Term 2 - A Sensory Garden Makeover and a Feast of Garden Goodies
Term 2 flew by really quickly. We have been really lucky with the weather most of the time, and when we weren’t, we ended up in the staff kitchen cooking delicious meals with our garden produce.
It started with our annual kumara harvest. It’s been the second year we’ve had success growing kumara, as well as growing our own kumara tipu, which takes several weeks. The vines started to turn yellow, and the kumara tipu have been growing since November of last year. We pulled the vines off and started carefully digging with our hands for the gold. The tamariki have been so determined to find them all, making sure not a single kumara gets missed! It was another great harvest, and we stored the roots for a cooking day.
This term, our school garden has been a hive of activity and transformation. We gave our sensory garden a much-needed makeover by mulching around the plants, ensuring they have the best environment to thrive. LJ from Te Puke Landscape Supplies provided us with a load of fresh cedar mulch. The garden now looks even more inviting, and the plants are happier than ever!
But that’s not all! Our garden has provided us with an abundance of produce, and we’ve turned it into a series of delicious culinary adventures. Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to:
Lemon Cupcakes: With lemons from our very own lemon tree, we baked the most delightful lemon cupcakes. The zesty aroma filled the kitchen, and the cupcakes were a hit with everyone.
Kumara Chips: Remember the kumara we harvested and stored earlier? We turned them into crispy kumara chips. It was a perfect snack that everyone enjoyed, and it was wonderful to see our hard work in the garden paying off in such a tasty way.
Feijoa Cake: Feijoas from our garden were transformed into a scrumptious feijoa cake. The unique taste of feijoa made this cake a standout, and it quickly became a favourite treat.
A Veggie Soup for Matariki: Our pumpkins and garlic came together in a warm, hearty soup along with other vegetables that tamariki brought from home as we cooked soup for this year's Matariki celebration for the whole school! It was a hand-in-hand team effort by students and teachers, peeling and chopping vegetables. By the end of the day, seven crockpots were on the go for the next day's end-of-term festive Matariki celebration! This event showed how rewarding our garden produce can be, and the tamariki were proud to cook with the ingredients they had worked hard to plant, water, and nourish.
Garden Abundance: Our garden has been incredibly generous this year. Alongside our culinary creations, we’ve also seen the growth of a sweet watermelon and an impressive yield of tomatoes.
This term has truly been a celebration of what our garden has to offer. From giving the sensory garden a makeover to enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of our labour in the kitchen, it’s been a rewarding and delicious experience. We look forward to more gardening and cooking adventures in the future!