Ag student lives off the fat of his own backyard

Sophomore agriculture student Andrew Bell is paying for his education at the University of Delaware by tilling the land in his backyard.

UDaily reports the Southern Delaware man already had the farm in operation – since his junior year of high school. The quarter-acre farm will double in size next year. In the meanwhile, it's helping him pay for his higher education.

"I actually never wanted to be a farmer, but after a rough summer I grew to love it," he told the publication. He said he discovered farming is "surprisingly soothing, especially in the early spring when everything looks so new. The calmness you get from spending time out there, and the happy exhaustion you feel afterward, is something people are losing as more jobs move indoors."

Tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini and string beans are among the produce yielded in his backyard and he's got his eyes peeled on additional produce like shallots.

Delaware's College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, where Bell is a student, offers coursework in agribusiness, food science, environmental quality, ecology and animal biology, among additional disciplines.