Using small plots of disused land, FareShare Kitchen Gardens are growing our own vegetables to supplement rescued produce.
You can help us grow healthy food for people in need by supporting our kitchen garden program. Our costs include rostering and supporting more than 200 garden volunteers, substantial water bills, tools, seeds, mulch and fertilizer.
FareShare Kitchen Gardens welcome donations of materials and services. We currently need seeds. If you have a garden donation, please contact us today.
Our kitchen gardens are tended by an enthusiastic community of hard-working volunteers. It's tough but rewarding physical work which includes weeding, propagation, planting, harvesting and composting. You can also book a garden corporate volunteering shift.
In order to cook nutritious meals at scale, FareShare needs a constant supply of quality ingredients. Sourcing enough fresh vegetables in Melbourne to meet the growing demand for cooked meals from food relief charities is one of our biggest challenges.
FareShare’s kitchen gardens tackle this problem head on by growing our own vegetables on three sites in and around Melbourne to supplement rescued produce. We aim to grow at least one third of the vegetables we need for our Abbotsford kitchen with our garden manager working closely with our chefs to optimise the flow of healthy ingredients. Download our Garden Manual to see how we do it and for tips on growing veggies in Melbourne.
The vast bulk of FareShare’s vegetables are grown on the Baguley family farm in Clayton South with the generous support of experienced horticulturalist Les Baguley. FareShare has also created vibrant community assets on pieces of disused land at Moorabbin Airport and Victoria Park. Watch how we started on Gardening Australia and see our trial sweet potato planting on Landline.
Commercial flower, herb and vegetable grower Les Baguley has provided FareShare with the opportunity to grow vegetables at scale on his prime farm land in Melbourne’s outer fringe.
His family farm in Clayton South enables FareShare to grow a wide range of vegetables with a focus of generating yield. In 2020, the farm produced more than 55 tonnes of vegetables for the kitchen. The top crops were cauliflower, carrot, capsicum and celery.
Volunteer shifts operate on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and require a good level of physical fitness. There are immediate volunteering opportunities on the Baguley farm.
FareShare has created a large kitchen garden in the heart of Melbourne on VicTrack land close to our Abbotsford kitchen.
With initial support from RACV and Gandel Philanthropy, FareShare has transformed a former dumping ground between Victoria Park railway station and Victoria Park oval, into a productive urban vegetable patch.
The kitchen garden now grows a range of vegetables on 70 beds tended by volunteers.
Due to its proximity to the FareShare kitchen, this garden is particularly valuable for growing crops with a short shelf life such as herbs. In 2020 basil, thyme, parsley, sage and oregano were grown alongside zucchini, eggplant, celery and carrots.
Volunteer shifts operate on Mondays and Wednesdays with a long waiting list for new volunteer opportunities.
A disused plot of land on one of Australia’s busiest airports has been donated by Moorabbin Airport Corporation and the Goodman Foundation to grow vegetables.
The kitchen garden, located next to the Australian National Aviation Museum, comprises scores of raised beds which have been planted with a range of vegetables, notably eggplant. The garden also grows root vegetables, greens and herbs.
Volunteer shifts operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Interested in growing food in Melbourne? The FareShare garden manual could be just the tool you need.
FareShare’s kitchen garden program has shared its experiences of urban food production at its three Melbourne garden locations – Abbotsford, Moorabbin Airport and Clayton South.
The 74-page manual covers everything from crops grown and yield, to soil, composting, integrated pest management, crop rotation and companion planting.
You can download the publication here.
FareShare boosts sustainability commitment with new green initiatives Sustainability has been a core driver for FareShare since we set out rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste. But we haven’t stopped there! From installing Tesla batteries to store and share our solar energy to recycling soft plastics and composting
On any given day, the staff and volunteers at the Abbotsford garden get asked about the history of the site, what it’s currently being used for, and how it came to be a kitchen garden that grows vegetables to help people doing it tough. And while our staff and volunteers
Back in 1999 Les Baguley was working a 100-hour week for Australia’s biggest flower growers in Melbourne’s Southeast. Born into a business started by his parents, horticultural legends Frank and Isabel, Les could scarcely have imagined how his life would change when aged just 47 he suffered a catastrophic stroke.
Marnie Dixon decided to volunteer with FareShare because she witnessed first hand the benefits of our meals to struggling women and their families. The garden volunteer worked for more than 21 years as an outreach community nurse and midwife supporting homeless women and families in inner-city Melbourne. As a first
Our work to convert disused land into edible gardens has attracted a lot of attention.
Gardening Australia’s Jane Edmanson reported from our Abbotsford garden in our first growing season. Find out what she made of the experience which included an inspection of vegetable preparation in our kitchen.
The first harvest of Melbourne’s largest planting of sweet potato took place in our kitchen gardens in 2017.
The cultivation of a global staple, rarely seen in Melbourne gardens, is part of an innovative partnership between FareShare and the Burnley Campus of the University of Melbourne.
The low GI, versatile and easy-to- prepare sweet potato is a welcome ingredient for FareShare’s nutritious meals. It also enables FareShare to better support migrant groups and develop more culturally-appropriate recipes. The sweet potatoes are being used in a variety of FareShare dishes including curries and soups.
