News

South Australia Professional Development Day

Kitchen Garden School Kilkenny PS hosted our recent South Australian Kitchen Garden Specialist Professional Development day on 12 June. It was the biggest South Australian PD ever with 42 participants in total, including Principals, Kitchen and Garden Specialists, volunteers from kitchen and garden classes and Classroom Teachers.

The day began with a visioning exercise – an opportunity for attendees to think about, and share, their ideal future for the Kitchen Garden Program. The most popular vision for the future was ‘Keeping true to the philosophy’. The participants then broke off into groups to focus on particular skills in the kitchen and garden.

The groups in the kitchen worked hard to create a scrumptious lunch for everyone to enjoy. On the menu was:

• Australian blue lentils with roasted beets
• Black urad dahl makhani
• Mushroom dahl with Australian red lentils
• Polenta
• Chapatis
• Olive oil loaf
• Flat bread
• Herb & potato bread
• Winter tabbouleh
• Lettuce & egg mayonnaise salad
• Roast vegetable & chickpea salad.

No rest for the garden groups either! They were busy learning all about:

• Pruning fruit trees
• Planting for productivity (dense planting techniques)
• Garden class activities
• Garden design activity.

Some feedback from participants on the day:

• ‘The presenters were great!’
• ‘Best PD Day yet!’
• ‘Very informative day with lots of practical advice.’
• ‘I will put the new ideas I heard about today into action at my school.’
• ‘I am always reinspired after catching up with other Kitchen and Garden Specialists.’
• ‘It’s great to hear what other Kitchen Garden Schools are doing.’

The day concluded with a glass of Tarrawarra Estate wine, delicious cheese donated by The Barossa Valley Cheese Company and a recipe and seedling swap.

Thank you to the presenters who generously offered their time to make the day a success:

• Simon Bryant
• Gareth Grierson – Red Door Bakery
• Lolo Houbein
• Harry Harrison – Rare Fruit Society SA
• Monina Gilbey and Mandy Whitrod – Woodend Primary School

For more information about upcoming Kitchen Garden School training see the Our Schools Training page.