Eleven-year-old Noah Nichols is currently growing fresh, local produce from his very own vegetable patches.
With the support of locals, he is growing a mixture of produce to sell at a hedge veg near to the Houge de Pommier in Castel, and is hoping to get more children into growing.
Ben Nichols, Noah’s father, explained that his son had an interest in growing, and wanted to earn more pocket money.
“There came a point where he was getting more interested in growing, but at the same time he wanted to make pocket money. So he came up with an idea that he would buy some more plants, and then it came to the point where we were running out a bit of space.”
Following a Facebook post made by Mr Nichols in search for space to grow, a member of the public who lives nearby, reached out and allowed Noah to use her garden in order for him to grow his produce.
“A very kind elderly lady reached out to me and said, I’ve got a vegetable patch in my garden, said Mr Nichols. “I can’t use it as I usually would, because I’m getting old. However, Noah can use and can have it and use it for whatever he likes.
“The coincidence is, it was 200 metres down the road. He can walk down and after school, we can easily get there. I don’t have to drive halfway across the island to do it.”
Realising a way to earn more pocket money, Noah decided he would sell his grown goods, and would give some of his earned savings to his parents, in order to go buy more plants.
“Me and my wife went to him and said, we’ll give you some money towards, explained Mr Nichols.
“You take some money out of your savings, and we will go and buy your plants.”
Following a surge in traction, the ‘Noah’s Veg Patch’ Facebook page was created, as of writing it has 555 followers.
In recent times, Noah has started growing in a large greenhouse, which Mr Nichols said was thanks to another act of kindness from the local growing community.
“Stuart Ogier runs a disused vinery with a massive greenhouse on it, and he’s got a community based project that he runs there, said Mr Nichols.
“The greenhouse space wasn’t getting utilised. Nothing was growing, and no one was growing anything in there. So he’s offered that space to Noah to do his growing, and as part of that kind of collaboration with Stuart is will also help him from a community side of things, to make the rest of the greenhouse usable for other children within his community that he kind of he set up there, and that’s where you get from our Facebook pages”
Having moved into the greenhouse, Noah is currently on the lookout for spare garden machinery and also organic topsoil, wood chips and manure so that his new greenhouse can be cleaned, ready to grow more produce.
Looking to the future, Mr Nichols highlighted plans for community based projects, with Noah’s involvement in order to get more children into growing and is asking for support with ongoing projects.
“We met up with Karen from the Central Veg Farm, which is also linked to The Farm Shop and The Soil Farm, he said.
“It gave him kind of inspiration in terms of what he can do, so potentially supplying veg boxes, like subscription based veg boxes.”
“Other plans are to help Stewart, to make a growing space more available for other children, explained Mr Nichols.
“From memory, I think they’ve got ten children that use the vinary site.
“Cornucopia like a little community of people that like growing and being outside, explained Mr Nichols.
“So we’re supporting the growing element, of helping them revise the soil, helping them clean and maintain the greenhouse. It’s like our act of kindness to give back to Stewart, to saw thank you for giving Noah this space, and we’re helping each other out.”
You can follow and support Noah on his growing journey on Facebook, and find his hedge veg stall along Route de Carteret in Castel by using this What3words address.