Beech Class Celebrate Harvest Time
Beech class had a wonderful time at the Autumn Harvest Celebration Day, on Thursday 1st October at Newbury Showground, which was organised by the Newbury and District Agricultural Society (NADAS).
They started the day by having a go a apple bobbing, which was actually quite hard to do, but great fun!
Next our pupils learned about lots of different varieties of squashes and pumpkins before foraging outdoors for leaves, berries, flowers acorns, pine cones etc. to make collages.
After that they got to try several different varieties of apples, including Pixie, Red Windsor and Russet, before finding out how to make a simple and tasty pumpkin soup and a yummy apple crumble, which they also got to taste.
Their last activity of the day was listening to the fascinating and true story of Johnny Appleseed.
The event finished with the weighing of the pumpkins, that ourselves and another school had brought to the event. Our pupils helped to grow our pumpkin (which Beech class named Goldie) during their weekly visits to Shalbourne Community Growers. It weighed a whopping 7.2kg, so Beech won the prize for the heaviest pumpkin by quite some margin! Beech class received a lovely certificate, which is displayed in their classroom, and a selection of ready to plant spring bulbs, which they are going to plant in a tub outside our Herongate Campus.
It was a fantastic day out and we would like to thank all the lovely staff and volunteers at Newbury and District Agricultural Society for making the event such a celebration of our beautiful autumn harvest season.
How to make Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 onions - finely chopped
1kg pumpkin - peeled and finely chopped
700ml vegetable of chicken stock
14sml double cream (optional)
Salt and pepper
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently cook the onions until soft and transparent
Add the pumpkin and stock and bring to the boil
Simmer for around 10 - 20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft
Puree with a hand blender
Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the cream
NB: If the cream isn't added the soup will freeze well
How to make Apple Crumble (quantity for 2 people)
Ingredients for the crumble
160g plain flour
80g butter or margarine
20g porridge oats
40g light brown sugar
Sprinkle of demerara sugar
Ingredients for the filling
2 large cooking apples
50g light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons water
Method
Heat the oven to 190c / gas mark 5
To make the crumble - put the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter until breadcrumbs
Stir in the oats and sugar
To make the filling - peel and core the apples and cut into thick slices
Place the apples, sugar and cinnamon in a pan with the water and cook gently until the apples are soft and fluffy
Spoon the apple mixture into a dish
Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit and sprinkle with the demerara sugar
Place on a baking tray and bake for around 20 minutes
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