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| Matt getting stuck into the potting mix |
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| Nice job Baxter |
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| Great to see Niamh firming down her cuttings... |
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| ...and helping her classmates wash their hands |
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| Danny concentrating hard |
Monday, 16 March 2015
Miss Collin's class had fun in the sun - and the sprinkler!
Miss Collin's class had a wonderful time out in the garden last Friday afternoon. It was one of those rare Canterbury days, when it was stinking hot and there was very little wind. Usually the NE wind takes the edge off the temperatures. Miss Collins and her students enjoyed making new plants from old, and potting up the strawberry runners. By the end of it, we had 25 brand new plants which will be ready for filling in the gaps on our strawberry mound later in the year. As one of the students said "Who doesn't love strawberries? You can never have enough." Well said - I totally agree with you. They then cooled off in the garden sprinkler, and enjoyed a tomato to snack on, on their way back to class! What a great Friday afternoon.
We won first prize in the Lions Environmental Competition - Yahoo!
It's nice to be recognised for all the hard work and effort we put into our school gardens, so it gave me great pleasure to collect the award for the annual Lions Environmental Competition at the weekend. It's no mean feat, as schools from all over the north of the South Island enter.
Well done to everyone for all your hard work, and thanks to those of you that have supported us in any way, shape or form. We couldn't have done it without you.
The award will be on display in the School foyer for the next year. And then again in 2016, when we win it again!
Well done to everyone for all your hard work, and thanks to those of you that have supported us in any way, shape or form. We couldn't have done it without you.
The award will be on display in the School foyer for the next year. And then again in 2016, when we win it again!
Tomato people
Look at the fun we had turning some of our tomato crop into a delicious and good looking snack. Well done Room 16. They tasted yum too.
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| Cassie is very pleased with her tomato person. |
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| Luke looks as proud as punch with his efforts. |
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Welcome back to 2015
Thank you to everyone that helped out in any way over the summer months. I know there were lots of people coming into school watering and keeping an eye on things. It is great to see our gardens looking so healthy after a very dry summer holiday, and I hope those of you that helped enjoyed some lovely produce from the garden.
Our Food Forest is looking particularly stunning at the moment and there is a wide variety of beautiful beneficial plants in full bloom. It may look a bit overgrown and slightly unkempt, but the mixture of flowers and plants are all there for a reason. The beneficial seed blend was broadcast to create a habit for a wide range of insects and to help retain ground moisture, while our fruit trees and bushes become established. The flowers and plants are there to encourage pollinating and predatory insects that will keep our food forest healthy and pest free. These plants will be left to reseed and die back over the winter, and the fruit trees will lose their leaves, but for now the Food Forest is putting on a great show, so if you don’t pass it (and the chooks) on your way to school I would highly recommend a detour to go and visit.
Our gardening and cooking sessions will continue this year and I am really looking forward to working with Year 8's this week. I have some great volunteers, who are super keen gardeners, but what I would really love is a passionate foodie to give me a hand. Parents, grandparents, friends - who doesn’t love food? I’m keen to have a great mix of people, and the food we make comes for all around the world. So if you have some free time and are happy to share ideas, recipes and perhaps lend a hand, please let me know. I can be contacted by email on
suzanne.wood@oaklands.school.nz or drop into the office, leave your name and I’ll contact you.
Sunday, 23 November 2014
Fettuccine and Food Forests!
On Thursday we had a very busy and productive morning out in our Food Forest and in the kitchen. We planted some berry bushes, a lemon tree and some pumpkins in the area. We broadcast a mix of beneficial and bee seed mix for the food forest floor and added some wood chip to the pathway, in front of the chicken enclosure. So many people are visiting our chooks that the grass has completely worn away, so we decided to make the area look a bit tidier by laying some wood chip on the path.
We also did some fruit tree maintenance. To encourage a better crop in the coming years, we removed the few fruit that had started to grow on the trees. We also noticed that some of the trees are suffering from leaf curl, so we removed the affected leaves and gave the trees some food, in the hope that they'll outgrow and overcome the disease. It was a busy time but we all enjoyed it, and as we did our jobs we heard one of our chooks laying an egg. The students loved being able to collect the egg and use it in the morning's cooking.
Once we'd had a tidy and a wash up we headed over to the kitchen to make fettuccine and spinach pesto. Many of our students had never made pasta before and they all enjoyed having a go with the pasta making machine. (One mum told me her son had enjoyed making the pasta so much, he wants one for home now. That's what it's all about!) The pesto making team and I not only made the pesto, but we also got to be the front of house team, and we enjoyed laying the tables and making floral decoration with flowers from the garden to go on the tables. It was really lovely to sit down and share the food together. This is something we don't usually manage to do, as there is often about 55-60 students in one session, so we usually go with finger food and eating in the garden to make it more manageable (and less messy)
Here's the recipes for the day and a few photos.
