You Are a Gardener®

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!

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Dear Gardeners,

Mar 25

Dear Gardeners,

Over the past year children have had to navigate new feelings, experiences and emotions which may have caused a lot of 'weeds'. Now more than ever kids need positive tools to help them identify, communicate and manage their emotions to help them move forward confidently and calmly. Today on the #PullYourWeeds® Blog we are sharing some easy tips on things we can do to help our kids gardens grow healthy and strong! <SCROLL DOWN TO READ NOW> ❀Embrace the power of the words flo

The Sweetest Episode Ever 🍪

Feb 10

The Sweetest Episode Ever 🍪

Today we are flashing back to the sweetest episode of Hello Gardeners® that aired in February of 2020. In this episode Gardener Anna & Gardener Aidan help 8 year old Max with his fear of public speaking, they meet up with Gardener Anne from @rebeldaughtercookies and have some extra sweet surprises along the way 🍪 Watch Now! Hello Gardeners® is a grass roots, self-funded video series created to help empower kids with tools to help their gardens grow healthy and strong. S

The Spirit of the Season

Oct 5, 2020

The Spirit of the Season

Hello Gardeners! It's always fun seeing the leaves start to fall, the pumpkins line the steps of homes, and the Halloween decorations light up neighborhoods. If you are looking for a way to get your kids involved in the Halloween spirit, keep scrolling to find a list of materials and directions for making these spook-tacular jack-o-lanterns! Here's what you will need: ☐ TISSUE PAPER ☐ GLUE (add a tsp of water to 2 tbsp of glue) ☐ PAINT BRUSH ☐ BLACK PAPER ☐ BALLOONS First, c

Meet #GardenerDevin | #PullYourWeeds Crafter

Sep 3, 2020

Meet #GardenerDevin | #PullYourWeeds Crafter

Hello Gardeners! This week we are introducing you to another member of the Gardening Team, crafter extraordinaire - Devin DeLaney. When the #PullYourWeeds blog launched, Devin came aboard to create crafts, breathing exercises, DIY tricks, classroom hacks, fun activities and more! Devin fills the blog with tons of resources for educators and families looking to embrace the 'gardening' lifestyle to share with their kids. Devin is a visual artist creating artwork through proje

Meet #GardenerKelsey | Illustrator & Videographer

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.

Public Speaking

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

Working with the Seasons

Jan 9, 2020

Working with the Seasons

Hello Gardeners! While winter brings snow days, sledding, hot cocoa, and snuggling up by the fire, sometimes it can also bring isolation, fatigue, and in some cases depression. Whether you call it #TheWinterBlues or #SeasonalDepression, we have some suggestions to help you stay healthy during winter - take a look! | Surround yourself with people | Winter can make us feel like staying in and isolating ourselves. Try to break away from that pull! While hibernation can be rejuv

Anxiety: The Ultimate Invasive Plant

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

Gratitude Gardens

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

Tattling vs. Asking for Help

Apr 18, 2019

Tattling vs. Asking for Help

Hello Gardeners! In honor of starting to film #Season2 of #HelloGardeners, let’s look back at our very first episode. We received a weed from #GardenerAlexandra who explained that a classmate of hers was alway bumping into her and getting in her space - and that was in turn causing her to get frustrated and distracted. She was afraid that telling a teacher would be tattling, and she didn’t want to be a tattle-tale. So, where’s the line - what’s the difference between tattling

Tugging On The Roots Of Fear

Mar 25, 2019

Tugging On The Roots Of Fear

Hello Gardeners! Today we are going to talk about something that EVERY gardener struggles with - fear. Fears can be big or small, silly & strange, or things that can immobilize us and make us feel alone. Those weeds that are especially hard to pull are most likely rooted with some sort of fear - fear of being judged, fear of being alone, fear of asking for help. Just know that every single one of us deals with this and you are not alone! In fact, talking about your fears migh

The Value of Sharing

Mar 13, 2019

The Value of Sharing

Hi Gardeners! Today we are going to talk about #sharing. We all know that sharing is good and we should do it as much as we can, but sometimes sharing is easier said than done. Let’s remember Mason’s weed from Episode 2 of #HelloGardeners, he wrote: A few great suggestions #GardenerAnna & #GardenerAidan gave us were to: 1. Request some solo play time 2. Show your siblings and friends how to play nicely with fragile toys 3. When in doubt - take a deep breath and practice patie

Spring Cleaning

Mar 6, 2019

Spring Cleaning

Spring is all about new beginnings and growth, it’s the perfect time to take a closer look at our gardens and see if there are any big weeds taking up space and do a little #SpringCleaning to make room for new flowers. As a reminder, flowers are the things that make you happy, weeds are the things that make you feel sad, scared or mad and seeds are the positive solutions on how to address your weeds. For all of you new gardeners, remember the best way to #PullYourWeeds is to

Bullies And #SchoolWeeds

Mar 6, 2019

Bullies And #SchoolWeeds

Hello Gardeners! Thanks for joining us today - in many of our #HelloGardeners episodes, we get emails from fellow gardeners about dealing with bullies and mean friends. While it might be easy for us to think of those kids as being “bad kids”, as gardeners we need to recognize that EVERYONE has weeds. Maybe these gardeners are being mean to us because they have a lot going on at home, or maybe they are being bullied themselves. Whatever it is, it’s important for us not to judg

Spreading Seeds at the NJMAC Conference

Mar 6, 2019

Spreading Seeds at the NJMAC Conference

Hello Gardeners! Recently, our author #GardenerShanna and our illustrator #GardenerKelsey had the pleasure of attending the New Jersey Montessori Association Corporation (#NJMAC) Conference. Many of you might not know that alongside selling the book, we have lots of different programs that you can bring to your school. Whether you are looking for in-service hours for your educators, book readings for your students, or workshops for parents - we have you covered! It was so won

Being The Best "Trusted Adult" You Can Be

Mar 6, 2019

Being The Best "Trusted Adult" You Can Be

In many of our #HelloGardeners episodes, a common piece of advice is to find a parent, teacher, or a trusted adult and tell them what’s going on. Children come to us for security and support - we need to be prepared to listen and respond appropriately. When a child approaches you, and wants to talk in private or seems nervous even about asking you to talk, that should be a sign that THIS IS IMPORTANT! Even if it doesn’t seem important, the fact that he or she is bringing it

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.

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