Kitchen Garden Program Schools at Stonefields

We’re thrilled to welcome local Kitchen Garden Program Schools back to Paul Bangay’s Stonefields Open Garden.

In the much-loved tradition of the event, students will be selling handmade products to raise money for their school’s Kitchen Garden Program.

Read on to see why the Kitchen Garden Program is so important for these schools – and don’t forget to visit one of their gorgeous stalls when you visit Paul Bangays Stonefield’s Open Garden, near Daylesford in central Victoria, on 17 and 18 November.

• Winters Flat Primary School

Near Castlemaine, Winters Flat Primary School is a highly acclaimed Kitchen Garden Program School that has won several awards for its commitment to sustainability.

The Kitchen Garden Program is the heart and soul of the school, and students engage with their garden every day to explore, play, harvest and eat.

The school’s biggest challenge is trying to stop the students eating all the strawberries and snow peas from the garden before they can use them in the kitchen!

The pride the children show when they cook with produce they’ve grown, and make delicious dishes, brings joy to both students and staff at the school.

Q: Why is pleasurable food education important to you?

Watching students learning to garden, to harvest fresh food, and then cook a delicious meal that is shared together. We know that we are setting them up with essential lifelong skills for a great life.

Q: What will you be selling at Stonefields Open Garden?

Triple citrus marmalade, kasaundi, shortbread, handmade Christmas crafts, tea towels, reusable shopping bags, plants, coffee and local honey.

• Taradale Primary School

Taradale Primary School had just five students when they joined the Kitchen Garden Program. Today the school, in central Victoria, has 68 students, and is still growing.

Taradale Primary aims to give students a lifelong love of gardening and cooking through their Kitchen Garden Program. The children get great enjoyment learning positive food habits by growing and cooking their own produce.

As well, seeing the children how the garden has become a space for students to use and enjoy during play time is extremely rewarding for the Kitchen Garden Program community.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge to growing an edible garden at your school?

The very cold winters and frosts. We have -5°C nights!

Q: What will you be selling at Stonefields Open Garden?

Our stall will be selling jams, relishes, pot plants, seedlings and biscuits.

• Tylden Primary School

The parents at Tylden Primary School, in the Macedon Ranges, spent six years raising the funds needed to start their Kitchen Garden Program. Always resourceful, the students constructed the walls of their greenhouse from over 1000 soft drink bottles that were recycled from their local community.

Q: What’s the best part of having a Kitchen Garden Program?

The children love working with our adult volunteers to grow harvest, cook and share foods from many different cultures.

Q: What will you be selling at Stonefields Open Garden?

We’ll be selling flavoured vinegars, homemade barbecue sauce, preserves (such as jams, chutneys and relishes), biscuits and cakes, lemonade, cordials, handmade Christmas gifts and beautiful plants the children have grown.

• Daylesford Primary School

The Kitchen Garden Program at Daylesford Primary, in central Victoria, has helped children develop a high level of engagement in the process of growing and cooking food, and resulted in amazing personal growth.  The school has noticed that student absences from school are down on Kitchen Garden Program days, and children are always happy to complete follow-up learning after kitchen and garden sessions.

Q: Why is pleasurable food education important to you? 

Pleasurable food education exposes children to a wide variety of fresh produce. Children are highly engaged as they are actively learning and sharing. Food education is vital for future health. Student successes help build confidence, and allow us all the opportunity to celebrate the enjoyment of producing delicious food.

Q: What will you be selling at Stonefields Open Garden?

We will bring copies of our school cookbook, and vegetable seedlings planted in punnets by the children.

Scroll through the photo gallery above to see images of the schools' previous stalls at Stonefields, and their kitchen garden programs in action.

• Renowned landscape designer Paul Bangay is opening the gates to Stonefields, his spectacular private property near Daylesford in central Victoria, on 17 and 18 November 2018 to raise money for the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Click here for more information and to buy tickets.