ARARAT'S Carey Street Kindergarten has applied to the Ararat Rural City Council to extend the block of land it leases so it can expand its vegetable garden program.
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Under the proposed expansion, the land will be extended approximately 350 square metres to the border of the public playground to the south.
The council approved the application, which will now enter a public consultation phase, and will also be subject to ministerial approval.
The kindergarten has a strong program which teaches children to grow vegetables, and then learn how to prepare food from them.
Kindergarten teacher Kara Bartlett said the program held multiple benefits for the children but they needed more space.
"At the moment we've got a very small garden space that we use with the children for planting vegetables," she said.
"Last year we joined the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program and it's really about bringing what she calls pleasurable food education to the children.
"It's so that children can understand you don't just get food from the supermarket, you can grow it yourself.
"It's that whole sustainability thing as well. We've got chickens here that give eggs to us but then we give them back our food scraps so they (the children) can see that whole process of us caring for them and giving them our food instead of putting it into the rubbish bin as waste."
The children also learn how to prepare the food that they've grown.
"Last week we prepared a zucchini slice with the children because we had zucchinis growing and some tomatoes and the eggs, so they can see that they can actually create their own food," Ms Bartlett said.
The program may even help with fussy palettes.
"It's getting them to taste food they may not have tasted before. With that zucchini, even getting them to grate it, they can taste a bit as they work with it so they are developing that taste for it," Ms Bartlett said.
Currently the children are looking after a vibrant sunflower patch, tomatoes, spring onions, edible flowers, and herbs.
Ms Bartlett said the program also teaches them life and academic skills.
"(The garden) needs to have sun, it needs to have water, so responsibility comes into it as well," Ms Bartlett said.
"Numeracy comes into it too because when they are cooking it's how much is half a cup, weighing it out … it's learning through all the senses."
Under the expansion, the kinder would open up the garden to the public on weekends, as well as families of children during the week.
"We'd also invite parents and grandparents in to help establish that garden with the children," Ms Bartlett said.
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