Kitchen Garden News – Grade 3/4 

You may have walked past our school garden recently expecting to see a  bare winter garden but in fact you have probably been surprised to see so much growing and maybe wondered what it all is.  In the garden we currently have a long list of veggies, herbs and flowers. You may not have seen or tried some of these : beetroot, cabbage, spinach, onions, carrots, broad beans, cauliflower, broccoli, snow peas, mizuna and tatsoi (Asian greens), globe artichokes, spring onions, kale, rhubarb, coriander, chives, garlic, white kunzea (a herbal bush tucker), ginger, thyme, rosemary, cat mint (lemon), pansies, lavender, calendula (flower) and feijoa (Brazilian fruit).  

Thanks to the wonderful gardening skills of Evyn Taylor, our Garden Specialist, we have kept producing enough veggies and herbs through these cold months to give Kristie in the kitchen lots of recipe options for her cooking groups to enjoy. This has also been an ideal time for Evyn to teach students the skill of propagating seeds.  

You may have also noticed that Wednesday and Thursday are very popular school days especially if it is your child’s turn for their kitchen/garden session. Every Wednesday and Thursday when Evyn and Kristie walk through the school to pick up their next group they are greeted with enthusiastic students bursting with excitement to be going to the kitchen garden. This is also indicative of Kristie and Evyn’s genuine care for the students and their enthusiasm for developing students’ love of learning around growing, preparing and eating healthy and delicious food. There is always something exciting and new to discover in the Kitchen Garden. At the moment students are having a competition to guess the weight of the enormous pumpkin that was grown in the garden of our Garden Specialist, Evyn. The winner gets the pumpkin, so be prepared !! 

In the kitchen, students have been cooking apple crumble, pumpkin soup with garlic flatbread, fried rice, pasta (from scratch) with a tomato salsa, bushtucker (the favourites being kale chips and damper) and this week, spring rolls. It is great seeing the students bravely trying new things and they often amaze themselves when they discover they actually like something they thought they wouldn’t. Thank you Evyn and Kristie for your gentle encouragement and your enthusiastic and engaging lessons with our students.  

Dorothy Raymond  

Assistant Principal