Meet Richard Andino, the nine-year-old California boy who turned two planter boxes into a successful vegetable business at his local farmers’ market in Loomis

Nine-year-old gardener and young entrepreneur Richard Andino, from Loomis in Placer County, California, has turned a simple school lesson about growing plants into a thriving vegetable business. He started with two planter boxes, a handful of vegetables, and plenty of curiosity, driven by a lifelong love of vegetables and a desire to sell them. Three years on, his garden is nearly three times its original size, because it has grown a little bigger every year. On harvest days, he carefully checks which crops are ripe before preparing to serve customers, a routine that fills his summer holidays.How a family company and county approval took a boy’s vegetable stand to the Loomis Farmers MarketRichard’s first customers bought from a stand in front of his home. Today he is a regular vendor at the Loomis Farmers Market, a step that required his family to form a limited liability company and complete the county approval process for selling there, CBS News Sacramento reported.The money Richard earns covers summer activities such as Sky Zone and Sunsplash. Once he reaches his savings goal, he gives whatever remains of his harvest to members of the community.Why Richard would rather play outside than watch screens, and what his mother saw in kindergartenFor Richard, time outdoors matters more than the income. He told CBS News Sacramento that he is not a big fan of screens and would rather play outside.His mother, Kabryna Andino, told the same outlet that the preference grew out of his early school years. In kindergarten, she said, he began suffering from very bad migraines, which she linked to being indoors and watching too many screens.What a paediatrician says about screen time, sleep, mood and behaviour in today’s childrenRichard’s story comes as paediatricians continue to study how greater screen time affects children’s health. Amanda Mitchell, a paediatrician at Kaiser Roseville, told the outlet that heavy screen use changes the quality of children’s sleep, which in turn alters their mood and behaviour.She added that technology need not shape a whole generation. Children growing up in this era are overcoming its effects and becoming who they are meant to be, she said, and while technology helps them, it “does not define them”.Day to day, Richard tends the garden, talks with customers and grows something he built himself. He told the outlet that anyone who wants to run a business must expect challenges along the way. His advice is to keep going through each one, and success will follow.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.