The weather has been quite unpredictable lately, with ups and downs like a roller coaster ride. However, we’ve been making the most of the sunny days by venturing outside and working in our winter garden. There’s always a lot to do! Recently, we’ve been busy planting various winter seeds, including cabbage, broad beans, broccoli, and, of course, carrots, which remain the kids’ favourite!
To ensure the best conditions for our plants, we prepared the garden beds by weeding them thoroughly and covering them with a layer of pea straw. Now, we’re letting nature take its course during these winter weeks. Surprisingly, despite the colder season, we still have a good supply of garden produce. Every week, there’s something new to harvest, with the little Year One class we’ve been exploring various garden greens to take home.
We also decided to put our fresh vegetables to good use by cooking with them. We organised a fun outdoor activity where we made Mini Pizzas using a Pizza maker. Each child had the opportunity to create their own pizza and choose their fresh garden toppings. It was amusing when one of the boys asked, “Why isn’t there any salami growing in the garden?” He ended up trying rocket as a substitute topping and was surprised by how good it tasted. The children had a blast watching their pizzas sizzle away, especially on a cold winter’s day.
One of our crafty activities was for Mother’s Day in May, we created something truly special. The tamariki gathered fresh herbs from our herb garden. We carefully dried them for approximately a week and then proceeded to chop and mix them with coarse sea salt. The final touch was filling a small glass jar with this aromatic blend, complete with a label that was lovingly created by the kids. It turned out to be the perfect gift.
To help our feathered friends, who are facing difficulties in finding food in winter we decided to give them a delightful surprise: homemade pine cone feeders. The kids had a lot of fun creating these feeders. As part of the process, we first learned about pine cones, their fascinating opening and shutting mechanism, and even planted some pine cone seeds in an exciting experiment to see if we could grow our very own Christmas tree.
Next we coated the dried pine cones with peanut butter and dipped them into a mixture of bird seeds. The children enthusiastically hung these feeders all around the garden, on fences and on trees. And you won’t believe it, but just one week later, almost all of the feeders had been devoured by our feathered friends!
Our winter gardening adventures have been both productive and enjoyable. It’s been a great opportunity for the kids to experiment with different vegetables, and appreciate the flavours of homegrown produce. We look forward to seeing what else our winter garden has in store for us in the coming weeks.