Students have been learning about the importance of bees and birds, their role in the garden, and within the life cycle of plants and pollination. We participated in the Aussie Backyard Bird Count which encourages spending 20 minutes in your favourite outdoor space to observe the birds you see during that period and then submit your results. In the garden outside Clonard House, we spotted 3 Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, 1 Common Myna, 1 Little Raven, 2 Willie Wagtails, 1 Common Blackbird, 1 Australian Magpie, 1 Magpie-lark, and 1 Masked Lapwing. They created bird feeders made from lemon halves and wool and hung them in the fruit trees to encourage the birds to visit Brigid’s Garden. Another important life skills focus has been on ‘Being Safe’ in person and online with some weekly videos and activities. Next week we will visit Gen-U Nursery to discover how a plant nursery operates.
We discovered a gigantic turnip was growing in the raised garden bed, ready to harvest. In our cooking class we used the turnip in a Vegetable Cornish Pasties recipe along with a variety of other root vegetables. The students together worked in pairs to dice and cook the vegetable filling and then delicately spoon the mixture on the shortcrust pastry to create small parcels. After baking in the oven, they were served with tomato chutney and Salad of the Imagination, made from a variety of fresh lettuce leaves from the garden. Delicious!