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Busy times at the Learning Centre

The kitchen and garden at our Learning Centre at Collingwood College  have been sites for much activity recently. Two fantastic workshops were run on a Saturday in late May. Jenny England from Merrywood Plants led an informative workshop on espaliering and Sandy Leatham of Benalla’s Hook & Spoon led a very popular sausage and salami making workshop.

In the garden Jenny expertly demonstrated various espaliering techniques. This technique is particularly popular with inner-city residents where garden space is limited. Any information on how to produce more produce in a small space is always welcome.

Jenny also showed the group the different types of rootstock needed for espaliering particular types of trees. The participants then got their secateurs out and had a go themselves! They learnt how to prune problem trees, providing some new approaches to tackling trees in their own gardens.

In the kitchen Sandy Leatham led a popular sausage and salami making workshop. Participants found the whole process extremely interesting and the end result ‘melted in your mouth’. Sandy discussed the importance of ageing the beef before using it and the different aspects involved in bringing the meat from ‘paddock to plate’. The group created a big wheel of sausage before twisting and turning it into individual small sausages and tying them up. Sandy shared that the Spanish would create this wheel for times of celebration within the family and villages.

Liberty Casings kindly donated the natural casings for the workshop, and helped create a great atmosphere, sharing their knowledge and expertise, answering lots of questions and showing participants how to deal with their delicate product.

Participants were delighted with using the sausage machine and pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use. The process of creating sausages was demystified! Everyone rotated through the different jobs needed to create the sausages. It was a fun activity for all, and all were amazed by the end result.

The group made three types of sausages on the day and took these home to enjoy with family and friends. The sausages were:

• Mutton, pumpkin, sage & garlic sausage

• Pork & parsley sausage

• Italian sweet sausages

Sandy prefers the sausages to rest before being eaten so brought in a range of her own pre-made sausages for the participants to eat for lunch. For lunch, Sandy brought in her own pre-made sausages as she prefers the sausages to rest before being eaten. The delicious lunch spread included:

• Sandy’s pork and fennel sausages

• Spicy tomato chutney

• Fennel & orange salad

• A green salad

• Phillippa’s bread and Tarrawarra wine

Click here to find out about upcoming public workshops.

Jenny has generously supplied her espaliering workshop notes to all Kitchen Garden Schools and Subscribers – just search for ‘Espaliering’ in the Resource Library of the Shared Table.

Sandy has generously supplied her sausage making workshop notes to all Kitchen Garden Schools and Subscribers – just search for ‘Sausage making’ in the Resource Library of the Shared Table.