Aiken siblings named Growers of the Year

Dec. 10—Green thumbs run in the family for the Drumming sisters.

This sibling duo of Norah and Eva Drumming were named Katie's Krops Growers of the Year. Katie's Krops is a non-profit youth organization that works to empower young people to create and maintain a vegetable garden.

Norah, a seventh-grader at Schofield Middle School, has been growing different foods since she was a little girl when she started growing food with her aunt. The sisters grow a variety of items , including cucamelons, beans, strawberries, blueberries, sweet potatoes and more.

"Broccoli and potatoes," are Norah's favorite vegetables to grow.

For Eva, a third-grader at East Aiken School of the Arts, her favorite foods to grow are cucumbers and cucamelons.

As for why she wanted to start growing fruits and vegetables, Norah said she wanted "to help out elderly people and people in need in the community."

Eva added that she also likes " to help people and to grow the foods that I eat."

After growing the food in their gardens, the sisters give the items away to members of the community.

"They're happy," Eva said of the people who receive the food. "I feel good about it."

The siblings work in the gardens with their nana, Selma Sullivan, with Norah saying it's nice to work together.

"It creates a better bond between us all," Norah said.

Eva added that she likes to work with her sister . She also said that her nana taught her a lot about growing and harvesting food.

Sullivan said it's wonderful to be able to work with her granddaughters.

"I started out doing it with my daughter and my nieces and nephews," Sullivan said. "When we started with my daughter when she was 11 or 12 years old, we use to come out here and put a picnic table up and have breakfast for 20, 30 years ... we loved it and keeping it going."

The siblings joined Katie's Krops last year .

The Grower of the Year award is given to youth members who have made an impact in their community and gone above and beyond, said Katie Stagliano, the founder of Katie's Krops.

"They are amazing," Stagliano said of the sisters. "They are actually first year growers. This is the first time we've had first timers be Growers of the Year. These two are amazing; they are so excited about everything. They have this big, beautiful garden. They call their garden Pickers Patch. They donate to neighbors (and) elders at local church, they're also legacy growers."

Sullivan was proud of her granddaughters being named the Growers of the Year.

"It was exciting," Sullivan said. "It was amazing because they didn't think they would get that award, but they did. "

With their win both girls each received a $250 scholarship.

For more information about Katie's Krops, visit https://katieskrops.com/.