12-year-old starts ‘Victory Garden’

Melanie Gilbert, 12, has been keeping busy during the pandemic by maintaining a Victory Garden. The contest aims to teach children about food insecurity and how they can help feed their families. The effort has grown and Gilbert has partnered with local businesses to hand out more than 300 garden starter kits to children in the Portland metro area and Clatsop County, Ore., where she was born. Her Facebook group called Melanie’s COVID-19 Victory Garden has 232 members. “When I started this I had no idea what it would turn into. I do a lot of building, DIY and cooking tutorials on my page. My favorite thing about this project is the people I have met, like Julie and my little gardening buddy Aden who is 2. I went to his house and built him a matching garden to mine,” Gilbert said. “I build out of pallets and recycle woods.” She’s hoping to save money for a trip to Japan.