- Jennifer, I know that your passion
for organic, healthy baby food
inspired your Once Upon a Farm brand.
And I love it.
But our next guest shares that passion, as well,
and has made it his life mission.
Y'all take a look.
(tender music)
- Look at this.
Look how beautiful this is.
Ever since the age of 10, I've been fascinated about plants
and learning more about them.
I studied horticulture in college,
and new after, that I wanted to do something
that utilized my love of sustainable agriculture.
One day it hit me that if I could figure out
how to build and maintain people's vegetable gardens
in a simple way for them,
I could really spread the message
of growing vegetables at home to everyone.
In 2016, I launched my own business, Revival Roots.
And it's truly been a dream come true for me.
- Now, is this your favorite part?
- Oh, it's definitely my favorite part.
- Nice.
- My biggest joy is the whole process of meeting with
someone who wants a garden and then at the end,
planting it and, kind of, seeing the joy on their face.
It's really exciting for me to
see when kids get excited about their garden.
And, kind of, reestablishing that connection
between the food they eat and, kind of, where it comes from.
And give it a little bit of a shake. Perfect, oh yes.
Right after we're done planting, we'll water.
- [Little Boy] Yay!
- [Little Girl] I want a garden too.
- Teaching people how to grow their own veggies,
and supplement their diet, is a gift I wanna give people
for the rest of my life.
(audience applauding)
- Yes!
All right y'all, say hello to Reid Newman.
- [Reid] Thank you.
- But do you really think anyone can garden?
- Absolutely, my goal is to bring people
back to their roots and really show
that anyone can plant a garden at home.
I mean, it's great if you have, like, a big back yard.
But even if you have a patio or windowsill,
you can still supplement your diet in a meaningful way.
- Definitely, definitely.
Well, Reid is going to show us just how easy it is
to get started and grow your own food in your home.
We can do this, people.
Y'all ready?
- We can do it! - Oh yeah!
- We can do it. - [Reid] Let's do it.
(audience applauding)
- Real quick, why do you love gardening so much?
- I love gardening, because it makes
great, healthy food accessible to everyone.
- Yes!
- It's one of the main things about Once Upon a Farm.
We're mission driven, so we're WIC accessible
in five states so far.
We're knocking down states one at a time.
That means that people who can't afford baby food,
if the government is supplementing 'em,
they can have good food.
- Yeah.
- And then we're also, we have a program
called Wholesome Wave.
Which is where families get a little card
that has money put onto it.
It's preloaded and they take it to their grocery store,
and it's just for fruits and vegetables to make sure--
- That is so cool.
- 'Cause we're just, yeah.
- You know what that's actually really important,
because I think, and I wanna talk to you about this too,
is that people don't realize, like,
seeds can actually be pretty cheap.
So if you grow your own garden, like your food,
like your grocery bill will start lessening and lessening,
if you start growing it.
- Absolutely
- And I think people think, "Oh, it's so expensive
"to eat healthy."
It's expensive to eat healthy,
if you're only getting it at the store.
But, if you're growing your own garden, it's cheaper.
So show us!
- And you really don't need that much space.
- Show me, Obiwan.
- All right, so everyone is gonna be
planting a different variety today.
- Okay.
- But the process is exactly the same.
- Okay.
- So Kelly, you're gonna be planting edible flowers.
These are violas.
Great to toss in a salad or garnish a cocktail.
- Okay, should I put my gloves on?
- Jennifer-- - Got a ringer next to us.
- If you want, put on gloves.
- I know, have you ever planted this?
You've obviously planted that tons.
- Yeah.
- Jennifer, you're planting mint.
So this is a tea garden.
You could just as easily plant lemon verbena or lemon balm,
if you have tea in the morning or at night before bed.
- [Kelly] I do.
- [Reid] Super easy to have.
- Matt, you're growing spinach over there.
- Sandy, are you nailing it?
- So these are a little hard.
You have to, like, pinch 'em out.
- How do you?
(audience laughing)
I can't, like, I couldn't get it out.
- So it's all right, so they're little...
- They're fine, everything's fine.
- Is making a little divot and pinching the soil.
- [Kelly] Pinching the soil around it, okay.
- [Reid] Yeah, so these are all things
that you can grow in a windowsill or patio.
Easy to do at home.
(guests chattering)
- Spinach, Matt's planting spinach over there.
- [Kelly] Okay.
- What am I making here, Reid? - A mess.
- [Reid] So you're planting spinach right now.
(audience laughing)
- (laughs) Thank you, Jennifer.
(woman laughs)
- I love spinach. - I'm takin' it with me
- With a really good dressing.
- Yeah, and so easy to, like,
cut some off, put in your smoothie.
- Yeah. - Eggs in the morning.
- That's how I hide it with my kids.
I hide it in their smoothies, and I have a colored cup
so they can't tell it's green.
- Such a good idea.
- Exactly, I'm really smart, as well as, hot.
- And then--
(woman laughs) (audience laughing)
- Sandy, at the end, you are planting gem lettuces.
So these are little teeny baby, little gem lettuces.
Very easy to plant in a small area.
- [Matt] Okay, somebody made a huge mess here.
- [Kelly] Yeah, it's going great.
- [Reid] Getting your hands dirty.
(man laughs)
- I just needed it out and it wouldn't come out,
so I have the patience of a two year old.
- [Jennifer] How are those gloves working for you there?
You okay?
- I think I was supposed to be there--
- I feel like Jennifer Garner is heckling me.
- [Kelly] I love it!
- Based on my glove choice.
- Okay, look.
- I'm just conscious about my skin here,
I wanna keep it moist.
- [Kelly] Keep it moist!
- After it's nicely planted, exactly,
you can put in some water.
- I'm just saying, mine's startin'
to look real good, here, Reid.
I'm just saying.
- [Reid] Looking great. - [Sandy] Wonderful.
- Okay, and then it'll, and then you just water it.
Not too much, right?
- Exactly, yeah, you just wanna keep it slightly moist.
And so this can go right in the windowsill in your kitchen,
easy to just pluck off.
- So wait, what was all this for,
should I have used that, or?
- You're all good.
Hands are the best tools. - It just looks really cute.
- Absolutely. - Or gloves.
- [Kelly] It looks great.
(man laughs)
Or pink gloves, like Matt (laughs).
This is awesome, though. - Whatever works.
- It's looking so good.
- So, Jen, Once Upon a Farm line inspired you.
You know, that whole line has inspired you
to do what you're doing, and I think
it's a really beautiful thing.
And it has inspired us, actually, to build our garden.
So actually, Reid built our garden.
- No way! - Upstairs.
We have a whole rooftop thing.
- I wanna see. - Well, there's a surprise.
We actually, you know, every garden has to have a name.
- [Jennifer] Is this it?
- [Matt] Oh my! - [Kelly] Yes!
We actually use, we harvest our garden
whenever we're doing a cooking segment.
This is our garden that we made, inspired by you.
- [Jennifer] Oh my gosh, it looks great!
- [Kelly] That's why you have to have an awesome name
with a pun, right?
So we're naming it The Jen Gardner Garden.
- Oh, thank you! - Yes!
So you're, kind of like, always a part of the show.
- Thank you, I kind of am.
- [Kelly] Yes you are.
- Oh my gosh, that's so exciting.
I'm thrilled!
- We really were inspired, that's no joke.
That's why we did it.
- Kelly, what part of the set are you naming after me?
- We are naming, when anyone falls, we call it an Iseman.
(audience laughing) (woman laughs)
We call it an Iseman, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.