Schools throw open garden gates

Schools throw open garden gates

A behind the scenes look at an edible educational programme is being offered to cooking and gardening enthusiasts.

The Garden to Table Trust is holding its inaugural school garden and kitchen classroom tour on Wednesday 17 April. The trust is hosting guests at a selection of Auckland schools that have adopted the highly successful programme.

Visitors get the opportunity to see children working in their school vegetable gardens and kitchens, where they can gain an in-depth understanding of how the programme works and sample food the children have prepared.

Garden to Table Trust Chairperson Catherine Bell says the tour represents the perfect opportunity to get a first-hand look at the edible environments the children have developed.

“The activity in the garden and kitchen classrooms really is something you have to see to understand. It is an incredible programme and we hope this tour will encourage our visitors to replicate this seed to plate eating lifestyle in their own homes and schools,” Ms Bell says.

“We’re really proud of what the schools, volunteers, partners and children have created during the past few years. Providing an opportunity to showcase this with a tour is a great way to show the success of the scheme and demonstrate the life-long skills the children involved are gaining,” she says.

The tour will show the project in action at Owairaka School, Edendale School, Meadowbank Primary School and either East Tamaki Primary School or Dawson School.

“There is a huge demand for the programme as people have come to realise how essential this real life learning is when it comes to educating children and the communities they come from,” Ms Bell says.

“We hope the funds raised from the tour will help us extend the Garden to Table concept to even more children nationwide,” she says.

Tickets for the tour are available now and cost $95 each (less if booking in groups of five or more). They include a gourmet picnic lunch and travel aboard a luxury coach. To secure a seat, email n.curinbirch@gardentotable.org.nz

Garden to Table is a not for profit organisation that teaches primary school children how to grow, harvest, prepare and share their own food via a curriculum integrated scheme. The Trust, established in New Zealand in 2008, currently supports 12 schools across the country and has 60 more wishing to join.

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