{"id":13844,"date":"2023-10-09T12:19:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T16:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=13844"},"modified":"2023-10-09T12:19:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T16:19:26","slug":"maine-teenagers-vegetable-stand-flourishes-after-robbery-the-kid-has-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2023\/10\/maine-teenagers-vegetable-stand-flourishes-after-robbery-the-kid-has-heart.html","title":{"rendered":"Maine Teenager’s Vegetable Stand Flourishes After Robbery: ‘The Kid Has Heart’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"brayden<\/a>
Rachael Ray Show\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A teenage farmer in Maine faced a hard summer after dealing with a lack of sunshine, flooding rains, invasive animals and a devastating break-in, but remains steadfast in his focus on community and business as pumpkin harvest season begins.<\/p>\n

Brayden Nadeau, a 13-year-old resident of Poland, Maine, told Fox News Digital, \u201cIt takes hard work. There\u2019s going to be some good days and bad days and good years and bad years. But if you care about the land and it\u2019s your dream, you can do it.\u201d The teen, who attends Bruce Whittier Middle School, owns and operates Brayden\u2019s Vegetable Stand on Hatch Road\u00a0in Auburn, Maine,\u00a0about 10 miles from where he lives with his family.<\/p>\n

When he was just 10, he noticed an overabundance in\u00a0his grandparents\u2019 garden and formed an idea. He said, \u201cI\u2019ve always liked to garden, and the vegetables had been piling up on the counter. So I decided to open a vegetable stand, and I\u2019ve just kept it going from there on out. I\u2019ve been doing it for three years now.\u201d The 12-by-14 foot vegetable stand that the teen said is in a \u201cdecently busy\u201d spot is a fixture in the community. Even the mayor is a customer!<\/p>\n

Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque told Fox News Digital, \u201cThe kid has heart. He\u2019s got a work ethic. He\u2019s exactly the person we want, regardless of age, to come to Auburn, build a home,\u00a0and start a farm.\u00a0Whether it\u2019s your primary income or your secondary income, it\u2019s a critical part of community building. Nothing says community more in Maine, and especially in Auburn, than a farm stand.\u201d A unique project shared with his grandparents, Dan and Marie Herrick of Auburn, Brayden spends hours each day working the 12-acre garden.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cWe grow quite a bit of cucumbers and tomatoes. We do zucchini, summer squash, corn, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, garlic and, right now,\u00a0lots of pumpkins.\u201d The teenager said he planted 6,000 tomato plants this year, and he and his grandfather are planning to double the acreage of the garden by next year. He said, \u201cMy favorite thing to grow is zucchini because it grows so fast and is one of the first things\u00a0we harvest. But my favorite thing to pick is pumpkins because when you\u2019re picking them, and you get to the end, it\u2019s like you have a big volume of them.\u201d<\/p>\n