draw their own worm in the same position adding in the mouth, saddle and ridges. We are planning to sell worm wee in the produce cart at school so I will use their drawings to create some fun labels and a sign. In Cooper's words "Worms Rule!"
The 4/5's started on a new garden-art project this week. We are using recycled materials to make some interactive artworks to put around the garden. As our base we are using old bicycle wheels (minus the tyres) as a round loom for weaving. We have a collection of donated or op-shopped yarn and are cutting up old t-shirts into strips to use as well. Once they are finished we can mount them on to posts so that they can be spun. We might even try to make some into wind-powered spinners, and are going to incorporate some sounds as well. There is one in the garden already but keep an eye out for some more colourful sculptures in the next few weeks. The 5/6's will start theirs on Tuesday next week. CERES bike shed is rapt that we are making use of their old bike wheels and saving them from the skip and will be featuring some of the students' creations in their upcoming newsletter apparently!
*If anyone has any old colourful t-shirts or wool to donate that would be amazing! Just leave it in the produce cart or at the office. Baling twine, even holey woolen jumpers can be unpicked by the students to make yarn, so anything is a help.
In previous weeks the students saved seeds and sowed some trays so we now have some emerging seedlings of native everlastings, poa grasses, snow peas, globe artichokes, coriander, perpetual spinach and winged everlastings. The 4/5s took root cuttings of comfrey and Moroccan mint which are now sprouting and they potted up some seedlings of red cabbage, lettuce, rocket, kale and some strawberry runners. They are all settling in nicely and enjoying some warmth before we introduce them to the cold outdoors once they are a bit bigger.
Cooking with Chris
This week in Cooking, Grade 5 and 6 made delicious Pumpkin and Potato Gnocchi, Potato Gnocchi, with Parsley Pesto and Tomato Sugo of the Imagination.
From the garden we used pumpkin, parsley, rosemary, celery and garlic And from the freezer we used baked pumpkin, and tomato passata and from the pantry, herbs we dried last term.
James and Andrew used the tomato passata from the freezer and their secret herbs and spices to make the Tomato Sugo of the Imagination.
Elsie, Anais, Liv, Lanie and their team worked well together to make the Parsley Pesto. They washed and chopped the parsley and garlic, grated the cheeses, cooked the sunflower kernels, and measured out the spices and other ingredients before blitzing it in the food processor. They decided to add more parsley and sunflower kernels to make sure the consistency and taste of the pesto was right.
Angel, Dante, Tahj and their team mashed the pumpkin and then used the Potato Ricer to make the mash even smoother. They needed to add more flour to the gnocchi mixture as the pumpkin was very wet. They did a great job to make sure the mixture was the right consistency. They then grated the cheeses and measured out the spices to create the pumpkin gnocchi. Next time we will squeeze the juice from the pumpkin mash before we add the other ingredients.
Sophia, Lizzy, Grace, Patrick and Levi worked well together to make the Potato Gnocchi. They peeled the baked potatoes and used the Potato Ricer to mash the potato finely and measured out the ingredients and grated the cheeses for the potato gnocchi mixture. They then took turns to knead the gnocchi dough.
As we completed each of the cooking tasks, Patrick and Levi worked really well together to rinse and wash and put away the dishes.
After recess we worked in groups to make the Pumpkin gnocchi and Potato Gnocchi. Everyone worked well together to knead the gnocchi dough, shape it into logs, cut the gnocchi and use a fork to make the marks on top to hold the sauce.
After the gnocchi was made Elsie, Angel and their team cooked the pumpkin and potato gnocchi and Anais and Sophia cooked the Potato Gnocchi. They cooked the gnocchi in batches and made sure the gnocchi floated to the top of the pot so they knew it was cooked.
While the gnocchi was cooking, everyone else cleaned up and set the tables. The Parsley Pesto and Tomato Sugo were plated up so that everyone could choose which sauce they would like on the gnocchi. Levi, Patrick, Dante, Lanie and their teams, finished washing and drying all the cooking dishes.
Grade 5 and 6 all worked very well in their teams to make the delicious Pumpkin and Potato Gnocchi, Potato Gnocchi, with Parsley Pesto and Tomato Sugo of the Imagination.
Tahj and some other students, plated up their Potato gnocchi like the Italian flag.
Here’s what Grade 5 and 6 shared about the dishes while we enjoyed their cooking.
It tastes like Italian food! Tahj
It’s good. I made the Tomato Sugo with Andrew and we added lots of secret ingredients, including dry herbs from the garden. So many I can’t remember! James
It tastes really good – a bit spicy but good. The pesto was very good. Levi
I made the pesto and added a lot more parsley. The secret ingredient was sugar. Lanie
Well done everyone, and thanks Scott, it was a great cooking session.
Recipes and photos below
