My parents live on a 40 acre farm in Kyneton, which is an hour drive from Melbourne. Kyneton is one of those gorgeous historic gold rush towns located on the Campaspe River. Despite living in the inner city of Melbourne my children are farmers at heart. I have my parents to thank for that because come Easter holidays, long weekends or term break the children love nothing more than to jump into their overalls, slap on a pair of gumboots and go farming with Nanna and Nunno.

From an early age Hoover and Fussy have been fortunate enough to be exposed to farm life. They understand that the meat they eat comes from a cow, pig or rabbit. They have helped my dad make kilos of homemade sausages over the years, and have also helped my mum make bread, pasta and cheese. They both boast to their friends that their veggie patch is in fact the largest and that they are friends with a herd of cows and have recently acquired (thanks to my dad) a pet alpaca called 'Big Boy'.


Most inner city children are clueless as to how their food is grown and sourced as they are not exposed to the dualistic lifestyle that my children are blessed with. Hence, most Australian children are not exposed to a kitchen garden and have little or no knowledge as to how fruit and vegetables are grown. The sad fact is that not all children in this country eat well. The 'National Preventative Health Taskforce' recently concluded that one in four Australian children is overweight or obese. Due to the busy world we live in, the prevalence of convenience foods and a lack of proper modelling our children are forming habits and making food choices that will lead to serious health issues in the future.

Thankfully the tide is beginning to turn and with the advent and proliferation of Farmers Markets more and more Australian children are beginning to gain insight into how their food is grown and sourced. A great champion and major force in Australia for changing our children's attitudes toward food is Stephanie Alexander, the creator of the Kitchen Garden Foundation. It is her belief that 'by introducing this holistic approach we have a chance to positively influence children's food choices in ways that have never been tried before'.

The Kitchen Garden Foundation in Australia is built upon a similar philosophy and premise as the Edible Playgrounds project in the UK and the Edible Schoolyard program in the US.  Hence, the Kitchen Garden is created to provide edible resources for the kitchen and in doing so children are taught about 'the natural world, about its beauty and how to care for it, how best to use the resources we have, and an appreciation for how easy it is to bring joy and wellbeing into one's life through growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing fresh, seasonal produce'.

Photo - Simon Griffiths - Stephanie Alexander (2009).

Children from Grade 3 - 6 get to spend a minimum of 40 minutes a week in an extensive vegetable garden which they have helped design, build and maintain on the school grounds according to organic gardening principles. The children also get to spend 90 minutes each week in a kitchen classroom preparing and sharing a wonderful variety of meals created from their produce.

The children work together in small groups in both the kitchen and the garden assisted by community volunteers.  The completed meals are proudly arranged on tables that have been set by the students and the 'shared' meal is a time for the students, volunteers, teachers and specialist to enjoy each others company and conversation. These experiences are so good 'that the students become seduced by the pleasures of good food, and develop an appreciation for the rituals and tastes of the tables that will last a lifetime'.

Photo - Simon Griffiths - Stephanie Alexander (2009).


Establishing a Kitchen Garden in a given school requires huge community effort. Hence, there is enormous scope for community support of these costs through donations in kind. To find out how you can assist this amazing endeavour please visit the Kitchen Garden Foundation website.