Ceremony on April 24 to Honor Natural Foods Pioneers with New Herb Garden at CSU
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (March 31, 2026) — Honoring the state's deep roots in the global natural foods movement, Colorado State University (CSU) will officially break ground on the highly anticipated Julie and Barney Feinblum Herb Garden on Friday, April 24, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Located on the CSU main campus in Fort Collins, adjacent to the renowned Annual Flower Trial Garden, this new living classroom will plant the seeds for the next generation of agricultural innovators while celebrating the pioneering Colorado companies that revolutionized how America eats and drinks. The groundbreaking ceremony is open to the media and the public.
Event Details at a Glance:
What: Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Julie and Barney Feinblum Herb Garden
When: Friday, April 24, 2026 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. MT
Where: CSU Main Campus (Adjacent to the Trial Garden), Fort Collins, CO
Attendance: Open to the Media and the Public
Endowed in perpetuity through a generous gift from longtime natural products industry leader Barney Feinblum and his wife, Julie (aka Jules), the herb garden will feature a diverse collection of medicinal, culinary, and tea herbs. Designed to bridge classroom theory with real-world application in agriculture, wellness, and business, the garden will give students the opportunity to see, touch, and study the plants that launched entire industries.
The garden also serves as a permanent recognition of Colorado's unique role as the "Silicon Valley of natural foods." This rich ecosystem of organic and better-for-you brands traces its roots directly back to the 1970s and the creation of Celestial Seasonings. When founders Mo Siegel and John Hay first began hand-foraging wild herbs in the Rocky Mountains in 1969, they sparked a revolution. Their pioneering vision transformed herbal tea from a niche, local hobby into a mainstream wellness staple.
Joined by Barney Feinblum—who started on the factory floor and eventually rose to President and CEO—the Celestial Seasonings team proved that a company could achieve massive national success without compromising its core values of transparency, environmental stewardship, and health. This foundational success paved the way for countless other natural product innovators to launch and thrive in Colorado.
“Barney's contributions to advancing natural foods in America are legendary. While CEO of Celestial Seasonings, he built our first herb garden. Imagining and funding an herb garden at CSU is another gift Barney and Jules have given to our state. They picked the most appropriate university as well. Congratulations Barney, Jules and CSU,” said Celestial Seasonings Co-founder Mo Siegel.
Added John Hay, “Celestial Seasonings was successful mainly due to certain principles that set it apart from most companies: Truth, Beauty and Goodness, and creating a friendly environment for all employees to work in and feel respected. Truth, with the sayings on every box and tea tag, Beauty with the original artwork on every package, and Goodness in the flavors and healthy herbs that created each unique blend of herb tea. Plus, fortunate timing: the New Age generation was a growing culture in the late 1960’s and 70’s when we introduced herb teas, and it was ripe for accepting new, healthy, creative and totally natural products."
“I really believe you can change the world with a few simple plants,” said Barney Feinblum. “Celestial Seasonings did just that. It taught that you don’t have to compromise your values to be successful. You have to make sales and make a profit, but you can do it with values.”
For the Feinblums, the garden represents a way to pass forward what plants have given them: curiosity, purpose, and the confidence to build something meaningful.
“You don’t change the world when you’re my age," Feinblum added. "You do it when you’re a young person just out of college, when you have energy and enthusiasm and want to make the world a better place. That’s why this herb garden will be a living classroom for students. Colorado changed our lives. We built a good life here, and this is our way of giving back.”
Following the groundbreaking ceremony, the Julie and Barney Feinblum Herb Garden will begin planting, with plans to expand its botanical collections, educational programming, and student impact over time.
For more information about the Julie and Barney Feinblum Herb Garden, or to learn how to support the garden’s growth, visit the CSU College of Agricultural Sciences website.
About Julie & Barney Feinblum
For Barney and Julie Feinblum, the Herb Garden at CSU is both deeply personal and forward-looking. Throughout their lives, plants—and the values they represent—have shaped their family, work and connection to Colorado. Herbs, in particular, played a defining role in Barney’s career in the natural products industry, where, as former CEO of Celestial Seasonings (and also as former CEO of Horizon Organic), he helped lead organizations that changed how Americans think about food, wellness, and the relationship between business and values. By creating a living herb garden for students, the Feinblums hope to pass forward what plants have given them: curiosity, purpose and the confidence to build something meaningful. Their gift reflects a belief that education should be tangible, values-driven, and rooted in the natural world.
About Colorado State University
Colorado State University is Colorado’s land-grant public research university, recognized nationally for excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement. Based in Fort Collins with statewide and urban reach through initiatives such as CSU Spur in Denver and CSU Extension offices across Colorado, the university advances solutions in agriculture, food systems, environmental stewardship, and sustainability. CSU is also known for its award- winning educational landscapes, including the internationally recognized Annual Flower Trial Gardens and the CSU Campus Arboretum and Botanical Garden, which together serve as living laboratories supporting horticultural research, hands-on learning, and public engagement. Through nearly 300 academic programs and a deep commitment to access, innovation, and impact, CSU prepares students to lead with science, values, and purpose in Colorado and beyond. Visit the CSU Flower Trial Gardens' website for more information and follow on Instagram and Facebook.
Media Contact
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnatural.com, tel: 303.807.1042
Colo. Natural Products Legacy Julie & Barney Feinblum Herb Garden to Take Root at CSU
Inspired by decades of values-driven leadership in the natural foods movement, the garden will celebrate the power of plants and serve as a living classroom for students and the community.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Feb. 11, 2026) — Colorado State University is proud to announce the creation of the Julie and Barney Feinblum Herb Garden, a new, endowed, living classroom that will celebrate Colorado’s influential role in the natural, organic and herbal products movement while educating future generations of students through hands-on plant science.
