By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
Fifteen-year-old Braxton Boone and his 14-year-old brother Cullen have been gardening since they were toddlers, and it is their love of vegetables that led the two to launch their own business. Braxton Boone’s Produce, on the family farm west of Geneseo.
Braxton Boone stands in front of the sweet corn in his garden.
The brothers are the sons of Vince and Sarah Boone and their mother, Sarah, shared a favorite story of hers from when the boys were very young.
“I took Braxton and Cullen with me to the grocery store when they were two and three years old and they begged me to buy radishes,” she said. How many toddlers do that?”
Braxton is responsible for the vegetable garden and his brother recently planted just over 110 holes of pumpkins that will be offered for sale in the fall.
Sweet corn and tomatoes are Braxton’s biggest sellers, although his garden offers a variety of vegetables including, spinach, lettuce, beets, broccoli, peppers, green beans, radishes and more. Their mother refers to the variety and abundance of plantings as “Mr. McGregor’s Garden at Its finest.”
Cullen Boone is photographed in his pumpkin patch.
The Boone brothers have offered their produce at the Farmers’ Market in Geneseo through the years, but they now sell mostly from their farm in Geneseo. Braxton Boone uses his face book page, Braxton Boones Produce, to advertise what vegetables are in season.
When asked what they were saving their profits for, the answer was “cars and college.”
Even though the gardens primarily are the responsibility of Braxton and Cullen, they do get some help from their parents and younger brothers, (Declan, six, and Holden, five) as “Mom” does the picking and freezing and canning…”We do sell a lot, but we put things up for ourselves too,” she said. “I like knowing where my food comes from and my kids’ eat more vegetables because they help grow them. Not a lot of five-year-olds eat beets and mine does.”
Much of the teens’ knowledge about gardening comes from their dad as Vince Boone also grew up caring for his own garden, a trait he learned from his late grandfather, Bill Floto of Geneseo.
The Gardens
Braxton said what he likes most about having his own garden is “getting people fresh food. My least favorite thing about the garden is the weeding.”
Cullen responded, “What I like most about the pumpkin patch is watering time because I get some peace and quiet from all my brothers. What I like least is picking the weeds.”
