It was a fabulous sight that greeted the new and continuing students of Year 4 and 5 in the Kitchen garden during week 2 when they returned. They fought their way through the forest of corn, past the overflowing tomatoes that were teeming with busy bees to the enormous zucchini and squash, and colourful and fragrant Thai and purple basil. It was so exciting to hear their “wows”.
We harvested buckets of produce and fed the garden with some of the beautiful store of worm tea that had accumulated over the holidays.
This Year we also welcome the participation of the Year 1’s who, as part of their inquiry on seeds will plant and germinate a variety of seeds that we will be able to use in the garden. Daily collections of food scraps are being collected for the hungry worms and Mr Gibbons’ Year 5/6s are madly recycling all paper in the school too. It has been
exciting to be able to supply the canteen with beans, corn, capsicum and spring onions for the fried rice and we look forward to being able to contribute a lot more to the menu in the coming months.
The biggest thrill for me was to shovel out the rich, dark, moist compost that had perfectly decomposed over the break and feed the garden beds, a wonderful reminder of how to recycle our fresh food and garden waste.
Josh Byrne from Gardening Australia made a visit to the school and was thrilled with the sight of the bursting garden. He hopes to get back to Margaret River soon to speak to the students and maybe help out for a morning.
We really are looking forward to a productive year in the garden and hope it will provide the students with a positive and educational experience and as always welcome any volunteers to come along and help. All inquiries to Geoff McLeod at the office.
Susie
Canteen