It’s not your typical lemonade stand that nine-year-old Lochlan Delmaestro sets up at the end of his Aldergrove driveway on hot summer afternoons.
Noticeable by a wooden sign that reads “Loch’s Herbs and Veggies,” the young entrepreneur has instead been selling vegetables to save up for a desktop computer.
With it, Lochlan plans to create YouTube videos and livestream games including Fortnite and Minecraft.
“I want to be a YouTuber,” the soon-to-be Grade 4 student about his hopes to entertain folks all around the world.
The veggie stand has proved a successful hustle now that his mother Charlene – a Langley Township firefighter – has lent him a hand with sales.
She’s used the North Otter Community Page Facebook group to inform her colleagues and neighbours of her son’s latest crops.
“We post what he has and my colleagues prearrange what they’ll buy and I bring it to work,” she explained.
Though Lochlan doesn’t do the majority of gardening, he helps his dad, Robert, with watering the plants.
To date, the 9-year-old’s biggest seller has been broccoli, his father said.
“Everyone wanted your broccoli,” Mom agreed. Second to broccoli has been kale and zucchini, she said.
Loch is outside selling veggies from the garden to raise money to buy his own computer. He currently has:herb...
Posted by Charlene Delmaestro on Monday, July 20, 2020
What the Belmont Elementary student sells that day depends wholly on what is ripe.
“Lettuce and broccoli are done for the season but zucchini and squash are starting to come in,” Robert told the boy.
“Peppers too?” Lochlan queried.
“Yes they’re growing now,” Dad responded.
The nine-year-old sells overabundance from the Delmaestros’ garden, which has fed the North Otter family of five for years now.
“We eat out of it every single day,” Charlene elaborated.
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In two weeks, Lochlan raised more than $45 from his veggie stand – with sales of vegetables and herbs (including basil, rosemary, and mint) by the Robertson Crescent roadside.
He keeps profits in the form of crinkled five-dollar bills and coins in a jar in his bedroom, and counts it periodically.
The eager young entrepreneur estimates his dream computer costs around $900 – with all the fixings.
“The computer is a long-term goal,” his dad explained. “Something he can work towards.”
His mother said she thinks it’s a realistic goal considering her son’s positive attitude.
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“He sees himself with no limits,” Charlene said. “And that’s how things happen. It’s all mental strength.”
“That’s how I became a firefighter,” Mom added. “I’ve been dreaming of being one since age five.”
The first responder said she needed to muster up a lot of “mental strength” when returning to the workforce after giving birth to her three children.
“I’m like Lochlan that way,” she said.