Wednesday 22 August was a big day for our Kitchen Garden Project. Stephanie Alexander came all the way over west to officially launch our Kitchen Garden Kitchen as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.
The day began down in our lovely new kitchen with a series of workshops for a group of teachers and Kitchen Garden specialists. The workshops were organised by Marcelle Coakley, co-ordinator of the WA Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Guest of honour, Stephanie Alexander, led a workshop named “Adventurous Pasta”, cooking from her own cookbook “Kitchen Garden Companion.” Foundation kitchen garden supporter and celebrity chef, Ian Parmenter, had ready helpers for his “Taste of Turkey” cooking demonstration. Then two of our local girls led workshops. Jan Harwood of MR Organic Eggs stretched cooks’ imaginations with her “Tasty Egg” dishes, while Ros Garstone made making cheese look easy. Participants produced Ricotta, Fetta, Halboumi and Fresh Lactic Curd, which was enjoyed by all in the tasting which followed the workshops.
Sustainability experts, John Colwill, Steve McCabe and Garry Heady of the “Beyond Gardens”team led people through a series of garden workshops, including “Backyard Bushtucker” which placed the focus, quite rightly, back on our productive organic kitchen garden. You can visit their website here BEYOND GARDENS.
The kitchen hummed with activity and all participants took the energy and enthusiasm away with them, together with numerous great ideas for integrating the garden with the kitchen effectively.
Marcelle was thrilled with how smoothly the morning had run and said, “It is fantastic and inspirational having Stephanie Alexander here today as she’s not in W.A. often. We are thrilled to have her return again to launch the MRPS Kitchen.”
Many thanks to Mel and Susie for their hard work on the day and to Geoff Mcleod and the whole Kitchen Garden Team for the huge amount of preparation involved in hosting this special event!
Photos by Mel Somerset, Sinan Kerimofski, Lee-Anne Townrow and D. Veary; Written and posted by D. Veary
Canteen