Tuesday 22 July 2008

School vegie gardens


Backyard Cabbage, originally uploaded by LollyKnit.

Lots of parents in Bayside are talking about the fabulous kitchen garden which has been developed at Cheltenham Primary School. As far as I understand it, each class gets a vegie plot so the kids can learn to plant and harvest seasonal vegies and then there is a classroom cooking program so that the children can get involved in understanding - and enjoying - how that produce goes from the plot to the table.

Funny thing is, people talk about it as such a creative standout feature, but really, shouldn't all schools be doing this as a natural part of early education?

A vegie garden doesn't require much space but in this day and age when food is so removed from nature in the eyes of many children, it seems such an obvious thing to be doing at primary age.

Acclaimed food writer Stephanie Alexander has done amazing things with her kitchen garden program in Australia but this is also something many schools can develop themselves.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our Primary school (my kids that is) has a similar scheme, over here in the North East of Melbourne.

The kids really enjoy it.

LBA said...

Love that photograph !

My 80's high-schooling involved vege patches and 'Agriculture' was a class as part of the regular curriculum .. but I grew up out of the city.
Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Hopefully, this trend will continue... and also at home ...