Meet Bellen Woodard...an incredibly inspiring 4th grader and straight-A student from Virginia. Bellen is making it her mission to raise awareness of diversity and to increase inclusivity in the classroom through her More than Peach Project. 

As the only African American student in her class at the time, Bellen Woodard created the "More than Peach Project" in 2019 after frequently hearing the peach-colored crayon referred to as the “skin-color” crayon. Her idea grew into a national movement to enhance classroom culture by providing diverse art supplies throughout local schools from donations her non-profit organization collects. Bellen created Palette Packets, art supply packets containing sketch books and boxes of regular and multicultural color crayons, for distribution to preschool students, elementary school classrooms, and middle school social studies and art classrooms in Loudoun County, Virginia. 

From Bellen: "When I began my project in Spring 2019, I started by creating my Palette Packets using big-brand multicultural crayons to donate to students so that no student felt "disincluded".  These had been around for almost 30 years and because they were much harder to find and pretty pricey, I saved my money...and began purchasing these items on my own with the goal of donating to 80,000 kids.  I soon found that to continue my message, I needed to create my own to best represent my mission and spirit and allow me to reach more students.  After lots of hard work and your support, I'm SO EXCITED to be able to offer my own More than Peach exclusive Palette Packets and the More than Peach brand multicultural crayons and sketchpads to share with kids everywhere--to further the empathy and curiosity of all kids. I hope you love them!"

We're thrilled we'll be carrying Bellen's products in our shop soon and hope you'll follow her on Instagram...and visit her website to see how you can help her make a difference. Bellen: your activism is inspiring, uplifting and we need more kiddos with a big heart like yours in the world! xo, m + k #beethechange 

(Logo & photo courtesy of Bellen's More than Peach Project)

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and we are celebrating the occasion with a special collaboration with our very favorite forest friends over at Hazel Village. Our special set with Hazel Village encourages wee bees to admire and help with gardening...while getting a little help from their Hazel Village animal friends! With your encouragement of their gardening endeavors, we hope it also cultivates an appreciation for nature all around them and a start to understanding the importance of conservation. 

Ella Toad is always ready to take care of her home in the woods with great conservation and care. She puts on her special workwear dress and pinafore apron to do her cleanups and gardening. Planting her garden with wildflowers to attract bees, she also loves to admire all the other curiosities nature has to offer.  

In addition to Ella Toad and her workwear gear, our set also includes a small packet of wildflower seeds, 2 peat pots for seed planting, 3 small garden tools for children, a specimen card to keep and document a favorite nature find and a reusable, branded waxed canvas lunch bag.

Our very special thanks to Hazel Village for another fun collaboration! xo, K + M

Ever since we first discovered Bloomsbury Farm and immediately started following Lauren Palmer on Instagram, her daughter & their farm’s story we were immediately drawn into the life, philosophy and product they are cultivating on their 400+ acre organic farm just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Bloomsbury Farm is so much more than just a working farm cultivating produce and products to sell at local farmers markets, produce sections and thru their gorgeous CSA baskets. They offer an incredible opportunity to be a part of their way of life hosting Camp Bloomsbury, a children's camp during the year and in summer months providing children a safe space to grow, develop imagination and explore the natural beauty of the farm and forest. They also host weddings & events on their idyllic property and even a place to getaway and stay.

They were kind enough to collaborate with us on our collection products & farm finds that look freshly picked or gathered from their fields and coops or sold at their beautiful farmers market stand every Saturday in Nashville.  Encouraging play and a healthy lifestyle, we hope you'll check out our special collection of handmade wood & fabric vegetables, heritage breed eggs, mushroom mix and more - all inspired by the spring bounty of Bloomsbury.

The biggest thank you to Lauren and Bloomsbury Farm for this collaboration, her beautiful and inspiring life and making a difference in the world with her amazing dedication to farming.

 Photos of farm & Lauren courtesy of Bloomsbury Farm.