Bake Sale is BACK!
Our much awaited Garden to Table Bake Sale took place this week.
This is a bake sale with a difference; the STUDENTS are the chefs and we try, as far as possible, to include some garden produce in all our recipes!
* Chocolate Beetroot Brownie
* Lemon Muffins
* Herby Breadsticks
We collected $674.90 from our sales. The money raised is going towards new kitchen items; in particular we are keen to get a new oven.
As 2 new classes start their 6 week programme of Garden to Table, we bid a farewell to our wonderful Garden leader - Karen. She has supported our Garden to Table programme since we started in 2021! We wish her all the best for her future ventures.
Karen has set up the veggie garden areas really well so the transition for David and Olivia to take over was seamless.
The students got straight into harvesting, weeding and, of course, composting!
We have moved the compost into the 'stomach' to breakdown further. You can already see the layers breaking down!
To introduce all the classes to our new compost system, they have been making 'Compost Stew'
We started by talking about WHY we compost, how it benefits US and the environment.
We all had a look at the BLACK GOLD compost we had in a jar and the compost Room 7 and Room 8 made last year. It took over 6 months but has now turned into beautiful, rich black compost.
* GREENS (to add nitrogen)
* BROWNS (to add carbon)
* WATER
* AIR
We had 2 jars so got into 2 teams. Then we got with a buddy, we had to collect either greens or browns in an old ice cream tub.
We started by adding soil to the jar then we add greens and browns in layers;
- green , soil, brown, soil and keep going like that.
We didn't squish it down too much as it needs air. We then added water and a paper towel on the top which had an elastic band around it.
In the jar there is also FBI - Fungi, Bacteria and Insects. They are in what we took (the layers) and they will help make the compost and the level on the compost go down.
We will leave it somewhere in class where it will get sun and each week measure the compost (height and temperature).
I predict the compost stew made by our year 3's will make compost faster because it has more air and the pieces inside the jar were smaller.
By Aimee.
Over the last 6 (school) weeks Room 4 and 3 have been busy in the garden and kitchen.
They have been...
* clearing garden beds after the summer
* learning all about how to maintain our new hot compost system
* planting for autumn
When the students have been in the kitchen they have been enjoying cooking heir favourite dishes (herby breadsticks!) as well as learning new skills and recipes. Show students even commented they enjoyed washing up!
All recipes can be found HERE if you want to keep cooking and try them at home!
Need some ingredients? Talk to Miss Long if you need some herbs or greens from the garden.
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| before... |
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| after!! |
Our well regarded Garden to Table programme is BACK for 2025!
Room 4 and Room 3 classes have sessions this term.
Some of their activities and learnings so far include:
* How the new hot composting system works - and collecting 'greens' and 'browns' for it
* Planting from seed
* Vegetable and herb identification
* Identifying weeds and removing them
* Naming garden tools
After all students had done a 'knife safety' refresher lesson they were straight back into cooking!
We have started with some firm favourites to get us back into the swing of things with recipes such as:
* Herby breadsticks
* Chocolate bliss balls
* Greens & cheese fritters
* Brownies
All recipes are available - click on the link HERE or just ask Victoria or Miss Long.
This week we went for our first visit of the year to our 'adopted park' William Green Domain.
After we had checked on the native trees we planted last year (and removed / flattened some weeds around them) we had lunch and a play on the playground.
Levi had brought along some special lunch snacks; some edible seeds from a kahikatea tree. Everyone was keen to try them. They tasted quite sweet, some said they were like apple.
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| trying some kahikatea seeds |
The next activity was a scavenger hunt going round trying to find different things in nature like our four whānau trees!
We also collected some harakeke seeds. Levi will look after these and we hope we can pot them up then eventually plant them at the park!
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| spotting koru and cabbage trees |
We also talked about different kinds of weeds; the ones round our native trees, others that the bees like, taro and the dreaded moth plant pod!
We managed to find a lot of tiny moth plant pod growing and removed about 200 seedlings growing. We removed many big pods last year and we were pleased to see there weren't too many more!
"I liked the scavenger hunt and looking for different birds and native trees" (Ruby)
" I liked learning about the new trees, like the tallest tree in New Zealand and how lots of different birds like eating it" (Mila)
" I learnt that harakeke has seeds; I thought Tui just sucked the nectar. We collected heaps of the seeds which I really liked doing. I also found looking at the wasp nest interesting because it looked like it wasn’t really attached to anything. (Aimee)
" I liked collected the seeds and playing on the playground" (Issac)
"I wondered why we saw a dead fish in the stream..." (Kane)
We are gearing up for better weather and getting active by walking, biking and scootering to school. We are now focusing on a new enviro to...
