The #PullYourWeeds® Blog

...rooted in empowering young kids with skills and tools to help their

gardens to grow healthy & strong.

Featuring: Crafts, Kid-Friendly Recipes, Mindfulness Activities, Inspirational Stories & More!

Apr 1

The World's Longest Hopscotch

The gardeners are kicking off their spring break with the “world’s longest hopscotch” inspired by their friend Gardener Finola in Session One of Camp Hello Gardeners®️ . Watch as #GardenerAnna & #GardenerAidan jump the alphabet, tackle a long jump, hop on their left foot, do the rainbow slide and more before they reach the finish! We love this activity because you get to be outside, use your imagination, play with chalk and be active! (PRESS PLAY TO WATCH NOW & SCROLL DOWN

Dec 17, 2020

Minty Kiss Cookies

As you may know, #GardenerAnna describes baking as one of the brightest 'flowers' in her garden. Cooking, baking and creating in the kitchen is a wonderful way to keep kids focused, active and it's also an excellent confidence builder! This time of year our family loves to play around with classic cookie recipes and give them a fun and current twist. Kiss cookies have always been a kid-friendly favorite so today on the #PullYourWeeds we are making Minty Kiss cookies. We did

Aug 26, 2020

Meet #GardenerKelsey | Illustrator & Videographer

Hello Gardeners! We are so thrilled to formally introduce you to our next #GuestGardener, Kelsey Jordan (formerly Kelsey DeLaney)! Where to begin? Kelsey and our author, Shanna, were friends long before You Are A Gardener® bloomed into what it is today. Kelsey's journey with #YouAreAGardener started with those beautiful illustrations you find throughout the book. She perfectly captured the spirit of our message portraying friendship, blooming gardens, and colorful spaces.

Aug 20, 2020

I took my own advice...

A few weeks ago I kept waking up around 3:30 in the morning with a flood of worries running through my head…should we send the kids to school or keep them home, will they will be ok wearing masks that long, are we drinking enough water, how much screen time did the kids have today…it went on and on. After about 4 or 5 nights of this, it occurred to me that I needed to take my own advice...I had to get back in my garden and “pull some weeds”! The roots of my You Are a Gardener

Aug 10, 2020

Connect with Kindness

Hello Gardeners! So far, this summer has been the summer for small gestures - we find ourselves writing more notes, saying "thank you" more regularly, and helping each other out! We know #GardenerAnna has been keeping up with penpals by writing letters, while #GardenerAidan has been sharing smiles and laughter over video chat. What are the little things you've been doing to stay connected this summer? Want to learn how to address and send a letter from Gardener Anna? Follo

Aug 5, 2020

Meet #GardenerJulia AKA The Petite Fastinista

Hello Gardeners! You've seen her featured in Hello Gardeners, on our blog post Get Moving, and now on Camp Hello Gardeners - meet, Julia Hickman AKA The Petite Fastinista! Julia has made it her mission to help busy women stay motivated and inspired to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Julia recently interviewed our author, Shanna Truffini, alongside #GardenerAnna and #GardenerAidan. We talked about the origins of You Are A Gardener and how to deal with stress and anxiety

Jul 3, 2020

Meet Guest Gardener Anne from Rebel Daughter Cookies®

Hello Gardeners! Camp Hello Gardeners® is in full bloom and we are having so much fun spreading seeds and connecting with 'gardeners' all across the country! Every camp session features 3-4 'Guest Gardeners' that include amazing educators, inspiring entrepreneurs, and strong #SEL advocates. Today, we are introducing a very special gardener friend, Anne Grossman, owner and founder of Rebel Daughter Cookies. Rebel Daughter Cookies in Wilton, CT was born out of the hunt to c

Mar 30, 2020

Document Your Day

Hello Gardeners! Recently, #GardenerAnna shared a video talking about the importance of documenting this strange and unpredictable time in which we live. Check it out below! While we've talked about journaling on the blog before, today on the blog, we are looking at the many ways you can journal and how to making journaling part of your daily routine! And just a reminder, while this blog is mostly features ideas and crafts for young gardeners, this crazy time in history aff

Mar 19, 2020

Helping Hands to Brighten Your Day

Hello Gardeners! All of us on the Gardening Team hope that you and your families are hanging in there, staying healthy, and staying on the bright side. In the coming weeks, we are going to have ups and downs, we may start feeling lonely, or catch a case of cabin fever, or experience weeds we've never encountered before. WE ARE HERE FOR YOU! Send us your flowers and weeds, send us pictures of the crafts and activities your and your family are doing, send us the recipes of t

Mar 5, 2020

Public Speaking

Hello Gardeners! About a week ago, we released our sixth episode of Season 2 of #HelloGardeners! The gardeners got to participate in the sweetest episode yet! If you haven't already watched it, head over to our YouTube page to catch up. In this episode we received a weed from Gardener Max in Connecticut who said, Public speaking can be nerve-wracking for gardeners of all ages and can cause weeds of anxiety and fear to pop up. We start to think of the what ifs - "what if e

Dec 23, 2019

Out With the Old & In With the New!

