Yendarra Senior Whanau Blog

Room 10’s visits to the Wharekai and Kumara Patch

Yendarra School is very lucky, we have a new classroom. But it isn’t the same as our other classrooms, this classroom is a kitchen and garden. It is called our wharekai and ‘Kumara Patch.’

Room 10 students were feeling very excited. The day had finally arrived! We were going to the wharekai and ‘Kumara Patch’ to learn all about growing our own food and how we can cook it in the kitchen.

Our lovely chef Mrs Powell taught us how to be safe in the kitchen. We also learnt about food safety and hygiene.

On our first visit to the Wharekai, Team Tahi created delicious picnic pies. We chopped the vegetables carefully and worked as a team to get our picnic pies into the oven. When we sat down together and shared the kai, we all agreed that they were scrumptious, delicious and nutritious! Our water jugs had lemons in them to make the water taste even better than it usually does.

If you would like to make them at home, here is the recipe:

PICNIC PIES
Makes 12

Ingredients:

3 sheets frozen flaky pastry, thawed

1 tablespoon oil

1 chopped onion

1 cup of grated cheese

1 cup finely sliced vegetables eg: leeks, silverbeet, spinach, mushrooms, corn, tomatoes

4 eggs

1 cup of milk

Salt

Pepper

Parsley, chopped

Microgreens, to garnish

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200^oC.

2. Cut each pastry sheet into 4 pieces. Place each piece into greased muffin tins.

3. Gently caramelise the onion and mushrooms in a pan with oil.

4. Sprinkle a few shreds of grated cheese into the base of each case (this waterproofs the bases)

5. Add cooked onion and mushrooms to the pie cases.

6. Add sliced vegetables to each pie case.

7. Whisk eggs and milk together in a jug with the salt and pepper. Pour evenly into your pie cases – just enough to cover the vegetables.

8. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and chopped parsley on top.

9. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until golden, puffed up and set.

While Team Tahi were busy in the wharekai, Team Rua were working hard in the ‘Kumara Patch’. They worked together to carefully plant seedlings so we can grow our own fruit, vegetables and herbs. Our gardener, Mrs New showed us how to carefully plant the seedlings so that we don’t damage the plant's roots. It was really interesting seeing all the creepy crawly bugs that live in our garden. We loved using the tools like shovels and spades to help us dig the soil. It is great to visit the garden regularly to see what new plants are growing.

Room 10 love visiting the wharekai and Kumara Patch. It is a great place to learn together and show our school values. We can’t wait to visit again and work with our amazing helpers who come and work with us each week.