Endowed in perpetuity through a gift from longtime natural products industry leader Barney Feinblum and his wife, Julie, the herb garden will honor Colorado’s natural products industry by featuring medicinal, culinary, and tea herbs and serve as a tangible bridge between education, research, history and industry.
“I really believe you can change the world with a few simple plants,” Feinblum said. “Celestial Seasonings did just that.”
Feinblum would know. In fact, he helped shape the natural and organic food movement long before it entered the mainstream. After training as an industrial engineer at Cornell University, he moved to Colorado in the early 1970s, where he earned an MBA in finance and met his future wife, Julie. A dedicated natural products enthusiast, Julie encouraged Barney to take a job at Celestial Seasonings, which at the time was still a small herbal tea startup business. His role grew over the next several years from managing the factory floor to serving as CEO, where he helped build Celestial Seasonings into a national brand.
“What Celestial Seasonings taught me was that you don’t have to compromise your values to be successful,” Feinblum said. “You can make sales and make a profit and still lead with truth, beauty and goodness.”
Those values continued to guide Feinblum’s career when he later became CEO of Horizon Organic, where he helped introduce the first national brand of organic milk in the United States—transforming the dairy industry by proving that consumers would invest in their values.
Building on the Land Grant University Ethos
That same belief—where science, education, business, and values reinforce one another—eventually brought the Feinblums to Colorado State University. There, at the main campus in Fort Collins and the new Denver Spur Campus, they were struck by the university’s world-class facilities, research, and innovation in agriculture and food systems—and by one notable absence.
“I remember thinking, this is the perfect place for an herb garden,” Barney said. “As a land-grant university so deeply connected to agriculture and the environment, it felt like a natural next step.”
This became the seed for the Julie and Barney Feinblum Herb Garden, which will be built adjacent to CSU’s existing “Trial Garden.” Spanning nearly three acres on the university’s main campus in Fort Collins, the Trial Garden evaluates more than 1,000 plant varieties on an annual basis, and is one of Northern Colorado’s top visited destinations.
Recognizing Colorado’s Natural and Herbal Products Legacy
As Colorado’s land-grant university, and a national leader in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and food science, CSU is uniquely positioned to house an herb garden that honors the state’s outsized role in shaping how America eats. The garden will recognize Colorado’s natural products community while giving students the opportunity to see, touch, and study the plants that launched entire industries—from tea and herbal medicine to functional foods.
“You don’t change the world when you’re my age,” Barney Feinblum said. “You do it when you’re young and when you have energy, enthusiasm and a desire to make the world better. That’s why this garden matters. It’s a living classroom.”
For Feinblum, the garden also represents gratitude and giving back. “Colorado changed my life,” he said. “We built a good life here, and we want to give back to the state that gave us so much.”
Looking ahead, Feinblum hopes the garden will grow into one of the nation’s leading herb collections, supported not only by his family but by the broader natural products community. “In the end, values, science, and entrepreneurship can coexist. You can have values and character in business and still change the world. All you need are a few plants.”
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new herb garden at the CSU main campus in Fort Collins are planned for April 2026.
Help This Garden Grow
The Julie and Barney Feinblum Herb Garden will be designed to evolve by expanding its plant collections, educational programming, and student impact over time. While endowed in perpetuity, its long-term vision depends on a broader community of supporters who believe in the power of plants, science, and values-driven leadership.
There are many ways to be part of this living legacy:
Support student learning through experiential education and research
Honor Colorado’s natural products community and its pioneering role in shaping how we eat and live
Help expand one of the nation’s leading university-based herb collections
Whether you are an alumnus, industry leader, grower, researcher, or simply someone who believes that small plants can spark big change, your support helps ensure this garden continues to inspire future generations. Click here to learn more about how to contribute.
About Julie & Barney Feinblum
For Barney and Julie Feinblum, the Herb Garden at CSU is both deeply personal and forward-looking. Throughout their lives, plants—and the values they represent—have shaped their family, work and connection to Colorado. Herbs, in particular, played a defining role in Barney’s career in the natural products industry, where, as former CEO of Celestial Seasonings (and also as former CEO of Horizon Organic), he helped lead organizations that changed how Americans think about food, wellness, and the relationship between business and values. By creating a living herb garden for students, the Feinblums hope to pass forward what plants have given them: curiosity, purpose and the confidence to build something meaningful. Their gift reflects a belief that education should be tangible, values-driven, and rooted in the natural world.
About Colorado State University
Colorado State University is Colorado’s land-grant public research university, recognized nationally for excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement. Based in Fort Collins with statewide and urban reach through initiatives such as CSU Spur in Denver and CSU Extension offices across Colorado, the university advances solutions in agriculture, food systems, environmental stewardship, and sustainability. CSU is also known for its award- winning educational landscapes, including the internationally recognized Annual Flower Trial Gardens and the CSU Campus Arboretum and Botanical Garden, which together serve as living laboratories supporting horticultural research, hands-on learning, and public engagement. Through nearly 300 academic programs and a deep commitment to access, innovation, and impact, CSU prepares students to lead with science, values, and purpose in Colorado and beyond. Visit the CSU Flower Trial Gardens' website for more information and follow on Instagram and Facebook.
Media Contact: Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnatural.com, tel 303.807.1042