About Marc Daniels and the Weed Out Hate Initiative

In 1946, my grandfather, Ross Daniels, invented the Ross Root Feeder®, an irrigation tool that to this day nurtures the deepest roots of trees and shrubs and connects millions of home owners to nature. My goal is to carry the torch and take my grandfather’s vision to the next level—to better connect future generations of gardeners, and kindergartners, with nature for the higher purpose of improving the fabric of society.

In a similar manner that root feeding unlocks stagnant soil for facilitating absorption of nutrients and water through the tree's root structure for optimal fruit harvest, Weed Out Hate root feeds our children for yielding fruits of the connections to nature, friends, family, and society. Weed Out Hate removes the obstacles that prevent us from feeling and drawing upon the strong roots that we already have. It's a great treatment for enriching and stimulating our education roots. It empowers even the smallest child to condition his future self as well as the future garden by learning to remove acculturated prejudice in a similar manner that one extracts weeds in the garden-roots and all.

After devoting 30 years of my professional life working within the green industry and the past five years of researching the spiritual, cultural, and ecological roots of global gardening trends, the time has come to sow the seeds of this inspiration and wisdom in the land where Abraham Lincoln's roots ran deepest-Springfield, IL.

First Fruits: Proclamations by the Cities of Des Moines, IA and Springfield, IL Support our Initiative

The mayors of Des Moines, IA and Springfield IL established August 28th, 2010 as official Weed-Out-Hate Day, calling upon their children to go out in their yards and gardens to extract a single weed. Both proclamations were read at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, IL on the 16th of August, 2010. During the commemoration, we dipped feeders into the soil beneath the trees surrounding Lincoln's home, in the land where his roots ran deepest.

From One Promised Land to Another, the Call Was Heard Around the World

The Springfield, IL speech was so powerful that noted German journalist Ulrich Sahm heard the call some 6,000 miles away. Based in Jerusalem, Sahm facilitated the transfer of the Schindler's list documents from Germany to the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Israel. As a respected correspondent who covers both sides of the Mideast conflict, Sahm expressed his willingness to support our Initiative and thus received a commemorative Weed Out Hate Root Feeder on September 7th, 2010. I intend to distribute others to similar worthy individuals over the course of the year.

As I see it, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Oskar Schindler are of a kindred spirit: Though individuals from different times, places and cultures, they recognized bias and hatred when they saw it, and recognized that only by taking positive social action, at enormous risk to their personal safety, could they nurture and restore the roots of freedom and social justice.

While Lincoln, King and Schindler have set a very high bar that few, if any of us, will ever reach, our goal is modest by comparison: Empower the kindergardeners of today, the social architects of tomorrow, to take out their rakes and shovels and help us weed out hate for all generations.

Photo 1: Daniels taps the roots of Abraham Lincoln’s spirit at the Lincoln National Home, Springfield, IL, USA

Photo 2: Rabbi Barry Marks proclamation reading at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, IL on the 16th of August, 2010

Photo 3: In Jerusalem, the “City of Peace,” international correspondent and Schindler’s List facilitator Ulrich Sahm cultivates his terrace plants with a Weed Out Hate commemorative root feeder.

Photo 4: Commemorative Ross Root Feeder® given to Ulrich Sahm

Top Right Image: Marc Daniels and Rabbi Barry Marks present the Lincoln National Home’s National Park Service Superintendent Dale Philips with a commemorative root feeder, which will be placed in the museum’s permanent collection