Project Rooted

Hey Rooted Community,

It’s Whitney here, co-founder of Project Rooted, checking in with you on Earth Day.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what this day really means—not just as a headline or a theme we see once a year, but as something very real and very close to how we live every day.

The Earth isn’t separate from us. It’s in what we eat, the water we drink, the soil that grows our food, and the air we share. It’s in the neighborhoods we walk through, the gardens we tend (or wish we had time to tend), and the quiet moments when we finally step outside and remember to look up.

And honestly, it’s easy to forget all of that in the pace of life.

That’s why I love what Earth Day can do—it slows us down just enough to notice again.

At Project Rooted, we talk a lot about connection. Connection to food. Connection to each other. Connection to where things actually come from. And Earth Day feels like an extension of that same idea. Because when we understand our connection to the Earth, it changes the way we move through the world. It makes even small choices feel meaningful—what we plant, what we compost, what we share, what we teach our kids, what we choose to value.

And it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be big.

Sometimes it’s as simple as cooking a meal from ingredients you recognize. Or letting kids get their hands in the dirt. Or taking a walk without rushing to the next thing. Or choosing to care just a little more intentionally than we did yesterday.

Those small things matter more than we think.

So today, I’m just feeling grateful. Grateful for the Earth itself—its patience, its abundance, its ability to keep giving even when we haven’t always given back our best. And grateful for this community that believes in showing up in ways that are real, grounded, and rooted in care.

Happy Earth Day, friends.

May we keep learning from the Earth, and may we keep choosing to live in a way that honors it—not just today, but in all the ordinary days that follow.

Support our mission this Earth Day: https://projectrooted.kindful.com/

Rooted box in action!

Okay, we know you’re probably wondering what this is—and yes, it’s a little weird looking being green and all—but this basil lemonade is absolutely a 10/10.

This recipe was featured in this month’s Rooted Box, where we’re all about celebrating herbs in fresh, unexpected ways. Bright, refreshing, slightly sweet, and surprisingly addictive—trust us on this one.

And the best part? No added sugar.

The basil comes straight from HillTop Greens, and the honey is from Country View Honey — local ingredients!

Basil Lemonade Recipe

Ingredients:

1¼ cups fresh lemon juice (about 8 lemons), plus lemon slices for garnish
½ cup honey(you can also use maple syrup)
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
3 cups cold water

Directions:

Add lemon juice, honey, and basil to a blender. Blend until very smooth.
Stir or blend in cold water. Chill until ready to serve.
Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices and fresh basil.

Fresh, herbal, refreshing—and proof that simple ingredients can go a long way.

Great Article featuring our newest program The Local Lunch Club!

Programs like this don’t work  without community support from people like you! Please consider doing a reoccurring donation to keep this program running!

https://projectrooted.kindful.com/

Dubuque schools, nonprofit partner to bring local lettuce to students' lunch trays When students at Dubuque’s public schools add a salad to their trays in the lunch line, they are taking a leaf out of a local grower’s book.

🌱 It’s that time of year again! We’re getting ready for our April Rooted Box and are in need of bags of dirt. If you’re able to donate a bag (or two!) to help our kiddos get planting, we’d love to hear from you. Send us a message to let us know!

Dear Rooted community,

We need your help!

This year at the Rooted Table, we’re excited to do something a little different—and we’d love your help bringing it to life.

Our vision is to bring a piece of history onto the table through the plates we use. We’re hoping to collect 400 vintage 10-inch plates, each one carrying its own story from other people’s tables to ours.

If you have any vintage plates tucked away, or come across some while thrifting, please consider donating them to Project Rooted. Every plate will help us create a meaningful, shared experience.

If you’re willing to donate, send us a message—we truly appreciate your support!

With gratitude,
Project Rooted

Everything we do at Project Rooted is deeply intentional.

That means every decision, every detail, every piece is chosen with one goal in mind: that kids feel loved, valued, and truly special.

So what does that look like?

It looks like a Rooted Box where nothing is random. Every item inside, even the box itself, is part of the experience. It’s designed to spark joy, curiosity, and connection.

It looks like small, meaningful touches that carry big impact. A handwritten Note of Hope from someone in the community. Honey in the shape of a teddy bear that feels like a gift, not just an item.

And none of this would be possible without our volunteers. They are the hands and hearts behind every detail, helping turn intention into something real that kids can see and feel.

Because to us, it’s never just about what we give, it’s about how it makes a child feel.

Seen.
Loved.
Valued.
Special.
Nourishhed.

That’s the intention behind everything we do.

A very special thank you to Steeple Square for providing us a space to do this work!

If you’ve ever volunteered with us, chances are you’ve met Adele 💛

She’s the heartbeat of Rooted Box days. The one keeping everything running smoothly, greeting volunteers by name, solving problems on the fly, and carrying our mission with her in everything she does.

As a fully volunteer led organization, days like Rooted Box simply don’t happen without people like Adele.

But what makes her even more special is what happens beyond those days. She’s one of our favorite creators and the designer behind every educational piece that goes out the door. She brings this kid like energy to her work that makes everything come alive in the best way.

Adele, you’re a rockstar. We are so grateful for you.

check her out - https://www.adeleherman.com/

Maple Buttermilk Cornbread Muffins! 🍁✨

This month, we scoured the internet for a healthy cornbread recipe, no added sugar and made with ingredients we could source locally, but didn’t find one we loved. So… we made our own! 😋

Tested today in the kitchen at Steeple, these sweet, tender muffins will be in this month’s Rooted Box - going to schools tomorrow and friday!

Local love: Everything in these muffins, butter, cornmeal, flour, eggs, maple syrup, and buttermilk, was sourced locally (baking powder, baking soda, and salt were the only exceptions). 💛

Whitney's Maple Buttermilk Cornbread Muffins Recipe

Ingredients:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 ½ cups cornmeal (medium or fine)
1 ½ cups flour (we used wheat)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
⅔ cup maple syrup(you can use honey too)
1 ½ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

Optional: jam, honey and butter for serving(these will be in the rooted box)

Instructions:
1️⃣ Preheat oven to 375°F. Melt butter in a small saucepan
2️⃣ Mix dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda) in a large bowl.
3️⃣ Whisk eggs and maple syrup in another bowl, then stir in buttermilk.
4️⃣ Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.
5️⃣ Stir in melted butter.
6️⃣ Grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin and fill each cup about 2/3 full.
7️⃣ Bake 18–22 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
8️⃣ Cool 5 minutes, then enjoy!

A little sweetness, a little warmth, and a whole lot of love—straight from local farms to your table. 🌱

A few years ago, Project Rooted partnered with Northeast Iowa RC&D on a virtual field trip series, and one of our favorite adventures was all about bees. It was such a great experience for kids to see where honey comes from and how important bees are to our food system.

This week in our lessons for the Rooted Box, we’re making cornbread and exploring toppings like butter, honey, and jam. Thinking back to that bee adventure feels like the perfect way to connect what we’re learning in the kitchen to the real world—seeing how the choices we make, like using local honey, support both our taste buds and our environment.

It’s little experiences like this that make learning about food so much more meaningful—and a lot more fun too!

Honey! How Is It Made? Let's buzz over to Hughes Happy Hives to learn how honey is made and harvested!https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100027312413201https://projectrooted.com

❤️❤️❤️