ABGF

Monday, July 05, 2010

At the Home Grown Gala Dinner our guests were introduced to a very special young man - Daniel Lutz.  Daniel is the Foundation's Kitchen Garden Youth Ambassador.  His passion and commitment to kitchen gardens, fresh produce and food make him a true 'fork to fork' representative.

A chance meeting with Daniel at the Gala Dinner by NT resident Janice Carter, resulted in a recent week-long visit for work experience at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens.

Daniel has autism and with his family's support used vegetable cards to learn to read and write.  From the tender age of five, Daniel has used his love of all things botanical to find his place in the world.  Today, 17 years of age, Daniel is an amazing communicator of his encyclopaedic knowledge of plants, including his special passion - kitchen gardens and orchids.

"We met Daniel following the passionate movie at the Gala Dinner that showed his love for his garden, fresh produce and the environment".

"I was so impressed with him and we got along so well I invited him to visit Darwin" Janice Carter said on meeting Daniel.

Daniel presented his SA Orchid Club slides to the Nightcliff Orchid Society and had people on the edge of their seats - literally - for over an hour.  He totally engaged an audience of 20 enthusiasts with them taking notes and asking questions.  He was very entertaining, presenting with expertise, confidence, humour and passion.

Daniel also visited Driver Park Primary School and entertained the students and teachers with a Cook and the Chef demo that Simon and Maggie would have been proud of - so would Jamie Oliver who is also Daniel's hero.

He cooked chicken satays - chicken mince, Thai basil, Thai coriander, palm sugar, egg and soy sauce moulded on the end of lemongrass sticks, on the BBQ in the Garden.
"I remember all the ingredients and I'm going to make that at home a lot of times" one student said.

Janice concluded Daniel's tour of Darwin by saying "He is a real ambassador for fresh produce and the principles of kitchen gardens - growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing.  Daniel loved Darwin and Darwin loved him".

Daniel Lutz is Youth Ambassador for Adelaide Botanic Gardens Kitchen Garden and attends Urrbrae Agricultural School in South Australia.  He hopes to be a sheep grazier one day.

Janice Carter works at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens and as a fan of Tasting Australia loved the Home Grown Gala Dinner for its great food and wonderful cause.

The Foundation thanks Daniel and Jance for sharing their Darwin story.  See more details of Daniel's Darwin adventures here.

Please help the Foundation support the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide to build our own Kitchen Garden by donating today.  Simply click here or contact the Foundation for more information on how you can be involved.
Phone 08 8222 9347 or info@abgf.org

Thank you for considering the Adelaide Botanic Gardens Foundation.