Over 300 participants joined us at our Paint and Plant event, at Coastal Roots’ Farm and Hangout Season Finale last Thursday afternoon. Children and adults of all ages sat under the shade of our tent, and painted terra-cotta pots, planted wildflower seeds inside, and learned about the importance of bees and other pollinators to our food and to our planet.

“I’ve never planted a seed or done anything like this before. This is awesome!” one particularly inquisitive child exclaimed while watering his newly planted seeds. Together, we painted over 150 pots, and planted countless California native wildflowers, including California Poppies, White Yarrow, Golden Lupine, California Blue Bells, Monkeyflower, and more.

Bees are incredibly hard-working creatures, and are immensely important to the health of our environment and ecosystem. Without bees helping to pollenate plants, we wouldn’t have apples, almonds, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, pumpkins, watermelons, or many other fruits and vegetables. And of course, without bees, we wouldn’t have any delicious honey! Bees and other pollinators love wildflowers too, so planting native wildflowers in your garden can help attract bees to your plants to help your garden grow.

We had so much fun painting and planting with all of you who made it out to our event, and we look forward to hosting more educational events promoting the collaboration between arts and agriculture in September and October. Stay tuned for more information about our upcoming events, and hope to see you there!