A seasonable idea to test a hydroponic greenhouse in a school setting has blossomed into a flourishing pesto venture for students with disabilities in Katherine.
But when the students at Kintore Street School first set foot in their greenhouse in the middle of last year they had no idea that just four weeks later they’d have harvested too much to know what to do with.
“We decided to make and sell native basil and macadamia pesto,” Kintore Street School’s senior teacher Shayne Cox said.
Last year, Kintore Street School’s first harvest yielded enough native basil to start a small pesto business. “Ideally we want it to become an enterprise.”
For the students at Kintore, a school which supports students aged between four and 20 years with greater needs, career opportunities are limited, Mr Cox said.
“Generally our students were looking at working at places like Equalitea (a training and employment cafe for young people with disabilities) but that has since gone,” he said.
“Horticulture is one of the pathways a lot of our students are interested in. It is a big industry here, we have mango farms and Parks and Wildlife, and additionally it is year round work rather than reliant on tourism.”
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