Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden at Chevallum State School

Posted on 04 November 2009

I recently attended a wonderful morning at Chevallum State School to celebrate the launch of their Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Project.  They have been working on their kitchen garden for 12 years now and so the next step was the building and fitting out of a kitchen to enable the children to develop their cooking skills and to learn to cook their garden produce.

The school vision was ‘to entwine the children with the gardens, to deepen their understanding of the nature of life and to encourage them to discover the delights of food through the wonder of gardening’.

As the result of the hard work by Robyn Cook and a team of enthusiastic parents, teachers and community volunteers, Chevallum State School has been awarded a grant from the Stephanie Alexander Foundation to build this purpose built kitchen. It is very exciting for the children to learn how to grow their own vegetables and herbs and then to appreciate the cooking of these and the creating of nutritious dishes.

In her address to the meeting, Robyn Cook, said that the ‘new facility is an asset, one that can be hired out, used for functions, cooking classes and workshops.  Regular gardening and soil nutrition courses will be offered to teach others how to grow nutrient-dense foods and how to cook up wonderfully nutritious foods for families without losing sight that food should also nourish the soul, excite the palate and spark scintillating dinner conversations. We have a vision of the future and when you join us again for the opening of our facilities in early 2010 you will see what that vision is’.  So I look forward to the opening…..

For a complete version of Robyn’s speech – check www.ontheridge.com.au/content/view/104

If you are interested in volunteering – email me and I will put you in touch with Robyn.