Passion for the School Kitchen Garden

By Juneen Shulz

The year our youngest child started at Foster Primary School in South Gippsland was my introduction to school kitchen gardens.

I wanted to volunteer some of my time towards the school that our two youngest children were attending. I wasn’t interested in the canteen or reading or maths—my passion was growing and preparing food. So, with a little courage and lots of enthusiasm I approached the teachers from grades three and four level.

I can still see the look on their faces as they gave me the go-ahead. I’m sure their thoughts were ‘Oh, no—not another parent with a crazy idea, I wonder how long this will last. Give it only a couple of months.’ Little did they know I was in for the long haul, seven years and every Friday—rain, hail or shine.

No dig—what’s that?

A site was located, a small fenced area that once was a garden. It had weeds some metres in height and blackberries rampant in one corner.

‘This will be a challenge,’ I thought. ‘Let’s go no-dig,’ I said.

‘No dig?’ they responded, ‘What’s that?’

How do I act confidently when I really have no idea myself? This was all new to me. I had read Esther Dean’s book on the no-dig method so I guess I felt I knew enough to get me by.

We needed resources and a note went into the school newsletter and students went home and coerced their parents. It didn’t take long before old newspapers, manure, old rice hulls, old hay, seeds and compost were being dumped beside the proposed garden.

The day came to make a start in the garden. With a class of students and their teacher, it was a hive of activity. First, the tall grass was trampled down as there was no way of getting a lawn mower into this very rough, overgrown area. The blackberries were cut and removed. Then lots of newspaper covered everything like a carpet. Manure, mulch, old rice hulls, autumn leaves and compost helped to create the gardens, which were then planted out to veggies. It was a fun time and the garden grew.

Funding by food hamper

In the beginning there was no finance to support the garden, so I thought I would organise a food hamper raffle and raise some funds this way ... if $100 was raised I would be very pleased as a worm farm and some fruit trees were on the wanted list. But over $500 was collected and I was overjoyed. We had more money to spend.

From that time on, the school was able to put away some finance for the continuation of the garden.

Garden to kitchen in the first year

That first year, there was lots of broccoli harvested. This was made into creamy broccoli sauce with pasta. It was a great joy to watch children eating vegetables that were created into tasty and fun meals. For the first few years the growing and harvesting of the kitchen garden continued, with the odd day of preparing and eating the food. Some of the produce was preserved—for example, bottled beetroot—which won first prize at the local show.

During that first year of the kitchen garden, the school won the regional garden awards from the Kevin Heinze School Gardens. The gift voucher from the award encouraged the gardeners to continue to expand. Fruit trees were purchased and planted; grapevines now happily climb up a pergola; and feijoas, strawberry guavas, olives and hazelnuts grow in different areas of the school.

An extremely busy year

One full year was dedicated to revegetation of a section of a small but significant creek that flows along the boundary of the school. A grant was received for the clearing of noxious and environmental weeds. The area was then planted with indigenous species.

This was an extremely busy year of weed clearing, collecting of seeds, propagating the seeds, planting the seedlings—all achieved by the school children from the prep to grade six. It was a satisfying time for the students as they were able to learn about environmental issues. Because the school so bravely took the first step in making a difference with some of the environmental issues regarding water ways, this has now encouraged the continuation of the clearing and revegetation of the creek by the broader community. Another award was won.

During the year of 1999 I completed a Permaculture Design course. The original veggie patch was now displaced as the land no longer belonged to the school, this then gave me the opportunity to design and create a new garden with permaculture principles. I was disappointed by the loss of the first garden but then found joy in the prospect of a new site.

The new garden

Knowing how important the kitchen garden had been for the school community, the teachers were very keen to create another garden. A new site was found and a design produced. With the approval from school staff, this new garden commenced in the year 2000. A change is as good as a holiday, they say. This was the perfect remodelling for the school kitchen garden.

It took two years to complete by my precious little helpers and myself. Contractors were hired to build a fence around the garden and to serve as espaliered support for the fruit trees. I conned my husband to help build the pond, the very last item to be completed in the garden.

It doesn’t stop there—more awards were won and more gift vouchers received. The garden continued to grow, even outside the fenced area. There’s almonds, carob trees, a bush food garden, Chilean guavas, artichokes and a mulberry.

My vision was a school garden full of fruiting plants that could be harvested throughout the year. I can picture children wandering around, picking fruit here or a veggie there as they play. This has been accomplished to some extent—from small beginnings, big things grow. One year when another volunteer could make the time, weekly menus were organised. It has been lots of fun, something I’ve enjoyed that brings a lot of fond memories.

My real career discovered

I’ve moved on from this school, these past two years, and have become involved with 10 other schools in the district. During 2003, when I was at Foster Primary, I had a visit from Tim Howard, who works with the Southern Health Services for South Gippsland.  He liked what he saw. So, with his energy and persistence, he was able to source funding to kick-start 10 schools within the district getting a kitchen garden developed. The schools were found and I travelled to each during the middle of last year to meet with students and staff and to take a look at their grounds.

It was an inspirational time, talking with the kids. We talked about what they would like in their gardens, what food they enjoyed eating and whether they would have fun helping create the gardens.

Each school had a different need and it was interesting to visit the many different sites. Most of the schools already had their sites chosen; this made the work a lot easier. With ideas tossed around and input from the students, the schools were ready to make a commitment.

Education days

Tim found some more funding to run an educational day, which volunteers and teachers were invited to come along to. This was well supported by approximately 20 people. The lessons organised were simple and hands on and the attendees all went away with gifts kindly donated by hardware stores. It was a fun day, with the hope that each school would be inspired.

A competition was also organised through a local nursery and some very amazing garden designs and models were made by the children. Prizes were given to each of the schools that participated.

A further education day was organised for this past autumn to inspire schools with the idea that gardening doesn’t stop because it’s winter. A lecturer from the TAFE College came to encourage schools to think about planting fruit trees in the school grounds. There was much to learn from these educational days; there were ladies who taught mosaics and basket weaving—all these great art works that can be incorporated into the garden. I believe most schools would have benefited from the educational days, but then to return to their schools and put this into practice can sometimes take a lot more energy than they had.

Practise the focus

Both Tim and I have now identified that a day spent in the garden getting our hands dirty with staff and students from the individual schools seems to be the next step. This has been put into practice in recent weeks with one of the schools. It worked wonders. There was lots of path-building with bricks, lots of newspaper placed on the existing soil and lucerne hay and mushroom compost to create the garden plots. Seedlings and seeds were planted and watered with much enthusiasm. A fun day was had by all. One little boy was so determined to stay in the garden because he had such a great time that he wasn’t prepared to go back to class.

The reports we have heard from this school are all positive; they just needed a little help to get started. This may be the answer to some of the schools who struggle to find reliable enthusiastic volunteers. There are other schools who are plugging away nicely—they have very supportive parent help. This seems to be the solution.

Encouraging volunteers

How do we encourage volunteers to support such a great program? The benefits to the students are unimaginable. The stories shared in the garden are treasured. The knowledge they learn from the garden is forever.

When she listened to their stories from the garden, the principal from Foster Primary School was blown away by the knowledge the children had gained. The fun they had when sharing food or trying new food was always pleasurable to see.

I would like to think that every child has the same opportunity to be part of a kitchen garden where they can grow, care, harvest and eat their own food.


Published in Kindred issue 25, March 08

Previously published in Australian City Farms & Community Gardens Network Community Harvest 2006.