We created a product called the Learning Garden which is a garden made out of the same material as playground equipment that can last for 20 to 30 years. It's designed like a place where kids will want to play. The great thing about what we do is, we can go into a school and have minimal impact on what's already there.

Because of the incredible nature of these rotationally molded beds, they're like LEGO blocks, we can fit them in anywhere. They're FDA approved because the material is healthy for you to grow things in. We can go on top of toxic soil, which is a real problem in Chicago and other cities, on top of rooftops, pavement, asphalt, parking lots, traditional soil. [The best part is] we do not disrupt the existing environment and do not have to do massive construction to install our Learning Gardens.

The other thing that's amazing about our Learning Gardens is they're designed to last. And environmentally speaking, I'm a big believer in things surviving a long time, and that is sometimes the best thing you can do. What we wanted to do is create a Learning Garden that would survive for decades, and not something that would have to be replaced every few years.

On the rotational molding side, it's fundamentally the same technology they use to build playground equipment. It's a simple, traditional manufacturing technology that is now being used to reach 60,000 kids in Chicago every school day. We have general contractors that we work with locally in Chicago that have been incredible, we work with soil providers and with permeable paver companies. Everything has to come together to make this all work. I would say that it's actually quite a miracle that it's here.

We have 100 Learning Gardens and we reach 60,000 Chicago kids every day. Our goal is to connect these kids to the food [they eat]. We want to help improve their test scores and help build their community, but if these kids come away with a connection to food through these lessons, we've done our job.