Fourteen-year-old Kian Armas has been making good use of his COVID-19 isolation at his home in Baie d’Urfe on the Island of Montreal, Que.
Over the last few weeks, with the help of his family, he’s cultivated around 500 fruit and vegetable plants.
“I have zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, spicy peppers,” said Armas.
It all started when Kian asked his parents for a new device.
“He wanted a computer and we told him ‘you have to figure out how to buy it yourself,'” said his mom, Heidy Pinsonneault.
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After seeing his family build some garden beds in the backyard, Kian came up with his own project.
He created a greenhouse of sorts in his younger brother’s playroom, and pretty soon, his project blossomed into something much bigger.
“We needed something to keep everybody busy and rallied together,” said Pinsonneault. “Then Kian had the idea of growing more seeds so he can sell them — so we thought it was a great idea.”
Kian, with the help of his mom and three younger brothers, is now operating a small business.
The 14-year-old says the new project has kept him busy and isn’t as easy as he first thought.
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“I have to wake up every morning, make sure they’re going to have lots of sunlight and at night, I always give them lots of water,” he said.
His mom says the new venture has taught her son a lot — including responsibility.
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“People are writing to Kian and then at the end of every day, he sits down, completes his excel sheet, writes back to his customers, sometimes he calls them back to confirm,” she said.
Kian says he’s already started to take orders and hopes to start delivering them by the end of the month.