Pasta
Ingredients:
200g plain flour
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon of salt
METHOD
Thoroughly clean and dry the work space.
Weigh flour and combine it with the salt. Tip onto work bench and make a well in the centre. Crack in eggs and begin to incorporate using flat fingers. Continue to knead the dough until smooth. Cover the dough and rest (ideally for one hour) whilst you clean up the mess!!
On a clean and dry work surface attach pasta machine. Press the dough into an 8cm rectangle and with the pasta machine on its widest setting pass the dough through. The dough will look uneven and sticky. Fold it into three length ways, turn 90 degrees and roll again. Change to next thickest setting on the pasta machine and repeat. Do this 3 or 4 times until the dough looks smooth and even. Once that has been achieved you can start rolling it slowly though the settings until you reach the desired thickness. If the dough starts to get too long cut it into two and work two pieces.
Pass the dough through the required cutter to achieve shape. Flour strips and lay on bench to dry whilst you fill a large pan with salted water and bring it to the boil. Drop the pasta into boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes (taste to check when al dente). Place a colander in the sink. Spoon 2-3 tables spoons of the cooking liquid into the prepared pesto then tip the pasta and cooking liquid into the colander to drain. Return the pasta to the empty hot saucepan and mix in the pesto. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with toasted sunflower seeds.
Pesto
Ingredients:
60g Parmesan cheese
¼ cup sunflower seeds
1 bunch of parsley/spinach
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup olive oil (approx)
salt
METHOD:
Place 2 tablespoons of the sunflower seeds in a frying pan and toast over a medium heat for two to three minutes careful not to burn them and set aside to garnish finished dish. Place remaining sunflower seeds into the food processor.
Weigh Parmesan and grate finely. Divide into two adding half to the food processor and the other into a separate bowl.
Wash and dry the parsley/spinach and peel and crush the garlic. Add both to the food processor.
Process the ingredients until you have a rough paste. Scrape down the sides and begin adding the olive oil and continuing to process until a creamy consistency is reached.
Scrape pesto into a bowl and add remaining Parmesan and salt to taste.
We also did some fruit tree maintenance. To encourage a better crop in the coming years, we removed the few fruit that had started to grow on the trees. We also noticed that some of the trees are suffering from leaf curl, so we removed the affected leaves and gave the trees some food, in the hope that they'll outgrow and overcome the disease. It was a busy time but we all enjoyed it, and as we did our jobs we heard one of our chooks laying an egg. The students loved being able to collect the egg and use it in the morning's cooking.
Once we'd had a tidy and a wash up we headed over to the kitchen to make fettuccine and spinach pesto. Many of our students had never made pasta before and they all enjoyed having a go with the pasta making machine. (One mum told me her son had enjoyed making the pasta so much, he wants one for home now. That's what it's all about!) The pesto making team and I not only made the pesto, but we also got to be the front of house team, and we enjoyed laying the tables and making floral decoration with flowers from the garden to go on the tables. It was really lovely to sit down and share the food together. This is something we don't usually manage to do, as there is often about 55-60 students in one session, so we usually go with finger food and eating in the garden to make it more manageable (and less messy)
Here's the recipes for the day and a few photos.
Pasta
Ingredients:
200g plain flour
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon of salt
METHOD
Thoroughly clean and dry the work space.
Weigh flour and combine it with the salt. Tip onto work bench and make a well in the centre. Crack in eggs and begin to incorporate using flat fingers. Continue to knead the dough until smooth. Cover the dough and rest (ideally for one hour) whilst you clean up the mess!!
On a clean and dry work surface attach pasta machine. Press the dough into an 8cm rectangle and with the pasta machine on its widest setting pass the dough through. The dough will look uneven and sticky. Fold it into three length ways, turn 90 degrees and roll again. Change to next thickest setting on the pasta machine and repeat. Do this 3 or 4 times until the dough looks smooth and even. Once that has been achieved you can start rolling it slowly though the settings until you reach the desired thickness. If the dough starts to get too long cut it into two and work two pieces.
Pass the dough through the required cutter to achieve shape. Flour strips and lay on bench to dry whilst you fill a large pan with salted water and bring it to the boil. Drop the pasta into boiling water and cook for 4-5 minutes (taste to check when al dente). Place a colander in the sink. Spoon 2-3 tables spoons of the cooking liquid into the prepared pesto then tip the pasta and cooking liquid into the colander to drain. Return the pasta to the empty hot saucepan and mix in the pesto. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with toasted sunflower seeds.
