A
Difficulties encountered
There was a glut of ingredients from
the garden in 2011. Planning a soup
cook‑up day will be one way to deal
with this. There are also plans to grow
a diverse range of crops and to stagger
crops so that they are not ready for
harvest all at once.
Another challenge has been how to
deal with the fallow period over summer
and how to keep weeds at bay during
holidays when nobody is around.
Youth Environment Forum plants a seed
A thriving food garden and orchard
is now being used by all classes at
Fulham North Primary School. Staff,
parents and students are so supportive
of this focus that the staff voted to have
environment a priority on the school’s
site learning plan.
garden beds and further enrich the soil.
The idea for the food garden came from
the envirokids student environment
group who attended an NRM Education
Youth Environment forum in 2010.
Parents and students painted art works
of giant fruit and vegetables which have
now been put up around the school.
A tree planting day was organised,
with parents and students planting out
a citrus grove, as well as biodiversity
plantings at a range of sites around the
school.
A nude food day was held, with
middle primary classes making lettuce
sandwiches, while the upper primary
classes made healthy salad rolls with
meat and cheese as well as cucumber,
carrot and lettuce from the garden.
With their mentor teacher they
promoted their ideas to the school
community, with the Principal and staff
quickly coming on board.
Beds were constructed using sleepers
and filled with compost. A garden shed
and fence were constructed for storing
tools and protecting the garden area
from unwanted visitors.
Overall the project has been really
popular with parents who are glad kids
are learning about growing food. The
best part is that the students are really
excited about growing their own seeds,
being outdoors and eating the produce
at the end of the year.
Composting was set up using shredded
paper and school food scraps to dig into
B
C
Future plans
At the beginning of 2012 the progress
from the previous year was evaluated
and modifications to the garden
program were proposed, including plans
for winter vegetable crops to be grown
for a special soup day put on by the
school.
Links will be made between the new
Australian Curriculum and the food
garden and more parent involvement
will be sought.
Overall the momentum and drive
for the project will be maintained
through competitions (largest produce,
scarecrow), special days (e.g. the soup
day) and celebrations.
An environment committee has been
formed and, in addition to the hard
work on the garden, a range of other
sustainability projects will be carried
out.
The school is providing time for a
teacher to embed initiatives across the
school and continue to grow the great
work completed in 2011.
[A] Thriving veggie beds getting a little
TLC
[B] Students show off brightly coloured
recycling bins they’ve designed
[C] Dirty hands………
Parents are glad kids are learning about growing food
6