Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden 

Sonia Nista  

Kitchen Specialist

Liz Scott

Garden Specialist

News from The Patch

The time has come to clear our beds, top them with soil from the chicken enclosure to get them ready for the summer planting. Over the coming weeks, students will harvest leek, beetroot, broad beans, lettuce, radish, and daikon to use in kitchen classes.

They will pull out old plants, cut them up for both the chickens, and compost. Students will then top the garden beds by digging soil from the chicken enclosure. Students will need to hoe over the beds to incorporate the rich soil. The bed will sit for a couple of weeks to allow the fertilised soil time to seep deep into the beds.

There are many beds that students will need to prepare using this process. Once the beds have rested the students will enjoy planting seeds of corn, pumpkin, cucumber, beans, zucchini, and sunflower. Seedlings of eggplant, capsicum, tomato, spring onion, and lettuce will be planted over the following weeks.

The day has come for me to hang up my gardening gloves at Kingswood. I have enjoyed many days in the garden and have been so thankful to work with Sonia, we made an amazing team and built such a strong friendship. I will miss you Mrs Nista. You have taught me how to make pasta and not to be afraid of yeast, however, you could not get me to like celery!!!!!

To the students of Kingswood thank you for understanding my passion, your enthusiasm to learn and eagerness to get the task completed. Thank you to those who shared and taught me, for those who took on the heavy work when you saw I was tired. Together we grew an amazing garden, produced a beautiful fresh harvest each term, we had huge successes and we learnt that it's ok when things don't work out. 

To the Kingswood family I wish you continued success, thank you for all your support and many chats.

To our valued volunteers, the SAKG program relies heavily on your support. The students are so fortunate to have you help them learn valuable life skills. We are so thankful for your time to be able to contribute to the success of the SAKG program. Thank you.

News from The Patch Café

Do you have this unusual fruit growing in the back yard? Maybe you have seen it on a friend’s or neighbour’s tree. 

For those who have never seen them before, these are Loquats. A deliciously sweet fruit, almost a cross between a plum and an Apricot with 2-4 large seeds inside, so not a very “meaty” fruit. 

 At school, we have 2 Loquat trees, One next to our quadrangle and one right next to the running track on our oval. 

During remote learning some students kindly assisted me to pick some of the fruit which I then prepared and made Loquat Jam.

Originally planted in Australian backyards by Italian Migrants, the Loquat is native to Asia, and when ripe has a lovely tropical flavour, they are also widely grown and valued in China. The fruit is ripe and ready to eat when it turns orange. If they are still green or yellow, its best to leave on the tree to ripen, but beware, birds absolutely love this fruit so an environmentally friendly fruit net could be used to protect your fruit. Loquats are in season now, they can be used in recipes like jams and jellies, but are just lovely all on their own!