Walk To School Thursday

What a great morning we had on Thursday. Over 300 children made the decision to get up a couple of minutes earlier than normal and walk to school. On arrival there was a great breakfast spread waiting for them.

With the help of a keen and hard working staff we managed to serve juice, bircher muesli and breakfast muffins loaded up with baby spinach, tomato, bacon and melted mozzarella cheese

I have had so many requests for the recipe, from children, parents who were there and staff,  here it is.
The one thing about all the food was that I chose two two dishes that children will be able to make themselves at home. Of course when it comes to heating up items in the oven, it is important that there is adult supervision to ensure the safety of the children.

This is what the children had
Bircher Muesli  
             2 cups of vanilla yogurt   ( I use yogurt that I make myself. If you haven't made your own, its worth giving it a try)
             2 cups of rolled oats
             1 cup of milk
             1 handful of dried apples (diced)
             For those that don't have a nut allergy, add a handful of mixed nuts.

 mix all of this together in a large mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
  I then put this bowl in the fridge overnight.
When serving  put fresh bananas, blueberries or whatever fruit you would like with it. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and that's it ready to eat.

Breakfast Muffins

            1 English muffin split
            Basil Pesto  (warning : this can contain nuts)
            Baby spinach leaves
            tomato
            bacon  (cooked and crispy)
            Mozzarella cheese

Layer all the ingredients on the muffin in the order that they are written. Leave of the pesto if anyone is allergic to nuts. Place on an oven tray and heat in the oven until the cheese has melted and gone golden brown.
Carefully remove from oven and enjoy while hot.

Finish this off with a glass of fresh juice and you have had a great easy breakfast to start the day.

To other things happening around the kitchen garden this week.

On Tuesday we are having a visit from the Stephanie Alexander Foundation. They are coming out to have a look at what we have in place and discuss what we have planned for the future.
The year 6 classes have been studied the scientific properties of yeast in their science lessons. They are going to start to make different types of bread so they can see first hand what yeast does to both the appearance of bread and its taste.
We are also starting to see some volunteers from our 2 community partners, Seed Savers and Perennial Poppies come on site and start to work in the gardens.
So as I said, we have had a busy week and more to come.

Until next week,

Stay safe and enjoy life

Ross T

      

First up, my apologies for not updating the blog for a couple of weeks.  People from the school community will know that the last couple of weeks have been very hectic preparing for the annual concert, then we went into our spring vacation so the blog was put aside.
Even though this was going on, the garden and the kitchen did not get neglected.


We have spent time re-arranging the hale bales into their final gardens and staking up the tomato plants and thinning out some of the other crops.
Spinach is ready to be cut and the snow peas are coming along well. The carrots are almost ready to pick.

There are plans already to extend the size of the garden. We are looking at having a second garden, that will be a dedicated vegetable garden.

As crops are picked in the existing garden, that area will be devoted to herbs, flowering crops and ornamental vines such as gourds that can be grown and children in the lower school will be able to use them as musical instruments

In the kitchen we had two solid weeks of cooking with the Year 5 French classes and the Year 6 Japanese classes.

The Year 5's spent their time cooking crepes and sitting down and enjoying eating their results. These classes were the first to use the kitchen on mass and the end results were extremely pleasing.
The  facilities and the layout of the kitchen worked better than our expectations. With 28 children and 7 adults in the space, there was no feeling of being cramped or overcrowded.

The Year 6 children cooked Sushi the following week. This had more preparation time and was more complex to assemble, but the children really showed how talented they are and made some very good looking sushi rolls. They made two types, one was a ham and cucumber and the other was a chicken, mayo and lettuce.

All this wouldn't have been possible if we didn't have the support from our parents, both mums and dads, who came in and helped the children. Thanks to all of you.

Next week we have the pizza oven arriving. We are building a secure lockable area to place it. We are hoping to start the construction of both in week 4.

For those people that are reading this and not in contact with members of the school community, the other piece of great news is that the school applied for, and received a $60,000.00 grant from the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. (If you would like to read more about the Stepahanie Alexander Foundation go www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au ) This grant is run in conjunction with the Queensland Government and is to be used over the next 3 years to get our gardens and kitchen fully established and the program integrated into the Burpengary school's curriculum.

Until next week stay safe and enjoy life,

Ross T

Our Gardens Are Up and Growing

What a great day the kids of 7B and I had on Wednesday. Bunnings at Morayfield came out to the school with a truck load of plants and equipment for our garden.
The kids had worked really hard assembling the 4 garden beds that Bunnings had already donated to us. We had those in place and filled with soil ready for planting. As Jenny and Josh (from Bunnings) came in we noticed they were carrying another 2 garden beds. It didn't take long for a couple of children to get those assembled and ready for planting.

"I think this joins to this?"

Almost finished.

We've finished.

Once that was done, the children were keen to get planting. Bunnings had brought along gloves for each child, hand trowels, diggers and forks. The first bag opened had the kids turning up their noses, they had discovered what blood and bone fertiliser smelt like. Once they had spread that throughout the beds, Jenny and Josh spent alot of time explaining to the children how to transplant all the seedlings without excessive stress. Depth to plant and distance between plants was explained as well. The children really worked well and planted out all the varities and then labelled them.

The final things to do was carefully cover all the garden beds with a layer of mulch then water all the seedlings.

All the children were pleased with their great work and have organised a roster system for the class to keep up a good water suply and make sure they keep the gardens weed free.