Hello Gardeners! With a new year and a new decade upon us, there is no better time to reflect on the past year's accomplishments, upsets, friendships, and progress. When we reflect, it's easy to see the past through a self-depricating, judgmental lens. Here are some reminders to help your reflect in the most productive way! Reminder #1 Remember our blog post "Treat Yourself the Way YOU Want to be Treated!"? When you think back to some of the losses, the challenges, or the u

Nov 4, 2019

Anxiety: The Ultimate Invasive Plant

Hello Gardeners! Have you ever heard about invasive plants? In nature, invasive plants are plants that aren't native to the area and spread lots of seeds as a way to try to take over the native plants. If you are an experienced gardener, you know you are always checking your garden for these fast growing plants, just so you can pull them out! Well, what if we thought of #anxiety as an invasive plant. Anxiety is an overwhelming sense of distress that often leads to fear an

Oct 24, 2019

Art #ForACause

Hello Gardeners! Yesterday, we aired the 4th episode of season 2, where #GardenerAnna and #GardenerAidan talked about the history of art, mentioned some notable artists, and then created small paintings using natural materials with #GardenerDevin, the co-founder of Piece. - an online art gallery. Devin showed them various ways to use items from nature to create an image. These paintings can be found on findyourpiece.net or click the images below! When you purchase one of th

Oct 10, 2019

Comfort Zones!

Hello Gardeners! Each and every one of us has comfort zones - lines of comfort that we try to stay inside, because venturing outside is too scary. And while respecting your boundaries is important, living forever inside your comfort zone can actually continue to feed your existing anxieties and prevent you from growing. How do you continue to expand your comfort zone? Start small! Try something new or something that even makes you a little nervous. You'll probably find tha

Oct 3, 2019

Take Some Time to Unwind

Hello Gardeners! Our lives are so full of activities, hobbies, responsibilities, and other time consuming things. Taking time to relax and unwind can not only decrease stress & anxiety, but it can improve your mood, clear your head, and allow you to enjoy more of the activities you do. Sometimes, we even find ourselves so overwhelmed and antsy, that it is essential to take a minute to calm down. Whether it's because of a big test, something that's causing us stress at home,

Sep 10, 2019

Let's Go Flower Picking!

Hello Gardeners! For some of us, the hours before bedtime or the hours that start the day are tough. Maybe our stomach starts to hurt, our hearts start to race, either while we are winding down or just starting our day. #GardenerShanna likes to take this time to "pick flowers". She asks #GardenerAnna & #GardenerAidan to carve out a little bit of time before bed to walk through their day and recognize all of the good moments and positive experiences. These moments could be

Sep 7, 2019

Conflict Resolution

Hello Gardeners! We have recently launched Season 2 of our web series, Hello Gardeners. To catch up and see what we’ve been doing in the greenhouse, click the image below! With school starting up again, we are introduced to new teachers, new classmates, new schedules, and sometimes new schools! When new people are put into new places, that can lead to new conflicts. Because we are all unique people with differing goals and opinions, conflict is bound to arise in any situation

Jul 8, 2019

Gratitude Gardens

Hello Gardeners! We talk so much about positives and negatives - flowers are good, weeds are bad - but it is so important to remember that it's natural for both to exist. Life is a balancing act of good things, difficult things, happy times, and times of distress. Our hope is that we can provide you the tools to manage the hard stuff and celebrate & cherish the good! #GardenerShanna likes to remind of something #FredRogers used to say, "look for the helpers". In times of we

May 28, 2019

The Future is ✨BRIGHT✨

Hello Gardeners! This month we have been closely following the #MyYoungerSelf campaign from The Child Mind Institute and Project UROK. It's a campaign where actors, athletes, musicians, and influencers of all kind come together to provide advice to their younger self about struggling with their weeds (stress, depression, and anxiety). What we have noticed is that most of the advice is rooted in #GardenerAnna & #GardenerAidan's belief - that talking about your weeds keeps t

May 25, 2019

The Power of Positive Visualization

Hello Gardeners! Something our author Shanna has always told her kids is "no dream is too big or too small". Sometimes when we visualize our goals, we strive to achieve them just a little bit more. With #GardenerAnna and #GardenerAidan, Shanna uses vision boards. She asks them questions like "what do you want to be when you grow up?", "what are your goals for this year?", "who do you look up to?". They pick out photos of the various goals and images, then Shanna uses a phot

The #PullYourWeeds® Blog was created by Shanna Truffini for the You Are a Gardener platform as a resource for families, teachers, educators and therapists to access tools, activities, crafts and inspirational messages all rooted in the foundation of helping young kids manage their emotions. The You Are a Gardener® programs are rooted in spreading the seeds of social and emotional learning skills (SEL) for kids to be able to positively identify, communicate and manage their emotions. You Are a Gardener™ and the #PullYourWeeds® Blog uses gardening vocabulary as emotional metaphors to help children talk about and respond to what they are feeling. The Pull Your Weeds® Blog help kids manage stress with productive and positive conflict/resolution skills and mindfulness practices.

You Are a Gardener® is not responsible for any and all claims, injuries, damages, losses or suits including attorney fees, arising out of or resulting from the acts, errors, misuse or omissions while participating in any of our programs and activities including the #PullYourWeeds Blog, Hello Gardeners®, Camp Hello Gardeners and educational services.

For more information, to be featured as a guest gardener or to book a #PullYourWeeds Workshop

please email flowers@youareagardener.com

The #PullYourWeeds® Blog

...rooted in empowering young kids with skills and tools to help their

gardens to grow healthy & strong.

​

Featuring: Crafts, Kid-Friendly Recipes, Mindfulness Activities, Inspirational Stories & More!

​

For more information, to be featured as a guest gardener or to book a #PullYourWeeds Workshop

please email flowers@youareagardener.com