From scratch-made noodles and native-ingredient cordial to banana smoothies, young growers from six local schools showed how rewarding it can be to grow and cook their own food.

The annual Grow Your Own Lunchbox Challenge at Mullumbimby Farmers Market brought together student gardeners and cooks to present produce from their school plots and turn it into fresh lunchbox dishes.

Six local schools took part this year, sharing different approaches to growing, harvesting and preparing fresh food.

The challenge encourages students to consider the whole food cycle, from gardening, composting and sustainable growing to cooking and preserving.

Each school prepared a lunchbox with a main, two snacks and a drink, along with a preserved or value-added product made from garden produce.

For Ocean Shores Public School, the day gave students a chance to share their gardening knowledge with the wider community and see what other young growers had achieved.

The students brought along flowers, herbs, fruit and vegetables from their garden, using the produce to make and decorate vegetable quiche, banana bread, banana smoothies and a refreshing lemon myrtle drink.

Their efforts earned the school first prize for the Most Diverse Garden, recognising the variety of produce being grown by the school community. The students also picked up second prize for a banana smoothie featuring pineapple and mango.

Year 6 student Liv had the pleasure of presenting the school’s creations to the judges.

“I love watching things in the garden grow and then being able to pick them,” she said.

“At the Lunchbox Challenge, serving the judges was really nerve-racking, but also fun seeing them taste our creations.

“We won an award for our drink; a banana smoothie with pineapple and mango. I came up with it, and it was great seeing the judges demolish it!”

For fellow Year 6 student Fern, one of the highlights was seeing the different approaches taken by other schools.

“It was fun setting up at the market and using our flowers to decorate all the foods,” she said.

“It was interesting seeing everyone else’s meals, what resources they used and what they made and how they made it.

“My favourite things about gardening are planting and then harvesting. I love seeing all the foods ripe and being able to pick things and see what we can do with them.”

Together with Ocean Shores Public School's awards for garden diversity and its fruit smoothie, the results reflected the many ways schools are building food knowledge into everyday learning.

Brunswick Heads Public School won Best Pest Management and Best Main for a noodle salad featuring noodles made from scratch.

Miss Rotheraine, the school's garden teacher, said the program offered every child a way to take part.

“Our school garden provides a quiet space where all children can contribute, engage and connect with nature,” she said.

“They have the opportunity to discover and explore the origin of their food and make healthy and sustainable choices in what they eat and grow.”

Goonengerry Public School received Best Native Garden and Innovation, with its wicking-bed demonstration singled out, as well as Best Lunchbox. Its menu used native ingredients in an omelette kebab, potato and beetroot cake, and Bundjalung cordial made with lilly pilly, rosella and bush mint.

Eureka Public School's vertical garden, seedbank, worm farm, composting and recipe book earned Best New Sustainable Addition, while its fruit wraps were named Best Snack.

Mullumbimby Public School received Most Resourceful Garden for its paddock-to-plate approach, and its beetroot brownies earned the second Best Snack award.

Shearwater was awarded Best Garden for linking its garden, nursery, orchard and farm, as well as Best Value-Added Product for its sauerkraut and bread.
Ocean Shores teacher, Wayne Gibbons, said the students had embraced every aspect of the day.

“All students were amazing throughout the day and represented our schools with great pride, enthusiasm and respect,” he said.

“Across all six schools, students gained practical experience in growing, cooking and sharing food from their own gardens.”

Every participating school received prize money from Mullumbimby Farmers Market to reinvest in its garden.

The challenge has been running since 2015 as part of Mullumbimby Farmers Markets' focus on fresh, healthy and locally grown food.