Q&A | East Fremantle Primary School

For the Foundation's 20th anniversary in 2024, we're interviewing members around the country to find out how they run the Kitchen Garden Program and lean on all their membership benefits. The stories and ideas they share are perfect for new members or existing educators curious about different approaches from other schools and services.

We caught up with Kitchen Garden Educator Sally Ashbrook from East Fremantle Primary School in West Australia. Sally shared valuable insights on how to cope with low-produce periods, and how the kitchen garden sessions emphasise the importance of cooking for others.

About the school

• Sector: Primary 
• Location: East Fremantle, Western Australia 

How do you run kitchen classes with low produce?

If you’re running low on produce for your kitchen classes, don’t stress! Produce availability will fluctuate all throughout the year, so it’s normal to have to think outside the box. 

• Check the freezer: Have a look to see if there is a stockpile of produce in long-term storage. Sally stockpiles Warrigal greens and strawberries as well as excess pasta sauce. 
• Plant fast growing crops: Herbs are often quick growers and available year-round, so they’re great to have in the garden. Radish and silverbeet are the speediest staples in Sally’s garden.
• Ask for help: Sally recommends asking the school community to donate any excess produce they might have to the Kitchen Garden Program. This is especially handy in winter when a lot of families have an abundance of homegrown lemons. “We juice the lemons, peel off some of the zest and then freeze both items so we have a steady supply throughout the year,” said Sally. 
• A little goes a long way: Use recipes where a small amount of produce and pantry ingredients goes a long way. Sally suggests samosas, dumplings, wontons, soups and stir-fries.
• Use it up: Where possible, try using as much of your harvested plant. For example, Sally uses nasturtium leaves as muffin tin liners. "We found it was a bit tricky to get them out the first time, as the egg leaked out a bit, but we’ve learned we just need to grease the tins very thoroughly," said Sally. They’ve also used sweet potato leaves in stir fries and broad bean flowers for garnishing salads.
• Mushroom kits: When it’s cold outside and not much else is growing, Sally has found that mushroom kits grow easily, plus they tie in well with the school’s STEM curriculum. 

Where do you get ideas for themed kitchen and garden classes?

Themed events are an important part of planning at East Fremantle. Some of the themes Sally has had success with include:

• NAIDOC Week: An opportunity to cook with the native ingredients grown in their veggie garden, such as Warrigal greens, lilly pillies and saltbush.
• Book Week: There are descriptions of tasty treats in many classic children’s books – the only limit is your imagination! “Possum Magic is great for the little ones,” says Sally. "We’ve made pumpkin scones from that. Green Eggs and Ham is another book where we’ve experimented with green eggs." 
• Languages Other Than English (LOTE): Draw recipe inspiration from the LOTE curriculum at your school or service. For example, East Fremantle students learn Italian, which frequently inspires their kitchen classes. Their electric pasta machine is a device the students love to see in action.

How do you teach the importance of sharing food with others?

One of the key aspects of the Kitchen Garden Program that East Fremantle emphasises is how cooking for others is an incredible act of generosity. Here are some of the ways Sally teaches her students this lesson.

• Teacher’s morning tea: At the end of each year, the Year 6 class cook a delish morning tea to show gratitude for their teachers. The menu often includes scrumptious snacks such as sausage rolls, spinach and cheese pastries, handmade hummus, scones and muffins. One year, students also made little bags of biscuits as surprise thank-you gifts for the teaching staff.
• Family appreciation: Students will often prepare special treats or a high tea to commemorate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Grandparent’s Day throughout the school year.  
• Supporting the local community: Students in the Kitchen Garden Program have recently begun a new initiative in collaboration with Freo Street Kitchen. This community organisation provides homemade meals to homeless and vulnerable people. Year 6 students prepare a meal in their kitchen class and then serve it in the street kitchen, with adult supervision.

Feeling inspired by East Fremantle Primary School? We can support you to start your Kitchen Garden Program, meeting you where you're at.

Join a community of schools and early childhood services right around Australia teaching young people how to grow, harvest, prepare and share! Get started by emailing us at membership@kitchengardenfoundation.org.au or coming along to a free information session.