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Dig In! The Whitehorse PS community cookbook

It all began when Deb, the Kitchen Specialist, commented that the children's aprons were getting a bit old and tired, and so ... Dig In! was born ...

Whitehorse Primary School in Victoria has just released an absolutely fabulous new cookbook based on their kitchen classes - Dig In! This beautiful book has been led by two dedicated parents at the school, Jane and Nicole. Jane took the need for new kitchen aprons for the students to heart, and set about remedying the situation with a new fundraiser - their own school cookbook. Says Jane:

‘The parents association of Whitehorse PS had recently purchased some aprons for parents to use at school events such as an Election Day cake stall and BBQ we held at the school. The aprons are embroidered with the school logo, look really great and had garnered a lot of positive feedback. When Deb mentioned that the children's aprons were a bit decrepit, I immediately thought of a fundraiser to replace the tired old aprons!

The idea of the cookbook seemed like a natural progression - a sensible fundraiser for kitchen classes.

When I presented the concept to the Parents of Whitehorse, Nicole was immediately enthusiastic and supportive of the idea. Both Nicole and I enjoy gardening, food and cooking and were both very excited about the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program and what it could offer our children.

The next stage was to advertise for recipes in the school newsletter. Almost immediately we received notification that a family from the kindergarten attached to the school, Seedlings @ Whitehorse Kindergarten, was interested in becoming involved: suddenly Chris and Emma, operators of Cordial Creative, were on board!'

Chris says: ‘Jane and Nicole put a notice in the newsletter calling for recipes, so we made contact and offered our design services. We felt this was an opportunity to use our experience in design to help the school create a book not only for fundraising, but also to promote the concept and philosophies of the Kitchen Garden Program.'

Principal Kerry Wood provided the necessary support for the project and the whole school community became involved, offering support and submitting plenty of recipes. Kitchen Specialist Deb gave the team access to her own recipes and Julie the Garden Specialist provided planting notes for each section of the book.

The big task then was putting together the content for the book: deciding on a theme and selecting recipes. Says Jane:

‘The theme of the cookbook was to be seasonal, fresh produce, in line with the philosophy of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Our first criteria for recipes, as it is above all a community cookbook, was to use at least one recipe submitted by each family at the school. Secondly, we wanted to explore and rejoice in the cultural diversity of our school.

We also sought to include many recipes used by the children of Whitehorse PS in the Kitchen Garden Program. We wanted to show the children that what they cook at school is real food - the type of food one might find in a cookbook.

Finally, we selected some fill-in recipes to round out the book and expand on the themes for each season.'

Jane and Nicole then met with Chris and Emma to plan out the project. A couple of design concepts later and Dig In! was in production. Chris says:

‘We wanted the concept of the cookbook to be based on the Kitchen Garden Program philosophy of ‘Growing, Harvesting, Preparing, Sharing'. We suggested the name ‘Dig In!' as we liked the way it referred to gardening as well as food preparation and sharing - everything flowed from that initial idea. We divided the book into seasons and included information for ‘Growing and Harvesting' at the start of each section. The recipes then became the ‘Preparing and Sharing' aspects of the book. Wanting to include as many people from the community as possible, it was a great opportunity to use illustrations from the children of Whitehorse PS and include tips from our Garden Specialist, Julie. The final result is a true team effort that reflects our diverse community and the philosophies of our school and the Foundation.'

This is a great example of what a school community can do with a bit of teamwork and inspiration, and really highlights the way people from different backgrounds can come together to work on a project that benefits all (Whitehorse PS is currently merging two schools).

Dig In! features over 90 recipes as well as planting and harvesting notes for each season. You can order this beautiful cookbook directly from Whitehorse PS from $22.50 for the cookbook, or in a package including a tea towel and wooden spoon in a special Whitehorse PS eco bag for just $28.50, plus postage (great stocking filler!)

Money raised from sales of Dig In! will go towards supplying the kitchen at Whitehorse PS with 120 new aprons for the children, and the garden will benefit from a heater for the outdoor classroom.