Pesto
Ingredients:
60g Parmesan cheese
¼ cup sunflower seeds
1 bunch of parsley/spinach
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup olive oil (approx)
salt
METHOD:
Place 2 tablespoons of the sunflower seeds in a frying pan and toast over a medium heat for two to three minutes careful not to burn them and set aside to garnish finished dish. Place remaining sunflower seeds into the food processor.
Weigh Parmesan and grate finely. Divide into two adding half to the food processor and the other into a separate bowl.
Wash and dry the parsley/spinach and peel and crush the garlic. Add both to the food processor.
Process the ingredients until you have a rough paste. Scrape down the sides and begin adding the olive oil and continuing to process until a creamy consistency is reached.
Scrape pesto into a bowl and add remaining Parmesan and salt to taste.
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| On the way back for another load of wood chip |
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| Charlotte, Amber and Tanika planting berry bushes |
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| The boys enjoying a feed |
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| That's what I like to see James - A nice clean plate and a big smile! |
Broad beans harvesting and cooking
Room 8 and Room 16 worked super hard harvesting, shelling and making some tasty dishes with our Broad beans. It was a great to see all those little and bigger hands popping the pods and collecting all the beans. We made three dishes last week, all of which used veggies from our gardens. We enjoyed sharing a Broad Bean, mint and feta salad, a Broad bean hummus, a radish dip and we even made crackers and harvested our own carrots, which we washed and chopped up for carrot sticks. It was great to have so many students on hand to get through the vast amount of Broad beans we had grown!
Here's a few of the recipes for the dishes we made. They were a bit hit with the students and adults.
Broad Bean Hummus
Ingredients
400g shelled broad beans
½-1 garlic clove, crushed with a little salt
Approx 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Generous squeeze of lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Put the broad beans in a pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes (depending on age and size) until tender, then drain. Set aside to cool, then slip the beans out of their skins.
Put the skinned broad beans in a food processor or blender with the garlic, 3 tablespoons of oil, a good squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Process to a thick, slightly coarse purée, adding more oil if it seems too thick and dry.
When you're happy with the texture, transfer the purée to a bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, pepper and lemon juice as needed.
By Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from River Cottage Every Day
Broad bean, feta and mint salad
Ingredients
450g fresh broad beans, shelled weight
125g Feta cheese, cubed
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
METHOD
Put the beans in boiling water for 3-4 minutes until tender.
Drain well and put into a bowl.
Mix together the oil, vinegar and mint and stir into the hot beans.
When the beans have cooled to room temperature, mix in the cubed Feta and serve.
Broad Bean Hummus
Ingredients
400g shelled broad beans
½-1 garlic clove, crushed with a little salt
Approx 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Generous squeeze of lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Put the broad beans in a pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes (depending on age and size) until tender, then drain. Set aside to cool, then slip the beans out of their skins.
Put the skinned broad beans in a food processor or blender with the garlic, 3 tablespoons of oil, a good squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Process to a thick, slightly coarse purée, adding more oil if it seems too thick and dry.
When you're happy with the texture, transfer the purée to a bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt, pepper and lemon juice as needed.
By Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from River Cottage Every Day
Broad bean, feta and mint salad
Ingredients
450g fresh broad beans, shelled weight
125g Feta cheese, cubed
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
METHOD
Put the beans in boiling water for 3-4 minutes until tender.
Drain well and put into a bowl.
Mix together the oil, vinegar and mint and stir into the hot beans.
When the beans have cooled to room temperature, mix in the cubed Feta and serve.
Crackers
Ingredients:
250g flour
1tsp baking powder
salt
125mls water
2 tbsp oil
METHOD
Mix it all together
Roll it between baking paper,
Sprinkle with topping
of choice (salt, seeds, spices, Parmesan)
Cut using a pair of kitchen scissors and bake for approx 10 mins
Sunday, 26 October 2014
Landscaping the Food Forest
A few of the Year 4's and I were busy last week in the Food Forest getting the landscaping of the paths done. The teams worked really hard filling in the gaps with soil and laying weed mat and wood chip. I was really impressed with the students work ethic and perseverance. Way to go Year 4's - great team work!
Micheal, Ollie and Edward from the Christchurch Horticultural Society came in late last week to lay the rest of the leaf mulch on the beds. Once that was done we were able to plant some spinach and silver beet for our chickens, They'll be able to see it from their enclosure but they can't get at it! Once it's got a bit bigger the Year 4's can start supplementing their diet with it.
It was great timing as everything was done in time for our visitors over our 50th Jubilee weekend.
Micheal, Ollie and Edward from the Christchurch Horticultural Society came in late last week to lay the rest of the leaf mulch on the beds. Once that was done we were able to plant some spinach and silver beet for our chickens, They'll be able to see it from their enclosure but they can't get at it! Once it's got a bit bigger the Year 4's can start supplementing their diet with it.
It was great timing as everything was done in time for our visitors over our 50th Jubilee weekend.
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