A garden in tune

In her address to the College community, Stephanie described how, over 10 years ago, she found herself “thinking more and more about the ways in which children learn about food”.

This led to her work with Collingwood College in creating a kitchen garden for students in Grades 3 to 6 and later the establishment of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Now extended to over 190 primary schools the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program supports pleasurable food education for children by growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing food.

University College believes such learning applies at all ages and its newly established Kitchen Garden aims to stimulate an interest in healthy food habits among resident students, many of whom are living away from home for the first time. Gardener Ian Robertson and the Facilities and Maintenance team, assisted by the enthusiastic involvement of a committed group of students, have planned and created a beautiful and productive space for the whole College to enjoy.

Students who signed up for the nine vegetable beds were involved with planting, feeding, trimming, occasional weeding, and finally harvesting the produce which graced the generous platters of food for the Garden’s Opening.

Food Services Manager, Gavin Duncan and his team are also involved in the program. While at this stage there are no plans to grow all fruit and vegetables for the College, the daily menu will be supplemented by fresh seasonal herbs and vegetables.

More importantly, a special program will be developed to assist students to learn how to turn produce from the Garden into delicious, quickly-prepared and inexpensive meals, while also learning to care for the environment.

As the Head, Dr Jennifer McDonald noted, The Kitchen Garden reflects the beliefs of the College’s founding women that gardens create an atmosphere in tune with the educational role and philosophy of the College, and that students are launched into the world equipped with an environmental sensitivity.