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Students and specialists at three of our northern schools from Burnie to Launceston picked a combined total of 28 kilograms of olives, and we were interested to see that the olives were all so different- from large purple/black fruit (yes, olives are a fruit!) at East Tamar PS, to small green olives at Ravenswood Heights PS and even smaller, black olives at Romaine Park PS. When I collected the pressed olive oil from the wonderfully helpful folk at Cradle Coast Olives, I learnt that our school olives yielded seven litres of golden-green coloured oil.

Once the oil was filtered and bottled, I had the pleasure of delivering the beautiful golden liquid to the schools. On the day I visited East Tamar Primary to deliver their oil, garden specialist Anthony had gathered the very same class of year 1 & 2 students that had picked the olive harvest just two weeks prior. We set up an outdoor tasting table under the olive trees, and invited the class to sample the result. For many students, freshly pressed olive oil on bread was an entirely new taste and sensory experience, and I’m happy to report that they all gave it a try, with some coming back for seconds and one student proclaiming that the oil was `stupendous!’.

Students described the appearance, taste and mouthfeel of the oil, and wondered how they would use the oil in the kitchen. Once word of the olive oil spread, teachers from the school came out to the garden to enjoy the bounty from their own school trees!

This garden-to-plate olive oil project delivered real-world, hands-on and sensory-rich experiences which sparked curiosity in students and staff. I’ve been honoured to be the link in the chain that connected 24 Carrot partner schools with a generous local business to create an education-OIL learning experience! 

Words and pictures: Kris McCarthy, 24 Carrot’s Northern Program Manager

Many of our school gardens contain olive trees, and we love them for their hardiness, beauty and shade- and of course for their wintertime crop of olives! Garden specialists and students wondered- do we have enough olives to make olive oil? To find out, I partnered with our north and northwest school garden specialists in a first-time experiment for 24 Carrot- a school garden rev-OIL-ution- to combine the olive harvest- because we’re OIL in this together!

A huge harvesting effort from some of our north and northwestern schools to harvest, process, bottle and taste their very own olive oil!

In the south, the workshops are hosted as excursions to Material Institute’s market garden and learning hub in Bridgewater. Here, students are given a tour of the site and shown the various waste minimisation strategies in place — including composting, seed saving, reusing seedling pots and using solar energy to melt waste beeswax from our hives for use in candles and beauty products. 

Students then make their own ceramic keep cups, body spray from natural ingredients grown on site; and cook together using produce from our market garden and ingredients typically considered ‘waste’ - such as stale bread

In the north and north west, the workshops are delivered as school incursions inside the schools, with Material Institute’s team of facilitators running the activities at school sites. Students learn how to grow oyster mushrooms on waste materials such as sawdust and straw and to make their own paper from waste paper. They also cook lunch together and learn how to pickle and preserve excess produce.

So far, the following primary schools have had a chance to take part in the program: Brighton, Clarendon Vale, East Derwent, East Devonport, East Tamar, Gagebrook, Glenorchy, Goodwood, Moonah, Risdon Vale, Romaine Park, Springfield Gardens, Triabunna District School and Warrane. We can’t wait to continue next term delivering these to even more of our schools!

Step 1. Lab coats on when in the Beauty Lab

Thanks to a grant from the State Government’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment, this year we have been able to offer students from our 24 Carrot schools waste minimisation workshops.

Each workshop day comprises three, hour-long activities that students move through in small groups of 6-8, before coming together to share a fresh, seasonal meal they have helped to cook. The focus is fun, hands-on, interdisciplinary learning that embodies key ideas about waste minimisation and sustainability.

Our school workshops this year have been themed around waste minimisation with activities such as composting, keep cup making, cooking with 'scraps' and much much more! Here is a little snapshot from our team on the ground.

1kg pumpkin peeled seeds removed and chopped*

Heat a pot on medium heat and add olive oil. 

Add the onions and saute for a couple of minutes. 

Add the chopped pumpkin and garlic and continue to cook, stirring regularly for a further 5 mins. 

Add the vegetable stock then bring to the boil. 

Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for a further 30 mins (or until pumpkin is soft).

Once the pumpkin is cooked, blitz using a stick blender until smooth then add your cream.

*Note You can use the whole pumpkin! The washed skins can be tossed in olive oil and salt and roasted until crisp and the seeds can be washed and separated from the flesh, then dried and salted and roasted in the oven until crispy. They make a delicious snack!

⅓ cup plain flour (or chickpea flour for gluten-free)

2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (mint, parsley or chives)

Prepare the pumpkin: Grate the pumpkin and lightly salt. Let sit in a colander for 10 mins, then squeeze out excess moisture with a clean tea towel.

Mix the fritter batter: In a bowl, combine the pumpkin, haloumi, onion, garlic, herbs, cumin (if using), eggs, and flour. 

Mix until the batter holds together. Season with pepper (go easy on salt — the haloumi is salty)

Cook: Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Shape about ¼ cup of batter into fritters and fry for 3–4 minutes each side, until golden brown and cooked through.

1–2 tsp finely chopped salted lime rind (taste and adjust)

1 tbsp fresh herbs (optional: mint or coriander)

Squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice, if needed to balance

Rinse the salted lime rind lightly if it's intensely salty, then finely chop.

Let it sit 5–10 minutes before serving to meld flavours.

Serve with: 
A green salad with cucumber and mint, 
Warm flatbread or grain salad
Poached eggs for a brunch-style meal

In a blender add the sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, eggs and buttermilk, blend until smooth. For a more rustic pancake simply mash the pumpkin and whisk in the other ingredients.

In a bowl whisk together the self-raising flour and bi-carb.

Pour in the pumpkin mix and whisk until just smooth.

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat until gently sizzling. 

Add dollops of batter and cook until a few holes appear, flip and cook until just set.

We are in the depths of winter here in Lutruwita / Tasmania and if you have planned your garden well, you may have a delicious hoard of pumpkins that are helping you eat well through to Spring. And if you don’t, you may notice pumpkin prices being a little cheaper in the shops. So, it’s the time to get pumpkin cooking! 

In case you need some pumpkin recipe inspiration, we thought we would share a few being made in our 24 Carrot Garden schools and the Material Institute Kitchen. A quick and easy pumpkin soup from one of our schools, a pumpkin vegge fritter recipe and to shake things up, a pumpkin pancake recipe from chef Vlad! Bon Appetite! 🎃

You may have a delicious hoard of pumpkins that are helping you eat well through to spring. And if you don’t, you may notice pumpkin prices being a little cheaper in the shops. So it’s the time to get pumpkin cooking!

Reducing Waste