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Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School garden development before commencing.

Students help with marking out the future garden.

Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School garden development phase one complete November 2022.

Tamas, Reuben and Andy from the 24 Carrot Gardens team who worked on the Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School garden development.

East Devonport Primary School student concept from student consultations 2022.

Romaine Park Primary School student concept from student consultations in 2022.

2022 saw the serious expansion of 24 Carrot Gardens across Nipaluna (Hobart), in the north of the State and for the first time, in high schools. Together with our school communities, support from the Department of Education and our landscape design partners Inspiring Place and the University of Tasmania, our development team commenced a total of nine new transformation projects across the state.

Through listening to local knowledge and encouraging the creativity of students, educators, families and the school community, we collaborate to envisage how under-used spaces can be transformed into beautiful and productive living landscapes. Environments that bring beauty and offer a valuable contribution to the education curriculum through learning that occurs by growing, harvesting and cooking fresh produce. 

Each site responds to place and people and is as unique as the community who has imagined and developed it. Together we design, problem solve, dream, construct, plant and through conversations of care, communities connect and take ownership  of these future ecologies. 

With more sites to transform in 2023, we are energised and inspired by the number of schools and communities now reaching out to us and expressing their interest in being part of a vibrant food culture and establishing gardens filled with delicious produce. We continue our fundraising efforts to support and enable the establishment of more school gardens. 

More gardens in more schools and communities means more access to delicious produce. More gardens make stronger community connections, generate better health outcomes and develop moments of collaboration and celebration. We believe communities with vibrant food cultures have strong futures. 

We’re looking forward to planting more seeds of radical renewal and growing a vibrant food culture across in Lutruwita in 2023!

A huge thank you to our generous and growing network of funders, volunteers, collaborators and the nine schools who joined us in 2022:

Department for Education, Children & Young People

University of Tasmania (School of Architecture and Design)

Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School

2022 saw the serious expansion of 24 Carrot Gardens across nipaluna (Hobart), in the north of the State and for the first time, in high schools.

From asphalt to wonderground: sowing seeds of radical renewal across Lutruwita.

24 Carrot Gardens is the core education program of the Material Institute Lutruwita/Tasmania. And we are proud to announce (trumpets…!), that through the efforts of our hard-working Board and team, the Material Institute is now officially a charity!

We’re here for a very good cause - to raise a gazillion dollars for the 24 Carrot Gardens program so we can bring school gardens, nutrition and education through artful experiences to regenerate communities across Lutruwita/Tasmania. 

We’re excited about our new charitable status because it grows our potential to deliver even more programs, and with them, greater opportunity to more Tasmanian communities.  

Since establishing Material Institute in 2021, we have:

 - established 5 new primary school programs in the north of the state and 4 new high school programs in the south

 - secured over 2.3M in funding through philanthropy, grants, government support and curated events

 - delivered over 100 in-school kitchen and garden classes to an audience of over 1500 students 

 - hosted over 750 students in 2022 alone, at our base camp, Botanical Institute, in the heart of Bridgewater for hands-on learning experiences in gardening, cooking and the creative arts

We acknowledge the generosity and contribution of our past and current patrons, associates, friends and every community donor, partner and sponsor who has dug deep and galvanised our impact through their passion for our purpose. 

Every gift no matter how big or small makes a positive difference. Your generosity can buy garden tools and equipment, mulch and pots, clay, cooking and art supplies or seed new gardens in schools and communities across Tasmania.

In 2023, we’re excited to be launching new ways you can get involved and support 24 Carrot Gardens so stay tuned! Or you’re always welcome to drop off a fruit tree (or a bag of cash) to Botanical or our spiritual home, Mona.

We tailor our sponsorships and partnerships so feel free to drop us a line.  We’d love to hear from you, take you on a tour of one of our gardens or host you at an upcoming events. 

Or if you prefer, make a donation here. All donations over $2 are tax deductible. 

As we embark on our first year as a charity, we would like to take this moment to extend our immense gratitude to:

- the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens and Colony47 for auspicing the 24 Carrot Gardens program since 2013

- the inaugural 24 Carrot Gardens program steering group  - Renate Hughes, Angela Miezitis, Niall Doran and Robert Sveen

- Material Institute Board members Kirsha Kaechele, Patrick Kelly, Nic Whyte, John Balazs and Kelly-Anne Williams.  

The Material Institute Tasmania is now officially a charity and charitable organisation!

Our Carrot Carnival celebrated its sixth birthday in 2022! An annual event where we invite 24 Carrot Garden schools and communities to come together for a day filled with art, food and music. 

For this Carnival, artist Selena de Carvalho joined us to curate the festivities. We caught up with Selena to learn more about her arts practice and her approach to radical acts of care and inspiring future climate custodians.   

Hi Selena! Thanks for joining us today. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with you on the sixth annual Carrot Carnival. Art is a vital aspect of all our programs at 24 Carrot Gardens. Can you share a little bit about yourself and your arts practice?

My practice is interdisciplinary and takes on many forms including installation, performance and sound works. It is situated in imagined ecologies and I spend a lot of time in the natural environment. Places such as fields, forests and rivers and especially those that are vulnerable. I translate the experience of being with these vulnerable places into art experiences extending the act of empathy and listening. 

What is the connection between your arts practice and the Carrot Carnival?

The work of 24 Carrot Gardens is very much aligned with my ethos. An ongoing question is ‘how do you break through social circumstances and open them up to new possibilities?’. Art, humour, food and beauty can all do that. 

My art is usually experienced by a few people at a time so the challenge here was to think about an artful experience for 1,300 people and mostly 8 to 12 year olds! 

Another consideration has been ‘how do we open up a conversation about climate change for this age group?'.  And how do we encourage curiosity and dreaming into a future space that can either be presented with false hope and positivity or as defeatist and fatalistic? 

The answer in a way is to come back to basics and this is also what the 24 Carrot Gardens program does so well. It’s radically simple. Put your hands in the soil, watch the cycles of nature, recognise where food comes from. This all brings joy and a sense of connection and belonging. 

What was your hope for Carnival goers and their experience?

That they make phenomenal memories. People brought their curiosity and were ready to have some fun. We had some great performance ensembles and artists programmed including a 'Weather MC' - essentially a cloud providing an update on weather patterns. We had roving science experts ready to answer questions related to climate change. As well as gaining knowledge, people had fun and we hope the event inspired curiosity to learn more.

Thanks so much for your time Selena! We look forward to seeing you at the Carnival. Where else can we find you?

This summer I’ll be with the ocean and the bespoke mobile Elsewhere Sauna. You can find me on Sundays at Randalls Bay Beach. Come for a swim, a sauna and repeat. The sauna really encourages people to care for themselves and I’m really just there to open the door. It’s another way I can care for and restore nature—in this case of the human kind!

Selena de Carvalho is an interdisciplinary experimental artist living in Longley, lutruwita, Tasmania and this year’s Carrot Carnival curator. 

What do carrots and radical acts of care have in common?

Let’s Celebrate!