FRUITS OF OUR LABOUR

The vegetables and herbs planted by our “Fridays in the Garden” crew last term have been going great guns – see next page for more.

TERM 4, ISSUE 1

Enfield Public School Garden Club Subcommittee

October 2015 Newsletter

WELCOME BACK TO TERM 4

It’s hard to believe we are beginning our final term for 2015. It will certainly be a busy one for Garden Club. CWK continues with Year 6 taking their turn with the tongs, we have our Term 4 working bee, Fridays in the Garden and preparation for the much anticipated Long Lunch. We will finish off the year with the Garden Club Stall at Gala Night.

All and any assistance with any of our events or projects is most appreciated.

Thank you to our Chicken Sitters

Thank you to the Black family for looking after the ladies over the holidays – if you are interested in being on chook duty over the summer holidays, please let us know. We generally have a weekly roster system that involves a daily visit to the chooks to feed them and to let them out for a run, to collect eggs and water the garden (as required)

THE LONG LUNCH

Garden Club’s Long Lunch, is scheduled to take place on

Sunday, 22 November 2015.

Invitations to this event will be sent home with your children

over the next couple of weeks. If you are interested in attending

(or participating in the planning for this event) please email garden.enfield@gmail.com

MORE FROM THE GARDEN

Sugar loaf cabbage

Peaches

Celery, spinach, cabbage, parsley and

coriander

Broccoli

Purple cabbage

Cooking With Kerry on Thursday, 17 September 2015

– lashings of larb from Laos

Kerry brought her great travel experience to EPS in the last CWK for term 3 and engaged the children in cooking:- Rice paper rolls with capsicum,

cucumber, lettuce and dipping sauce.

Sticky rice with chicken larb.

Sticky rice with coconut milk and palm sugar, with the nashi pears and blood orange.

The Laos Cuisine

Fresh vegetables, mountains of fresh herbs, fish sauce, chilli, spices and sticky rice - one of the best features of the Laotian diet, is the almost complete absence of any processed food. Ironically, the relatively poor economic status of this small, landlocked South East Asian country has kept its cuisine fresh, vibrant and healthy for hundreds of years.

The aroma was reportedly heavenly!

Plating up is an important part of any cuisine, as many of us “eat with our eyes” - this is particularly the case with children.

According to a study conducted by Cornell University and London Metropolitan University, children prefer:-

their food to be positioned on the lower part of their plate in some form of design or pattern (whereas adults prefer the food placed in the centre).

7 different components and 6 different colours on their plate (as opposed to the adult preference for 3 components and 3 colours)

http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/outreach/child-plate.html

It was lovely to see the thank you notes that 5R wrote to Kerry following their experience (see a selection below) – such lovely manners! Make sure you check out the article written by 5R’s Imogen Kelly which features in the school newsletter.

Thank you Kerry

Thank you Kerry for your amazing cooking experience. The food was amazing and yummy too. I liked how you gave everyone a fair share with having turns. I liked how you gave us some history about Laos and how you showed us how to make some of the traditional food that we made. From Juanita

Dear Kerry Thank you for having us for cooking. We liked the Asian food you showed us and I liked the cucumber and I ate my cucumber on the beanbags. Signed Jamie

Thank you Kerry for all of the delicious food, really yum. Can all of us make sushi? Thank you Kerry From Zack

Empty plates all round

VISITORS TO THE GARDEN – THE GARDEN AS A GATEWAY TO ENGAGEMENT

Julie Birchley (Assistant Principal) and Ros Hewson (Teacher) from Burwood Public School came to visit our garden on 11 September 2015 to gather ideas for a garden of their own. Resource and knowledge sharing is an important function of a community garden and we hope to have them back to experience a CWK session. Our garden and specifically our Stories in the Garden event will feature in the NSW P&C Federation Journal, as an example of one of ways in which schools and P&Cs can enable participation/engagement of diverse families in our schools, especially in circumstances where the traditional avenues of involvement in the P&C are not for everyone. For those interested in the topic of enabling participation of diverse families, please see the discussion paper commissioned by the NSW P&C Federation for more information - http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/7022/1/PC%20discussion%20paper.pdf

INNER WEST SCHOOLS ENVIRONMENT NETWORK

Garden Club has joined the Inner West Schools Environment Network. The Network is a forum for schools in Sydney’s Inner West. The forum’s purpose is to provide opportunities to share resources and network on environmental education and sustainable school issues. Participants comprise school representatives from government and non-government schools and primary, as well as secondary schools. It includes teachers and specialists, parents and volunteers.