Jenny retires this year after 44 years in public education in the ACT and has found teaching to be an exciting, challenging and fulfilling profession. She was a classroom teacher at Hawker for11 years before taking up the challenge of retraining to become the French language teacher in 2006.

The environment program at Hawker School was initially inspired by the ACT Government's "ACTNOWaste by 2010" campaign. The principal, Mandy Kalyvas, has highlighted the significant impact the Environment program has made at the school under the leadership of Jenny Macdonald and says the kitchen garden is part of the overall action taken by students.

Mandy Kalyvas says, "Our children are active participants in making a difference by growing food to sell to the community, looking after the chickens and selling the eggs, and ensuring energy usage is kept to a minimum by turning lights off in rooms that are not being used. They recycle food scraps for our worm farms and minimise other waste through recycling bins… We have a saying at Hawker School - 'no one can do everything - but everyone can do something.'"

Hawker is a 5 Star ACTSmart School receiving accreditation this year. Since 2005 Hawker Primary has won 16 awards in waste, water, energy, curriculum and biodiversity.

Last year original wooden seating areas in an internal courtyard were replaced with additional raised garden beds to allow students greater opportunities to plant, look after and harvest vegetables and fresh produce. The school canteen is a healthy food canteen.

One knowledgeable gardening parent, Andrea Carroll, has been buying seeds and seedlings from a number of sources including Bunnings and she especially tries to select heirloom and rare breeds. Some plants are donated and others are paid for via a grant.The kitchen garden has been developed according to organic principles.

Among spring plantings are a variety of tomatoes, Dutch crookneck pumpkins/squash, Blue Lake climbing beans, cucumbers, rhubarb, potatoes, wombok, silver beet, spinach, lettuce and a number of herbs including flat leaf parsley, thyme, society garlic, lemon balm, basil, Vietnamese basil and coriander. Flowers have been planted to bring beneficial insects and bees to the garden including a back border of thriving rosemary. Spring onions and strawberries have recently been planted and Diggers seeds of organic bean Lazy Housewife ('haricot de menageres paresseux at Hawker), which dates back to 1802, have just been sown.

Chickens were introduced in 2008 and there are three Isa browns in the hen run. They are reliable layers producing one egg, per hen, per day. Year 4 students are on a roster to clean out the hen run and put it in a compost bin in the vegetable garden. The compost is spread all around the beds but particularly at the base of the tomato plants and there are two worm farms.

Students from the French class, which overlooks the kitchen garden, come out in groups to assist and learn about gardening when Andrea is there volunteering. The children and chickens observe each other and the children are encouraged to chat to the chickens in French.

The school's building services officer, Eric McCabe, helps Andrea with buying garden supplies and collecting cardboard to suppress weeds in the vegetable garden. He also tidies up after work has been done in the garden and does the watering over the school holidays, an activity shared with the principal's husband, Peter Kalyvas.

The school canteen is a healthy food canteen. When it is time to harvest, the vegetables are sold to parents at fortnight assemblies. Cooking classes with the students preparing and cooking meals from the garden are planned for 2017 under the Fresh Taste Program which the school has recently joined. This is an ACT Government initiative to help schools develop and encourage healthy eating habits with children.

Jenny Macdonald has shared her recipe for spinach pie and says, 'Bon appetit".

3 eggs

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 large onion, chopped

3 bacon rashers, chopped

1 large bunch fresh spinach, chopped

1 cup grated tasty cheese (or 250g feta cheese)

half cup pitted Kalamata olives (optional, but good!)

200ml cream

salt and pepper

2 frozen puff pastry sheets

Pan fry onion and garlic. Add bacon to the pan and fry lightly. Lightly steam the chopped spinach. Drain well. Mix together the eggs, cream, cheese (tasty or feta), salt and pepper. Place the frozen pastry into a large greased pie dish. Spread the onions, garlic, bacon, spinach and olives over the base. Pour the egg mixture on top of the vegetables. Add the second sheet of puff pastry as the lid. Brush with milk or beaten egg. Cook in a moderate oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer.