11-year-old boy creates community garden so no one goes hungry
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An 11-year-old boy from Indianapolis is hoping to give back so no one goes hungry.
Austin Hurt started a community garden across from his school at Thomas D. Gregg Elementary near North Beville Avenue and East Michigan Street.
Hurt told 24-Hour News 8 he started gardening when he was 7 years old and planted beans. His mom said the beans provided extra food for the family.
Hurt is now expanding his garden to help others. The community garden opened earlier in May.
“I got rows of tomatoes, one, two,” Hurt described. “This one’s got two tomatoes.”
Hurt walked around the garden Tuesday evening showing 24-Hour News 8 everything he’s planted so far with help from different groups and organizations in the community.
“We got fruits and vegetables like blueberries, raspberries, grapes, blackberries,” he listed. “Three rows of peppers, three rows of tomatoes, three rows of beans, two rows of beans, lettuce, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes.”
But this land is more than just a garden of fruits and vegetables.
“I got it from across the school because the lady over there donated it to me so that’s when I got it and also I wanted to do that to feed the community,” Hurt added.
He said the garden is open to everyone and people can stop by whenever to pick fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Because it’s the right thing to help feed the community, and it feeds people so nobody goes hungry,” Hurt said.
He is also sharing his message and teaching others about gardening on his YouTube channel.
“You know how people build things and stuff?” he asked. “I do those types of videos. I do gardening videos and life hack videos with gardening.”
He calls himself the Young Urban Gardener. His recent video shows you how to grow sweet potatoes. From his YouTube channel to the community garden, Hurt said he still has a lot of things to add.
“I made a list and it’s at the house in a notebook so I don’t remember it all,” he said. “So that’s why I wrote it down: a greenhouse, some dirt, some tables to go into the greenhouse that’s what I remember and some mulch too and top soil and sand.”
Hurt said he’s planning to build a shed on Thursday to add to the garden. His mom said every Saturday they work on the garden from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and everyone is welcome to stop by and help.