At this time of the year, the Chatham-Kent countryside is dotted with roadside vegetable stands featuring some of Ontario’s finest produce.
Julia Van Dellen’s Old Time Chuck Wagon Garden Market might just be unique.
Not only does the Grade 8 student sell produce at her stand on the former Highway 78 between Wallaceburg and Dresden, but she has also planted, weeded and picked every one of the more than one dozen crops she’ll sell this year.
Julia, who is entering École secondaire de Pain Court this fall, farms 3.5 acres of the family farm on her own (with some help on machinery from her dad, Todd) and field work from her younger brothers, Kylijah and K.J.
After operating a small stand last year, Julia decided to expand things for 2026.
“The more we talked, the more she wanted to try,” said Todd, a second-generation farmer. “I’ve always encouraged my kids to try things, and she’s taken farming to heart this year.”
Julia is also the brains behind the operation, naming the business and developing marketing ideas which will carry the summer job into the fall.
“Once she decided to name it, I went and got a wagon for her to keep near the road,” dad said.
The entire plot has been grown without the use of chemicals, a decision which Julia said has been a learning experience.
“There has been a lot of hoeing and weeding because we’re not using chemicals,” she said. “We have been using banana peels and eggshells to help fertilize the crops because they also keep insects away. Really, I tell people it’s fertilized with love.”
Among the crops being grown are Roma tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, onions, beets, two kinds of sweet corn, blue corn, ornamental corn, zucchini, squash, regular pumpkins, blue pumpkins, warty pumpkins, broccoli, cucumbers, watermelons and green, yellow and purple beans.
Todd said he and his wife Wendy are advocates of keeping their six children busy with a combination of challenges and encouragement.
“Learning and not being afraid to take on new things really helps the young ones grow,” Todd said. “We’re always there to help if they need us, but they can do a lot on their own.”
Julia said she doesn’t have any career or educational goals finalized.
“I’m not sure what I want to do,” she said. “I like trying new things and learning.”
She’s currently selling six to seven dozen ears of corn each day as well as tomatoes, peppers and whatever other crops have ripened. She plans to sell porch packages this fall which will include pumpkins, corn stalks and hay.
Her favourite vegetable is corn, but she can’t eat any right now because “it gets in my braces.”
