A local man who grew up working on a farm knows the value of hard work and wants to pass the lesson on to the next generation.
"You need to get up and bust your ass every day; there ain't no sitting down," said Freddie Thompson, of Fulton. "We want to teach them a work ethic and teach them structure."
Thompson's vision for helping the youth is inspired by his own upbringing.
"When I was on the farm, I had to feed the animals, clean stalls, let them out, let them in and go do the same for the other animals," he said. "It's hard work that gives you a sense of value."
Thompson learned the ins and outs of agriculture from what would seem like an unlikely mentor.
"Vandalia, Missouri is where I was born and raised," he added. "A lady named Martha McDonald, she was a white lady, taught me about farming. She was friends with my mom and was like a grandmother to me. Her grandson and I were best friends."
Benefiting from the love and care of a good mentor, Thompson hopes to use the same lessons agriculture taught him to inspire children.
"There's different depths of agriculture," he said. "When you say agriculture to kids, they think farming, but agriculture is more than that. We want to teach them the added values."
Thompson said he contemplated starting a gardening group a few years ago. His desire was to teach children how to grow their own food.
"The garden has been on my mind for a few years now," he added. "I want it to be a community thing. We're getting away from growing our own foods, we want kids to work together to learn how."
After deciding to jump in and start a community garden, he called his friend Tony Galbreath Jr. to see if he had any interesting in being involved. Galbreath was already mentoring a group of local youth.
"I mentor seven boys from Fulton, and Fred hit me up and asked if I was interested in helping," he said. "The group we have is called 'Our New Nation.' We're trying to build people who want to give back to their community. We want to instill the values that we need to love each other."
After clearing a plot of donated land near Westminster Avenue and Ninth Street, the youths began to go to work with borrowed gardening materials.
Thompson taught them about how to properly prepare and plant in soil, and cultivate the plants to maturity. The corn, tomato, onion and green bean seeds were all donated by Julius Moody, an agriculture professor at Lincoln University in Jefferson City.
A few other local companies also donated supplies. Galbreath said the reality of managing a garden was a lot tougher than anyone thought.
"We started out and it's been difficult," he said. "A lot of times, we needed people to weed and we got behind, and had a lot of issues with wild game. The boys were really surprised with how hard it was, and they were inspired by it."
Thompson said he also tried to teach people involved about the current state of agriculture, and the importance of eating organic, freshly grown foods.
"We'd like to educate on GMO seeds," he said. "Anything you put in your body that's been altered will alter you, too."
Thompson said he believes a lot of the illnesses and problems in today's society are a direct result of what people are eating.
"Some of the stuff going on, the way people are acting, I think it comes down to what we're putting in our body," he added. "If you grow your own food, you know what's going into your body."
In addition to the benefits of eating organic food, Galbreath said cultivating the food helps teach an even more important lesson.
"I think work ethic is more important than knowledge," he said. "Without a work ethic, you can't even have the ability to learn. You have to learn the effort of what you put in is what you get out."
Galbreath's father, Tony Galbreath Sr., said working in a garden helps instill a work ethic that could keep young people from entering a life of crime.
"I think it's important that a whole lot of kids gain a work ethic. I think it's wonderful," he added. "Too many kids get a hold of guns and more of them need to get a hold of a shovel."
Although this year's crop experienced difficulty, Thompson said he is optimistic about next year.
"Next year, I think we're going to get some beehives, chickens and goats," he said. "We are trying to develop it into something."
Next year's crop, said Thompson, will also include an interesting product not often found in Missouri.
"I just got some seeds from (the country of) Mexico, black sweet corn," he said. "They're an ancient seed that is sweeter than natural sweet corn."
The garden, he added, is a community project and is open to all.
"Let the kids join in, and if people have ideas we'd be happy to listen so we can all work together as one," said Thompson. "Maybe later on this can get big enough where people can have jobs, or get a scholarship for school."
During the fall and winter, the group will focus on making the necessary preparations for next year, Galbreath Jr. said.
"We're going to take the time now to focus on protection, investigating our soil, and experimenting with different types of vegetables," he said.
