Tuesday 9 December 2014

End of year celebration

Wednesday 3rd December

After another busy year of gardening we gathered together to celebrate and thank all of our helpers.  What better way to enjoy the new season strawberries than with some delicious homemade strawberry icecream!

The garden club members all took home gifts to thank them for their hard work in the school gardens this year.  A big thank you goes to Grove Mitre 10 for providing us with gardening magazines for all the children.

We are looking forward to seeing all the children back for another year of gardening in 2015.  I wonder how big our sunflowers will be when we get back to school?



Monday 3 November 2014

October Market Day

Held Thursday 30th October

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported our garden club market day.  We had lots of supporters donating, selling and purchasing and we appreciate you all.

We made a profit of $143.50 which is a fantastic boost to our funds.  We will be using the money to purchase new gardening gloves for the children and also to go towards our proposed garden shed.

Lisa's spinach and feta muffins were very popular sellers at the market day and she has kindly shared the recipe with us.  Thanks Lisa.



Spinach and Feta Muffins

1. Wash and then cook/wilt ( zap in the microwave or cook briefly on the stove top) a large bunch of spinach, allow to cool before placing in the food processor to chop finely
2.To the chopped spinach add feta aprox 100 g ( I save 100g to add in larger chunks to the mixture before going in the tins)
3. Then add 1 egg, 3/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of olive oil give a quick wizz to combine
You can add sundried tomatoes, olives etc
4. In a large bowl add 2 cups of self raising flour, 1 tsp salt then add the wet to the dry and mix. I then add my larger chunks of feta 
5. Spoon the mixture into muffin trays that have been buttered or sprayed
6. Bake 220 deg C for 10-15 mins till golden on top and spring back when pressed
7. Makes approx 12

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Blog post by Justine

Today the garden club children were busy creating these amazing seed packets for the sunflower seeds that we will sell at our next market day.  Keep an eye out for them - they are filled with sunflower seeds harvested from last summers sunflowers.


Thursday 4 September 2014

Recipes from 3 September cooking session


SILVERBEET AND COCONUT SOUP
(From Stephanie Alexander’s ‘Kitchen Garden Cooking With Kids’)

Silverbeet (about 10 large leaves)
½ onion
1 clove garlic
1 medium potato
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander
1x 2cm cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups water
½ cup coconut milk

-          Toast coriander seeds in dry pan until fragrant.  Place in mortar and add cumin and cinnamon.  Using the pestle grind the spices to a coarse powder.
-          Peel and finely chop onion and garlic.  Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan then add garlic, onion and spices.  Stir and cook until onion is softened.
-          Peel potato and chop into 1cm dice.  Add potato to softened onions.  Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
-          Separate silverbeet leaves from stems.  Place stems in compost bucket. Rinse silver beet leaves and spin dry in salad spinner. Shred silver beet leaves.
-          Add shredded silverbeet, salt and water to potato and onion mixture.  Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.
-          Remove pot from the heat and using the stick blender carefully puree the mixture until you have a smooth, bright-green soup.
    -          Reheat soup to simmering point and then add the coconut milk. Do not boil or the coconut milk will curdle.  Season with more salt if needed and serve.
 
POTATO CAKES (makes approx. 16)
(From Stephanie Alexander’s ‘Kitchen Garden Cooking With Kids’)
8 medium potatoes
100g butter
½ onion
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons cornflour
Olive oil
-          Preheat oven to 120 C.
-          Peel and grate the onion.
-          Peel and grate the potatoes. (Grating is done most easily using the grater attachment on the food processor).
-          Tip the grated vegetables into the centre of a clean tea towel then squeeze the tea towel over the sink to remove the excess liquid.
-          Melt the butter then tip into a large bowl.  Add the drained grated vegetables.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add cornflour then mix all together.
-          Heat frypan over a medium heat and add a thin film of olive oil.  Make potato cakes by spooning a few tablespoons of mixture into the pan.  Each cake should be approx. 8cm in diameter.  Cook for 3 minutes then turn over and cook a further 3 minutes.  When the potato cakes are crisp and golden put into oven to keep warm.  Continue cooking in batches until all mixture is used.
 
