Growing fresh produce to help community

By Kate Dubinski

Armed with a bunch of seeds and a dream, Kyle Hutcheson, BA'12, Dpl'14, is giving out fresh produce and gardening advice.

The Western University graduate started the Planting Seeds Co., a landscaping and urban gardening project that aims to show people how easy it is to grow food.

The 25-year-old worked all summer with $1,000 from an Awesome London grant, given to people devoted to doing amazing things in the city.

“We’ve been able to help out My Sister’s Place with setting up a garden and a healing garden, doing some workshops and donating more than 500 pounds of food,” Hutcheson said.

Using about 1½ acres at an Aylmer-area farm, Hutcheson and two partners grow fresh produce. His goal is to teach others.

“I really believe in urban farms and it’s great that Awesome London can help. That week when I applied for the grant, I didn’t have enough gas money to get to the farm,” he said. “This has been a huge confidence boost and ego check for me.”