Opening of Willow Park's Fruit and Herb Pocket Garden

See the flyer below - please come along to the Willow Park Garden Party to be held on Saturday 28 February from 10-1pm to launch the fruit and herb pocket garden. Willow Park is at the corner of Edgeworth David Avenue and Sherbrook Avenue in central Hornsby – there is only limited parking. There is no need to book….just come along and learn more about community gardening, recycling and energy saving.

This event is ideal for anyone interested in community gardening – Hornsby Council now has a new Community Gardening page on our website with resources….go to www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/communitygardens.

Pumpkin growing for the Royal Easter Show

It’s a fairytale dream come true for the kids at Hornsby Heights – they’ve grown a pumpkin. 
 
Year one and three kids are now tenderly nursing their Atlantic Pumpkin, hoping it’ll grow big enough to be a record breaker in time for the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
They’re taking part in The Great Backyard Pumpkin Challenge, and hope their pumpkin will be a winner at the show, which takes place from March 26 until April 8.
Teacher Kirsten Stroak even went to the school over the summer holidays to water the plants.
“We’ve got two healthy plants and there’s quite a few flowers on both, and the pumpkin we’ve got is about the size of a clenched fist.
“My students have always been very interested in growing things. Every class has a vegetable patch. They are very excited. They came back after the holidays and said ‘how are they growing?”
Entries close at 5pm Wednesday, February 11.
As well as the hotly contested biggest pumpkin competitions, there’s also some more unusual prizes up for grabs, including smallest pumpkin, celebrity look-alike pumpkin and best decorated pumpkin.

Full article in the Hornsby Advocate

Newsletter Term 1 Week 1 2015

Welcome Back for 2015!

Thanks
A great big thankyou to families that baby sat our chooks during the holidays! The “chooky” girls are back and loving all of the child attention again. The gardens are looking very bare but will soon be gaining some new plants!

Rosters
Are you interested in minding the school chooks for a weekend? It simply requires collecting the keys and weekend food on Friday afternoon and dropping by to feed, change their water and say hello on Saturday and Sunday of the weekend. You would be rostered on for approximately one weekend per term. If this sounds like a job for you please contact Ms Scanlan and include your contact details including email address, children names and any specific availability requests.

Meeting
Eco Garden Meetings are held each month on the third Tuesday of the month at 7pm in Miss Scanlon’s classroom, during term times. Our next meeting is on the 17th February. New members are always welcome. The first meeting of the year will look at replanting the gardens and plans for the year.

Being involved
The Eco Garden is a large part of the school at Hornsby Heights PS and involves many facets and people. There is gardening, animal minding, cooking, cake stalls and BBQs, building of infrastructure and lesson support. If you feel this is something you may be interested in or would like to find out more please come along to a meeting or contact Rhonda French. Many hands make light work.

Garden Tidy Up
In order to get the gardens ready for the year we will have a general garden tidy up on Friday afternoon at 2pm (6th February). If you are coming for pick up why not come a bit early and pull some weeds!

Newsletter Term 4 Week 10

Lambs

It is with much sadness that we will say goodbye to Lola and Luigi. They will be going back to their farm sometime over the next two weeks. I know the baaing will be missed by many. 

Cooking

As we finish off the year we have been relishing the opportunity to cook the final products from the garden. Year 1 have been making tabouleh, spinach dip and beetroot dip. Kindy had a potato hunt and dug up their planted potatoes. The smell of cooking potato pizza was the envy of many in 5/6S. It has been a busy year of cooking with lots of yummy food. 

Sign

You may have noticed a new sign has been installed in the garden. This is the Year 6 gift to the school, which they will present at Presentation Day. They are still putting the finishing touches on the letters which will be attached soon. If you are around feel free to have a look at the progress of the garden over the years as displayed in the cabinet. 

THANKYOU!

As we approach the end of another busy Eco Garden year a massive big thankyou from the school and committee to all that have been involved and shared the journey of 2014; parents planting and cooking, animal caretakers, sausage flippers at BBQ fundraisers and labourers at the many working bees. All this help adds up to make the garden what it is today! 

From all of the Eco Committee and members we wish you a safe and happy holiday! Stay tuned for another exciting year of digging, planting, cooking and growing!

Potato Pizza with Kindy

Year 2 - Beetroot & Spinach Dip

Year two made a colourful beetroot dip and spinach dip. The beetroot dip turned out to be the winner, prefered by 3/4 of the class.

Recipe Beetroot Dip

• 4 (about 600g) beetroot bulbs, unpeeled, roots and stems removed 
• 1/2 cup herbs
• 125g sour cream
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Place beetroot in a microwave dish. Microwave for 5min or until soft. Wearing rubber gloves to avoid staining your hands, peel beetroot and coarsely chop. Place beetroot, herbs and  sour cream in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper. 

Recipe Spinach Dip

• Bunch spinach
• herbs
• 125g creamed cheese, softened
• 125g tub sour cream
• packet spring vegetable soup mix

Place spinach, cream cheese, sour cream and soup mix in a food processor. Process, scraping down sides occasionally, until almost smooth.

Newsletter Term 4, Week 4

Bushland Fair
Eco Garden was looking its finest for the Bushland Fair with bunting made by the children decorating the gardens. Many visitors were treated to a visit with our resident animals as well as some guest rabbits. A big thanks to the Fisher, Becchio and Lanske families for the loan of your pets.

New Seats
Over the past few weeks some new seating has arrived in the Eco Garden providing new areas for children (and parents) to sit and enjoy the gardens. The students have definitely enjoyed sanding and painting the seats. These were made from a tree collected from Mrs Montgomery’s house last year.

Cooking Equipment
During the holidays we purchased a range of cooking equipment as part of a ‘Live Life Well Grant’ we received earlier this year. Among the new products is saucepans, blenders, electric woks and mixing bowls. We are looking forward to using the new tools to make some amazing foods with all of the garden produce.

Meeting:
Do you have any suggestions/ ideas for the school gardens, an interest in being involved or just hearing what is happening please feel free to join our monthly meetings on the 4th Tuesday of the month. The next meeting is on the 28th October, at 7:00pm. If you are unable to make the meetings but would like to be involved please email Rhonda French.