 
CRUSHED POTATOES
Potatoes – scrubbed
Salt
Olive oil
1 tbsp fresh rosemary – finely chopped
               -        Turn on oven to 220 C.
-          Scrub the potatoes and place in a saucepan.  Cover potatoes with cold water and add a pinch of salt.
-          Bring potatoes to the boil and boil for 10 minutes.  Drain and leave to dry off and cool for 5 minutes.
-          Pour a tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of a lined roasting tray.  Tip boiled potatoes into the roasting tray and crush roughly with a fork.  Drizzle over another tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and the chopped rosemary. Toss all together.
-          Bake potatoes for 20 minutes (or longer) until golden and crispy.
 
 
SPINACH AND FETA DIP
                                                       (From taste.com.au)
http://www.taste.com.au/static/images/relaunch2012/print_box.png2 bunches English spinach, leaves picked, washed with water clinging to the leaves
http://www.taste.com.au/static/images/relaunch2012/print_box.png200g (1 cup) fresh ricotta
http://www.taste.com.au/static/images/relaunch2012/print_box.png200g creamy feta, crumbled
http://www.taste.com.au/static/images/relaunch2012/print_box.png 2 spring onions finely chopped
http://www.taste.com.au/static/images/relaunch2012/print_box.png2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
http://www.taste.com.au/static/images/relaunch2012/print_box.png1 garlic clove, crushed
http://www.taste.com.au/static/images/relaunch2012/print_box.pngPinch of salt
-          Place the spinach in a medium saucepan. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and place over low heat. Cook, shaking the pan occasionally, for 1-2 minutes or until spinach is just wilted. Remove from heat. Transfer to a colander and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Use your hands to squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible. Place the spinach in the bowl of a food processor.
-          Add the ricotta, feta, spring onions, lemon juice and garlic and process until almost smooth and well combined. Taste and season with salt. Transfer to a serving bowl.
 
 
 BEETROOT AND CARROT SALAD
350g/12oz carrots, peeled and trimmed
350g/12oz raw beetroot, peeled and trimmed
1 apple, cored
1 small bunch flat parsley, roughly chopped
-          Peel and trim the carrots and beetroot and core the apple, then coarsely grate all on a grater (wear rubber gloves if you dont want pink hands!). Alternatively, use a food processor fitted with a grating plate. Place the grated vegetables and apple in a bowl.
-          Add the olive oil, vinegar and parsley, then toss well. Leave to marinate for at least 15mins before serving.
 
 

 

3 September 2014

Blog post by Justine

For the past two garden club sessions our garden club members have moved into the kitchen to cook using some of our delicious vegetables.  The children were split into two smaller groups so that everyone had plenty of opportunity to really get hands on and involved in the cooking experience.

We made:
Silverbeet and coconut soup
onut soup

 Potato cakes (group 1)
German Potato Pancakes Recipe

Crushed potatoes (group 2)

Spinach and feta dip

Carrot and beetroot salad


The children were great at tasting everything that they made and some were pleasantly surprised that they liked some of the flavours that they hadn't expected to.

The cooking sessions are always hugely enjoyed by the children and they would not be possible without the help of our dedicated parent helpers.  A HUGE thank you goes to Lisa, Tanya, Nicky F. and Andrea who helped at our cooking sessions.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Wednesday 20th August 2014

Blog post by Justine with photo support from Grace B.

Another overcast day in the garden today but that didn't stop us digging for buried treasure.  Today we harvested our crop of potatoes - always a favourite activity for the children.  We dug up over 50 medium to large potatoes and lots of little ones.  Anija and Evie did some great maths working out how many potatoes each garden club member could eat as well as coming up with some good recipe ideas for using the potatoes next week during our cooking session.  Chips and wedges were very popular suggestions.
 Along with our potatoes we also had an excellent crop of worms.  The soil in the potato garden was dark and rich looking and crumbles well between your fingers so it is obviously a good place for worms and good soil for growing vegetables.
 Our final job for the day was to give the play garden a tidy up.  The children pulled out the weeds, added some fresh soil and rearranged the toys so that the garden now looks inviting to play in once again.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

6 August 2014


Blog post by Justine

A rather windy day in the garden today but we got a lot achieved.  The garden underneath Mrs Hahn's office window is now planted with lots of flowers which will hopefully give a beautiful display of colour later in the year.

