The Amiss family run an organic beef farm in Devon. Their five children (Elsa, 11, Alfred, 8, Dora, 6 and Percy and Harold, 5) not only have their own organic vegetable patch but also their own organic business selling duck eggs.

Though the Amiss children have been growing vegetables for only two years, they have already met with considerable success. Last year Harold entered a lettuce in the village flower and vegetable show and won third prize. He was, according to his mother Rona, “extremely excited,” by this unexpected laurel.

This is not the only award the children have achieved. Eleven-year-old Elsa has also won a national prize for her organic duck eggs, which she collects and boxes herself to sell in local shops. Such businesses, says Rona, are not uncommon on farms. “Farm children will often have their own projects, such as rearing a lamb then taking it to market. Elsa was looking for something to do and the duck eggs seemed an obvious option.”In good weeks Elsa and her siblings (all the children help) can collect as many as 400 eggs. As the entrepreneurial Elsa puts it: “It’s nice running your own business. Especially one that doesn’t involve killing anything.”

When they are not sweeping the board at local award ceremonies or dabbling in commerce, the Amiss children like to spend their time working on their vegetable patch. “They’re extremely enthusiastic about digging,” Rona says. Especially the twins, who are “particularly enthusiastic about digging up things that they’ve already planted, which can slow things down”.

However with Elsa at the helm (“She is very good at getting the others organised,” her mother says), the children, despite the twins’ excavations, have managed to grow a wide variety of crops. Not just lettuces but, says Rona, “potatoes, peas, strawberries, carrots and tomatoes in tubs all round the house”.

Rona has been delighted by her children’s interest in gardening. “I grew up with a vegetable garden so there was never a point when I didn’t know where food comes from,” she says. “But I think the children have been utterly astounded by what can come out of the ground.” The children have also been pleased by the quality of the food they grow. “Our vegetables taste much better than the ones that you get from the shops,” Elsa says. It’s not only the children who have benefited. “I don’t have time to garden myself,’ Rona says, “but now the children can grow our vegetables. We always try to eat what they grow,” Rona adds. “But they have usually eaten most of it before it gets anywhere near the kitchen.”

For grow-your-own recipes and tips on how to get started, go to timesonline.co.uk/foodanddrink

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