We’re planting the seeds for better nutrition.

Earlier this month, we kicked off our very first Good in Bloom event of the year. We launched our 12 Days of Nutrition Program just ahead of Earth Day to help kids and families get excited about eating healthily.

Set up in ten different elementary school classes across the US, our program was designed in response to the pervasiveness of troubling medical conditions that can result from a poor diet. Our educational, hands-on kit provided kindergarten through third grade teachers with 12, 20, and 30-minute lesson plans about incorporating nature’s rainbow into meals, the importance of a proper diet, and, most importantly, how plants grow.

On Earth Day, each classroom celebrated what they learned by creating one-of-a kind pieces that were featured in our garden at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The students’ work joined our mobile garden on the beautiful campus of the University of Southern California for the entire community to enjoy. We also encouraged festival attendees to “grow their glow” by writing themselves a love letter on a special Heart + Soil woodburnt bookmark, which we “planted” in wine barrel planters filled with recycled paper. We’ll donate each one with an accompanying children’s book to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

We’ll also be heading back to Montclair, New Jersey to show our support for National Autism Month by bringing our mobile garden along to help local families experience nature in an exciting new way.

In Israel, our team partnered with Tene Briut, a nonprofit that helps Ethiopian-Israeli healthcare professionals improve the health of immigrant communities, to facilitate a nutrition workshop for elementary school kids from Ethiopian families. Each student earned a certificate for completing the class that will be awarded to them during a special ceremony on Earth Day.

These initiatives are big ones, and we’re excited to nourish young minds and all hearts by connecting them to our planet with education and words of love and inspiration.