When planting out the seedlings we looked at the estimated height of all the plants and positioned them accordingly in the garden.  Tall plants like stock and
antirrhinum (try saying that fast!) went at the back.  In the middle of the garden we planted statice and polyanthus, and in the front little orange and purple violas.


 
 
The flanders poppy seeds that we planted last week in the little pots have all sprouted.  When they are bigger we will plant them in our ANZAC garden along with the ladybird poppies we planted today.
 
Finally a really big THANK YOU! to everyone who helped, donated and purchased at the mini-market day yesterday.  We made $130.00 which will help us to buy new resources and also give us money towards purchasing a garden shed.  

Wednesday 30 July 2014

30 July 2014

Blog post by Justine

Great to have the sun shining today as we got out and gave the raised vege garden beds a much needed weed.  The children enjoyed seeing what had grown over the holidays, what had gone to seed and what was almost ready for harvesting.  Quite a bit of restraint had to be shown so that the potatoes and carrots were not pulled out along with the weeds.

We also filled little paper pots with seed raising mix today and sowed some more Flanders poppy seeds for the garden beside the office.  Hopefully these will germinate in the next two weeks. When the seedlings are big enough we will transplant them in their little paper pots straight into the garden.  The pots will decompose in the soil so there will be no rubbish to get rid of.


Next week on Tuesday the 5th of August we will be having a mini-market day from 2.45- 3.15pm to sell produce from our garden.  If anyone has any fruit, veges or seedlings that they would like to donate for us to sell then please drop them off at the office on Tuesday morning.  We are fundraising to buy resources for garden club and also a garden shed to keep our tools and equipment in. We look forward to seeing all there and we thank you in advance for your support of our garden club!

Wednesday 23 July 2014

23 July 2014





Wednesday 23rd July 2014

Blog post by Justine

Welcome back to Garden Club for Term 3!  We are hoping for more settled weather and more opportunities to get out into the garden this term as we have quite a few things planned as we head towards spring.

Some of our plans for this term include:
- Weeding and feeding our existing crops
- Sowing seeds for our spring crops
- Developing the wildflower and ANZAC poppy gardens
- Creating some garden art
- Cooking with our delicious produce
- Holding a mini-market day to sell our produce to raise money towards a garden shed.

Image result for poppy imageImage result for poppy imageImage result for poppy image

We got started on our gardening for this term by spending some time in the orchard today.  There were lots of sneaky invasive weeds in and around our fruit trees so we pulled lots of these out. We also planted lots of daffodil bulbs that were really desperate to get into the ground.  Hopefully they will flower for us this year. We also divided up some of the garlic bulbs that we must have missed when we harvested the garlic last year.  This is a bit of an experiment to see if the individual cloves will fatten up into bulbs.  We will have to give them lots of food to help them grow.

Otis and Ben also spent a lot of time building a house for some baby snails and a spider that Otis found underneath a big rock.  Hopefully the snails will stay in their beautiful house and not come out to eat our plants!
                                 

Sunday 8 June 2014

Wednesday 4 June 2014

Fresh vegetables 
Today's blog was written by Evie.

It's been a few weeks since we have been able to have Gardening Club because of rain.  But rain is really good for the garden so when we got to the vegetable patches the plants were tall, healthy and enormous.







Feeding the vegetables
We weeded and fed the vegetable patch with compost tea.   We checked on all the different vegetables and herbs growing there - carrots, spring onions, potatoes, silver beet.  They are looking good.

After we watered, weeded and fed the vegetables we went over to the garden bed under Mrs Hahn's window.  There were lots of overgrown swan plants and weeds which we pulled out so that we can plant wild flowers there next time.  



 
The wild flowers will look great here and they will attract bees and help bees make honey.














Wednesday 9 April 2014

9 April 2014

Today's blog post was written by Amie and Abbie

Today at Gardening Club we had the grand opening of the Play Garden. The play garden was made by Eva and Lucy's Grandfather, Mr Kelly. The Garden club children filled it with soil and planted the plants.











Mrs Hahn was our special guest for this occasion. Mrs Hahn made a speech, cut the ribbon and declared the play garden open!









Then the gardening club members all got to choose a toy to put in the play garden and spent the lunch time playing in the new garden.











Thank you to all the parents and grandparents that helped make this happen for the children of Good Shepherd School. We're sure the children of Good Shepherd School will enjoy playing in this garden.