The Edible Schoolyard Kitchen

If you have been to the Growing the Growers website and watched the video clip you will know just what an amazing garden is possible after only three or four months. Berrima has won a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation grant. The design for the kitchen has been completed - a wonderful, multi-purpose, airy, passive solar space using some existing buildings with a proposal for a beautiful extention. When we were at the launch of the fund raiser for the Berrima PS kitchen we talked to the architects and promised them some photos of the fit out at the Edible Schoolyard Kitchen in Berkeley.
We also wanted to interview the teachers to find out just how the classes were run and how the kitchen, the classroom and the garden integrated at the MLKMS.

Everything from the colour of the walls to the layout of these workstations 

has been carefully thought out.

The three work stations each have a large kitchen table which doubles as work space

and a place to eat the finished meal.

The room is very well lit, there is plenty of space and the large oven

is out of the way against the wall to the left of the photo.

There is storage and a wash up area at the far end of the kitchen.

All the equipment is up to commercial kitchen standard including

knives, pots and pans and washing gear.

Chopping boards, aprons, tools, crockery - it doesn't matter what it is

everything is in its place. These utensils are all plastic and belong to one of

the three work stations. 

The second station has wooden utensils and the third stainless.

It doesen't matter whether it is in the garden or baking a cake good systems make life easy.

If I had 10 wooden chopping boards I would love a wooden rack to stack them in too!

Ben is in from the garden with salad and broad beans for lunch. 

When they can all the Edible Schoolyard staff sit down together 

to share a meal and have a chat.

It is the last cooking class for the term so the afternoon task for students

is to make a strawberry short cake - a rare treat.

A periodic table of vegetables - what a great poster.

Time for us to leave and let these generous folk enjoy their lunch.