Summer is a very colourful time in the kitchen garden with a huge amount to harvestof all the warm vegetables and herbs. Today we picked our first harvest of incredibly fresh, healthy, flavour filled tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, zucchini and corn form our garden. We can’t wait to cook and eat it all on Tuesday! Shabbat Shalom – 4B

The plants are  “shooting into the sky” as described by a Year 3 student. The artichoke flower is a clear favourite – looking at the photo you can tell why!!! Strawberries are a  plenty are being shared among all.

Students have fun “diving” into the broad bean plants to hunt for all the hidden beans. Sampling as they went was a must! Students also seed saved some of the beans to plant next winter. This process helps them understand the science of life cycles and impacts of weather for seed germination and seedling growth.

Photo above – 4A students displaying their brilliant team work As they turn the soil and add rock dust (crushed rock containing minerals and trace elements) to replenish nutrients in preparation for summer!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers the program would not succeed without you!!

Happy spring gardening,

Julie

Lots of tasty Winter/Spring vegetables to harvest from our Year 5 garden beds – broad beans from long tall stems and root vegetables such as parsnips! Yum ! 5A

Wednesday lunchtime we were very shocked to find 2 chickens running around the school oval!!!! We quickly rounded them up and started to investigate.

There was a big gap in the wire that they had dug up as it touched the ground. We found some big wood and boxes to block up the hole. Knowing this wasn’t going to hold up, we got some wire, a drill, hammer and clips to screw the wire to the wooden pole. We wanted to make sure we blocked the hole for good! We were really proud of each other as this was our first time using a hammer, screws and drill.

This wonderful Winter harvest from our school garden was put to great use in the Kitchen at the end of Term 2.

We made delicious Pumpkin Gnocchi, Potato and Rosemary Pizza, Broccoli and Herb Frittata, Roast Beetroot, Spinach and Fetta Salad and as an end of term treat, Chocolate Chip Cookies.

These recipes provided a great opportunity to incorporate Maths into our Kitchen lesson as students had to use their maths skills to calculate how to divide their Pizza & Frittata evenly amongst the number of students in their class, as you can see below.

As always, all recipes are available to download on the ‘Recipes’ link above.

Towards the end of Term 2, the Year 4 & 5 students did a wonderful job of cooking warm winter meals and treats for the Lighthouse Foundation. The students made trays of Cheesy Broccoli Pasta Bake, Vegetable Slice, batches of hearty Minestrone soup, Pumpkin and Spinach Pinwheels and Apple and Cinnamon muffins. All the dishes incorporated fresh, seasonal vegetables grown and harvested by the students from our school garden. The students also assisted in packaging the food before it was delivered. The volunteers at Lighthouse were extremely impressed by the quality of the nutritious meals prepared our Year 4 & 5 students and were most appreciative of their very kind donation.

All recipes are available under the ‘Recipe’ link above.

CLICK on the below links for more information on the benefits of nature!!!!

Behind the News – National Schools Tree Day 

National Tree Day: A Prescription for Health, Happiness and Fulfilment

Each year Bialik takes great pride in being a part of National Schools Tree day to continually extend our Indigenous Garden and provide a safe habitat for local wildlife.

Autumn has arrived and students are noticing many changes in the garden!  They are turning and nurturing beds, winter veggies are being planted and seeds sown. Students have been harvesting pumpkins, zucchinis, snow peas, silver beet, king purple beans, carrots, onions and of course lettuce.

Our cherry tomatoes have been enjoyed straight from the vine.  It has been interesting for some children to taste how fantastic and sweet a yellow and orange cherry tomato tastes when picked direct from the vine.

We are starting to create new garden bed signs and build trellis for the broad beans.  Making organic pesticide is a must at this time of year!

Happy gardening,

Julie