Houston-area 8-year-old's okra could land in Guinness Book of World Records

A Houston area 8-year-old may soon find himself in the Guinness Book of World Records. He's growing okra that puts many others to shame. 8-year-old Shiva Satish's garden and his okra specifically may be one for the record books.

"Mom and me did all the digging work. We did it all manually,” explains Shiva. "This is the big bell pepper right here. The eggplant and lettuce we grew.  Blueberries, potatoes,” the 8-year-old points out as he shows his garden and his potentially record-breaking okra.

"This is about 23 and half inches,” Shiva’s dad said as mom rolled out the measuring tape.

“We think we may have the world's longest okra. Somebody from Trinidad posted that they have 21 inches,” says Shiva's dad, Satish Parameswaran. Since the Sugar Land family hasn't been able to find documentation of okra longer than theirs, they contacted the Guinness Book of World Records to find out if their veggie tale is unrivaled.

"This is very exciting. This is one of the positive things that came out of COVID. We were like we do have a large backyard. With COVID time, we were like alright what will we do?” says Shiva's Mom Kavitha Nallusamy. 

"The most productive ones right now in my garden are my watermelon and okra,” Shiva explains.

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“Look cantaloupe. Shiva's favorite fruit,” Shiva's sister 10-year-old Lakshana Satish points out as she touches a delicious looking melon growing in their garden.

“But there's one teensy eeensy problem. There's this animal that takes stuff from the compost like banana peels and it digs up holes in our yard,” explains Shiva. 

Some animals however just stop by as the family has captured pictures of rabbits, ducks, and birds in their garden because even they seem smitten by the outstanding okra and a small farmer's market of goodies grown by an 8-year-old's green thumb.

The family is waiting to hear back from Guinness, but even if they don't make it into the record book, they are top shelf in my book.