Tewantin State School Tewantin State School is sponsored by Hilton Terrace Petrol Station.
It is a 12 month program running once a fortnight.  It is well supported by all at the Special Education Unit, lots of teachers and the Principal.  Years 4, 5, 6 and Special Ed students are involved in the program.

Students learned about permaculture and then a design evolved.
Set up day was from 8am to 3pm and in this time our grassy patch was transformed into 10m x 12m no dig vegie gardens with a herb spiral, tank gardens, compost area, arches, a water tank and a worm tower. 

We started digging the banana circle/compost pit but struck hard clay which water wouldn't penetrate quickly, so had to fill the hole back in as a safety precaution.  We will prepare an area for bananas later.  A permit is required to grow bananas.

The students are so excited at the end of the set up day having thoroughly enjoyed getting dirty and seeing the garden come into being.  They have endless questions for their teacher...
"When do we garden again?"
"When do we plant the plants?"
"tomorrow?"
"What can we plant?".  The garden has created enormous excitement and pride in the students but they must wait 2 weeks for the no dig gardens to settle before planting.

End of June.  300 seedlings get planted - lettuce (about 8 varieties), english spinach, silverbeet, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, spring onions, chives, beetroot, parsley, basil, thyme, lovage, rosemary, sugarsnap peas, beans, fennel, dill, pak choy, tatsoi, snow peas, celery, tomatoes, leeks, coriander, zucchini, strawberries plus health giving herbs such as lebanese cress and herb robert for the herb spiral.  We still have some beds spare - one is going to be an edible flowers bed, another a grains bed and also an asian herbs bed. 

End of July.  Seedlings have powered along over the school holidays.  Teachers are starting to use the garden by doing some cooking with the students and also harvesting the leaves from the salad and asian greens and bagging them up for sale to parents and teachers.  We planted another 150 seedlings.  All students are waiting anxiously for the strawberries and sugarsnap peas.  We had 2 volunteers work with us today, a student studying nutrition at University and one of the grandmothers.  Thank you both.

Generally students come out in groups of 7 every 1/2 hour.  Once the students become more familiar with the garden and the maintenance processes, I will be able to take larger groups into the garden.

Thanks to Kingfisher Boat Hire who are a major sponsor of the Tewantin Edible School Garden.  They are a local business with great community spirit and their generosity in supporting the kids & this project is much appreciated :)