In a very touching incident in Myanmar, the United States, a 13-year-old boy's vegetable stall was robbed not long ago, but now with the help of the state's community, the teenager's vegetable stall business is booming.
A 13-year-old in Maine has had a tough summer — rain, lack of sun, animal invasion, and even a frustrating robbery — but remains firmly focused on running his own vegetable stand as the pumpkin harvest season begins.
The teenager is 13 years old and his name is Braden Nadeau. He said in an interview: "I need to work hard. ”
"There will be good days and bad days, good years and bad years. But if you care about the land, it's your dream, you can do it. ”
The teenager, who attended Bruce Whittier Middle School, owned and operated a Braden vegetable stand about 10 miles from his family's home in Hatch Road, Maine.
When he was only 10 years old, he noticed that his grandparents' garden could not eat enough vegetables, so he had an idea.
He said: "I have always liked to grow vegetables, and the vegetables I grew are piled up. ”
"So I decided to open a vegetable stall and I've stuck with it ever since. I've been doing this for three years. ”
The teenager said the 12x14-foot vegetable stall was located in a "rather busy" location, a regular stall in this neighborhood where even the mayor was a customer.
Auburn Mayor Jason Leviske is proud of the work 13-year-old Braden Nadeau has done at the vegetable stand
Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque told the media: "This kid is very loving. ”
He has a work ethic. He was exactly who we wanted to come to Auburn and run a farm no matter what age you are. Whether this farm is your primary or secondary source of income, it is an important part of community building. In Maine, and especially in Auburn, nothing represents our community better than a farm stand. ”
Braden Nadeau and his grandparents, Dan and Mary Herrick, spend hours a day working in a 12-acre vegetable garden.
"We grow quite a few cucumbers and tomatoes," he said.
The boy sells a variety of produce, including corn, carrots, sprouts and summer squash
"We grow zucchini, pumpkin, corn, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, garlic, and now a lot of pumpkins."
The teenager said he planted 6,000 tomatoes this year, and he and his grandfather plan to double the size of his garden next year.
"I love growing zucchini the most because it grows so fast and is one of the first things we harvest," he says. ”
"But my favorite thing to pick is pumpkins, because when you get to the end, you have a whole bunch of pumpkins."
The teenager has been working on the farm with his grandfather since he was two years old.
His grandfather, Dan Herrick, said in an interview: "Sometimes I feel tired, but he motivates me, he gives me the motivation to keep going, which is great." ”
"He's very topical and he knows what he's doing. I'm so proud of him. He never gets lazy and goes every day. ”
The Herricks also raised pigs, chickens and several cows.
Braden also keeps several laying hens, and he sells eggs at the stall.
His grandmother confirmed that the teenager had an unusual work ethic.
Mary Herrick told the media that "while we may be a bit biased in saying this because we are his grandparents, I can honestly say that he is the hardest working kid I've ever seen".
She went on to say: "He went to bed early, but he got up early – before the sun rose. Some days he wakes up at 4 a.m. and most days it's 5 to 5:30. Now he is in school, so Grandpa will help him. ”
But this summer, when most of his age kids slept in and played video games, the teenager experienced some of the real challenges of being a farmer.
While some parts of the U.S. face drought, farmers in Maine are coping with flooding.
"The whole state has experienced some — not just once-in-a-century rainfall, but once-in-a-millennium rainfall," the mayor said. ”
"Earlier this summer, we had 4.5 inches of rain in 45 minutes," he continued. "It flooded our city center. It soaked the ground. I think we experienced the rainiest season or summer on record. ”
Mary Herrick said it seemed like it was raining every day this summer.
"I think we only experienced weather for a while, about eight days of the sun," she said. ”
"We can put this in perspective: we had three days in June without rain – three days in June without rain."
The absence of the sun means bees won't move, pollination stops and vegetables are submerged, she said.
"It's raining all over the state right now, and that's something we have to endure because it's part of agriculture," Dan Herrick said.
"But with that comes the nasty wildlife... This year the deer ate so much that you can't believe it. Without sun and warmth, berries and acorns, they cannot play in the woods and the animals have to eat. ”
But perhaps more disappointing than the anger of Mother Nature was the break-in of a vegetable stall and robbery.
At about 3:30 p.m. on June 16, someone broke into a vegetable stall and profited from it.
"It happened right after I left the vegetable stand and came home," the teenager said.
When Braden Nadeau's vegetable stand was broken into, his community rallied in support of him.
"My grandfather went somewhere," he added, "so it was a very short window, about 35-40 minutes." "Someone decided to come in and open the cash box. They took some vegetables and also stole meat from our fridge. ”
The teenager said there were no surveillance cameras in the store, so they didn't know who did it.
"When no one was working at the cash register, we put a locked box with a small opening to put money in," the teenager said. Customers can pay for it themselves, he said, because there are "a lot of good people" in town.
"The thought of me putting in so much effort and then someone else doing it makes me feel very sad," he said. ”
Members of the United Motorcycle Association of Maine came forward to support the Braden Vegetable Stand after learning of the burglary.
"It's so disappointing. If someone is hungry, I'll give it to them," he added. "But I don't think it's hungry people (if they) break down and steal most of the stuff."
However, the teenager closed the stall for a day and then reopened.
The following Sunday, sales hit a record high – and news of the theft spread across the region via social media.
"The support is crazy," the teenager said, "and we have people from all over Maine." They were so sorry, they really felt bad, so they thought about coming over and supporting me. ”
A group of motorcyclists — those from United Motorcycles in Maine — got on their motorcycles to show their support.
"It's really impressive to see about 40 motorcycles, most of them two people riding on them, coming here and overwhelmingly supporting Braden," the grandparents said of their grandson. "It makes you cry. One of their leaders just put Braden under his wing and said, 'Anytime you need anything, you can contact us because we'll be there for you.'" 'This is fantastic. ”
The teenager said that the show of support restored his confidence in the people.
"There are a lot more good people than bad people in the world," he said. "Helping communities by giving people food is just one of my passions. So I would still say, follow your dreams. ”
The young man's dream is to continue growing vegetables and raising more beef cattle.
But now, he has a large fleet of pumpkins to harvest and sell — about 150-200, he said.
"It's just pumpkins that can be carved," he said.
"We'll have a lot of little pumpkins that we can use to make pumpkin pie, which we can use to make dishes, and things like regular pumpkins."
Editor: This real story makes us believe that there are really many good people in life, and I hope that there will be more and more such stories. #Touching Human Stories##America##Share the Emotional Exchanges That Move You#