Kids Growing Veggies
Posted on 10 September 2011 by Wendy Stenberg-Tendys in Parenting, Women
Elizabeth Downs primary school in South Australia is one of the first schools to be supported by the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. The foundation provides funding, guidance and training for primary schools to set up their own facilities and develop lessons for all age-groups, based on the full food cycle.
It was an impressive sight to see 30 kids sitting down to enjoy a dish of spinach and tomato sauce. They also had samples of rice biryani, polenta and a Caesar salad, before finishing with lemon pudding. The students had a part in every stage of the preparation of the meal.
All students have one lesson a week working in the garden and one lesson a week in the kitchen.
“The focus of the program is not to ‘eat this because it’s good for you’, says Kate Harbison, kitchen supervisor at Elizabeth Downs. “That’s the wrong way around for us. We eat it because it’s yummy, crunchy or fun. It’s all about embracing new things.”
The school garden boasts a vast expanse of veggie patches, fruit trees and even a hen house, established two years ago. This covers an area that was once only filled with grass and weeds. The students help with everything, from building the plots, planting seedlings, making compost and tending the crop, through to cooking the vegetables.
According to Kate, the benefits are immense and wide-ranging both for students and their families, particularly in a region of high unemployment and low incomes. “The teachers have noticed enormous changes in the attitudes of the students since the project has been in operation.”
One of the students, Tyson Johnson-Bell, is just one of the many who have started veggie patches at home. “My favourite veggie is corn,” he says. He noticed the added benefit of picking it fresh, instead of just buying it from the shop. “It’s a lot juicier straight from the garden,” he says.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] One of the first schools to be supported by the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, is Elizabeth Downs primary school. Read how they aim to get kids to love veggies… [...]