Ten-year-old Joseph of Sharon, Massachusetts, may be entering his second year as a Katie’s Krops gardener in 2025, but he’s far from a beginner. His gardening journey began in 2020 when he started a home garden using seeds saved from grocery store produce.

In 2021, he expanded his knowledge by volunteering at The Farm at Moose Hill, a CSA farm located on the grounds of the Audubon Society’s Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary. There, he gained hands-on experience in organic farming and picked up valuable gardening tips—including the fact that while all parts of the pokeweed plant are toxic, the young shoots can be eaten if boiled multiple times.

Joseph, a homeschooled fifth grader, has a deep passion for gardening and enhances his knowledge by watching educational videos. His mother, Ellie, admits she doesn’t have much gardening experience herself but fully supports her son’s interests. She discovered Katie’s Krops while researching programs for young gardeners and has encouraged Joseph to track his harvest totals in a spreadsheet.

In 2024, Joseph cultivated four raised beds, growing a variety of crops, including tomatoes, green beans, purple beans, eggplant, spinach, and bok choy. His most successful crop was green beans, and he harvested about 10 pounds of fresh produce, which he donated to the Community Food Pantry at First Congregational Church in Sharon.

Looking ahead to 2025, Joseph hopes to expand his garden and increase his food production. He plans to add two more raised beds, experiment with an in-ground garden, and grow new crops such as zucchini while improving yields on crops that didn’t thrive last season. Additionally, he intends to start growing flowers to provide fresh bouquets for the food pantry. Since Sharon is in growing zone 6, Joseph begins his seeds indoors and transplants them outside in early May.

As with all our gardeners, we wish Joseph the best of luck in 2025 and commend his dedication to helping those in need through his passion for gardening.