Jenny and Josh helping erect the garden. 

Working hard to move the soil.

Last load.

Working on the beds

Carefully planting Chives.

There was one garden bed left unplanted. On Friday 7C came into the garden and have planted this with seed potatoes. They are using a no dig method of growing these, so they will be constantly monitoring the growth of them and covering the new stem growth with new mulch and soil.

Again a big thankyou must go to Bunnings Warehouse. None of this would have been possible if it were not for their outstanding support.

One of the finished beds

What a Great Week for the School

This week was a special one for all the school.

Our first piece of  good news was that two community groups have formed a partnership with the school to add their vast knowledge bank to our garden project. Both Seed Savers  and Perennial Poppies are very active in the propagation and preservation of heritage vegetables, herbs and flowers. These groups have offered their support in both knowledge and "hands on" activities to our children. This will mean that we will not only have extra hands to help us, but we also be able to access their facilities and workshops.

It is great to have these two groups working with us. This makes the the project a true community effort.

The second great thing was that the children finally had access to both the kitchen and the senior library. Thursday saw most of the year 5,6, and 7 classes have a tour through the facilities. Instead of me talking more about it, I'm putting some more photos up and some of the children's comments. These were given to me at the end of the day on all sorts of pieces of paper and notes.

I think their comments say it all.

"I can't wait to start using the new kitchen with the amazing kitchen equipment and to eat what we cook."  Shei

"I think the new kitchen is awesome. I'll finally know how to cook."  Tamika

"I can't wait till I get to be a BSS cook. It's going to be so much fun. The building looks awesome."  Kelsie

"The kitchen is totally awesome! I love the huge ovens and I can't wait to start cooking. Just imagining cooking is soooo exciting! Let's hope we can cook cupcakes."  Liv

" I think the kitchen is foodtastic!"  Mac

                        'Kitchen's great, looking forward to cooking. I can't wait for the cooking to start. I'm so excited, It's fantastic!  Brodie

"When I saw the kitchen I was pleasantly surprised. The kitchen looks great and I think the builders have done a good job."   Weng

I think the school is on to a winner with this project.

Until next week,

Stay safe and enjoy life.

Ross T 

Sneak Peak at the Kitchen

Here are a couple of photos of inside the kitchen. I was in there on Tuesday and was very impressed with the facility. I can't image many other primary schools having such a fantastic resource. Once it is fitted out with cooking utensils, small electrical appliances, cutlery etc the children will have an invaluable resource.

This is looking in from the front door. the two  island work benches each have two 4 burner cook tops and an oven underneath

Looking from inside to the servery that
allows easy access to the outside eating area.

This end of the kitchen will be the teaching area. There is a screen to go onto the wall, this will be used to project recipes, instructions etc. This then eliminates the need to use paper recipes.
As you can see, it is a very impressive building, one that all parents and students should be proud to have.


In the other area of the school, the garden fence is coming along well.  I have had great support from the groundsman Denis and we have been able to get most of one side constructed. All the post are concreted in , all that has to happen now is the panels are to be bolted into place. Once that is done I will start on the southern fence. Hopefully by this time next week the garden area will be fully enclosed and just waiting for the construction of the gardens.

When we have official access to the grounds surrounding the kitchen, I will be starting to plant the herb gardens around it. 

So as you can see we are so much closer to having full use of all the facilities needed for the garden project.
The children are starting to get excited about what they can see. All we need now is for the chicken run to be completed and we'll be fully operational.
In next weeks blog I hope to be able to have more detailed photos of both the kitchen and the gardens.

Until then
Stay safe and enjoy life

Ross T                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Great News

Welcome to the Burpengary Green Gardens update.

Some  great news this week.

First up, Bunnings Warehouse at Morayfield has donated four raised garden beds to the project. These will be assembled by some year 7 children, then in June, Bunnings will come to the school with seedlings, potting mixture, gloves etc and help the children plant the gardens.

Second piece of good news is that the fencing for the vegetable garden has arrived. In the next week or so I’ll be starting to build it.  It's come in sections, all I have to do is follow the instructions and install it. Hopefully I won't experience any major construction problems.

The Kitchen has been delayed, but the hand over is now scheduled for next week, so it looks like both kitchen and garden will come on-line simultaneously.

Once I have access to the kitchen I'll be able to post those photos I promised you awhile ago. At least any photos taken now will not include all the rubble from the builders and installers.

I am really looking forward to the next couple of weeks as that is when I can really start to get things "growing". It has been a long time coming but at last we are at the end of the wait.

Until next week,

Stay safe and enjoy life

Ross T

Welcome Back

It's been a couple of weeks since the last update. With the Easter break, then the long weekend, time certainly flew.
While we were away from the school, the construction workers were busy.
I did a walk through of the kitchen today and it's looking great. I was amazed at how much room there is inside. Now that all the cabinets, benchtops and work spaces are in you can see that there is space for a whole class, and helpers to work comfortably.
At the moment the handover of the kitchen is planned to take place in the second half of next week.

I saw a great article on Litter Free Lunches during the holidays. I have modified it slightly so that it is more suited to a school environment, but I think a concept like this is a great way to start to reduce litter.
Give me some feed back on what you think, I would like to get something like yhings going in the school. The amount of rubbish going into landfill would greatly be reduced.

Next week I hope to have some photos of the kitchen on the site. It will give you a chance to get a sneak preview of what the school has had constucted.

Until then, stay safe and enjoy life.

Ross T