Growing food, making money for Detroit youths

Extra cash for the summer, extra food on the table, and vacant land put to use - that's what nearly 20 kids are doing in the Brightmoor Community Garden in Detroit. The garden is part of the Garden Resource Program, which helps communities put gardens together. So far there are 160 community gardens, 320 family gardens and 40 school gardens in the program, about 50 percent more than last year.

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"It's very fun to watch," said Riet Schumack, one of several adults who lives around the Brightmoor Community Garden in Detroit and volunteers there with 19 youngsters, ages 9 to 18. "When they pull a carrot out of the ground and it's big, now they'll say, 'Wow, this will bring a lot of money at the market.' "

The Brightmoor garden is in a program called Youth Growing Detroit. That means the youngsters share the profits, which at Brightmoor have ranged from $9 to $27 each per month. The amount depends on how many hours the young people work in the garden and how much of the garden's produce is sold at Eastern Market on Saturdays and at a market in northwest Detroit on Thursdays.

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