Current initiatives
Blacktown Kitchen Garden Project
Community connection in Western Sydney
The Blacktown Kitchen Garden Project, on Dharug Country in NSW, has nurtured over 2,000 children and young people to experience fun, hands-on food education through the Kitchen Garden Program.
Over five years, 16 schools will be given a Kitchen Garden Program membership, infrastructure grant and place-based support thanks to philanthropic funding from TLE Electrical. Blackett Public School has been selected as the region’s Learning Hub, to provide a tangible example of how the Kitchen Garden Program can be established and embedded in a Western Sydney community. The Learning Hub will grow into a central place of education and experiential learning for students, educators and the wider school community.
These Western Sydney schools will join our vibrant community of practice to learn from the experiences of Kitchen Garden Program educators in their local area, connecting with over 50 schools who are already delivering an impactful Kitchen Garden Program in the region.
Burradoo Park Farm
Immersive food education in the Southern Highlands
SMART Collective have partnered with The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation to create an immersive food education hub at Burradoo Park Farm for the benefit of local and regional schools, and their communities.
Burradoo Park Farm and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation share a deeply aligned vision: The best way to understand food is to experience it. We are both grounded in hands-on learning, where growing, harvesting, cooking and sharing are not abstract ideas, but everyday practices. Burradoo Park Farm brings this philosophy to life within a working farm environment, giving students and visitors the opportunity to engage directly with the land, the seasons and the full journey of food from farm-to-table.
This partnership transforms education into something immersive and lasting. The Kitchen Garden Program’s proven approach is amplified by our living landscape, a place where regenerative principles, community connection and real-world systems are visible and tangible. Children connect with the land, the seasons and the full journey of food, from soil to plate. It’s messy, hands-on and full of discovery. Together, we’re creating a new kind of food education, one that sticks.
Our Food Connections Project
Strengthening First Nations health
In gardens across Victoria, communities are digging deep into First Nations culture and collective wellbeing thanks to our powerful partnership with the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) and the Greater Melbourne Foundation.
This Community Initiative brings together place-based food education and VACCHO’s Culture+Kinship model to restore and nurture connections to Culture, Kinship, Community and Country. Our Project Lead walks alongside 11 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to achieve their self-determined goals to build kitchen gardens, deliver culturally relevant food literacy programs, and create spaces for learning, sharing and healing.
“Our Youth have gained essential cooking skills through the healthy cooking activities, allowing them to go home and prepare nutritious meals for their families. The implementation of the community garden has connected community members through positive and meaningful experiences, a sense of pride growing local produce that can be shared throughout the community. It also has become a therapeutic space through maintenance and watering of the garden.”
Jessica Lovett-Murray & Jenna Bamblett, Winda-mara Aboriginal Corporation
Western District Kitchen Garden Project
Regional impact across Victoria
Since July 2024, our Western District Kitchen Garden Project, on the traditional lands of the Gunditjmara, Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali, and Buandig peoples, has been actioning community-led preventative health goals to increase the health and wellbeing of regional children, young people and their families.
Our place-based Project Lead,is based in Hamilton and works alongside local leaders, community groups and organisations, including the Western District Health Service, WindaMara Aboriginal Corporation, GenR8 Change, Port Fairy Community House, the Australian Breastfeeding Association and Youth HQ.
25 schools, 1 early childhood service and 3 community organisations across Southern Grampians Shire, Glenelg Shire, Moyne Shire, Edenhope, Willaura and Lake Bolac are being supported. The schools — 17 members of the Kitchen Garden Program — are all supported with in-person, practical solutions to embed food resilience for students, staff and families.
“Monique has become a wonderful part of our school community, and her passion for healthy food alternatives shines through with her friendly and engaging manner. The Kitchen Garden Program provides our students with the opportunity to experience a wide range of healthy foods. Students have developed a love of gardening, and a few have begun vegetable gardens at home.”
Nicole Forbes, Teacher, St Joseph’s Primary School, Penshurst
