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People on SNAP and who have HOAs don't need to grow their own. They just need to buy locally, from farmer's markets. Nobody is required to use supermarkets. They don't need any land or gardening tools. Buying local, whether organic or not, strips profits from the huge agribusiness interests, and keeps your money in the community, instead of some Wall Street bank. It enriches your community, instead of the giant corporations..
Why would SNAP recipients want to use their money at "farmers" markets where the prices are 2-3x HIGHER than in their supermarkets?
Why would SNAP recipients want to use their money at "farmers" markets where the prices are 2-3x HIGHER than in their supermarkets?
hey why not, they can buy lobsters and filet mignon steaks,
seriously... up here, its a short growing season,, not many farmers markets this time of year,,
and i've participated in farmers markets, it can be quite the rip-off..
you make an excellent point,,, but i think maine already allows the snap/ebt cards to buy from farmers markets... theirs so much fraud in the system, those that truly need the help ...cant get it.
how does this work? Don't vegetables take ages to grow, how can this be possible on the small amount of land most people have at their disposal?
It's very possible. Most vegetables take 30-60 days to start to produce, and then continue to do so for awhile. For example it takes about 45-55 days for my cucumber plants to start to produce, but then they continue to produce loads of cucumbers for a couple months or so (depending on the variety). Some weeks I get 15-30 cucumbers with just 5 or 6 plants. Squash is the same, and produces like crazy.
Things like lettuce and radishes grow fairly quickly. I start thinning out the lettuce I plant about 15 days after planting it, and I eat the small leaves I pull out.
People in apartments really can't grow much, unless they have a plot in a community garden. But they can grow herbs in the window and some salad greens. That's better than nothing.
Food stamps can be used to buy seeds and bare root fruit trees, for those with low income and some land.
A lot of food can be grown with not much time invested if the beds are set up right. I know two people who produce multiple tons of fresh vegetables for their local food bank in a few free hours after work. One uses raised beds and the square foot gardening system and the other is using grow boxes (earth boxes?). Both have amazing photos posted over at Garden Web, if anyone wants to search for them.
I hope that those on food stamps (with access to arable land) will get the chance to see this video, and be inspired by it
Cool video. If I ever buy a house I'd love to do something similar, although not quite to this extreme. You can't run an operation that size and have a full time job somewhere else. Many local ordinances also prevent livestock from being able to be kept on your property. Totally give this guys 1000 ^5s, and agree, we've become much too dependent on the industrial complex to generate our food that's destroying our environment and our health. Why do we still demand foods that aren't in season that have to be shipped 10000 miles and waste tons of fuel? It would be good if every community had at least a local garden dedicated to something like this. Let's end the excuses for not trying at least.
It's up to us now to preserve our livestock and crop genetic diversity. Big Ag and GMOs are going to wipe out many breeds of vegetables and fruit if we don't do anything.
seriously... up here, its a short growing season,, not many farmers markets this time of year,,and i've participated in farmers markets, it can be quite the rip-off..
you make an excellent point,,, but i think maine already allows the snap/ebt cards to buy from farmers markets... theirs so much fraud in the system, those that truly need the help ...cant get it.
Since I have had more time this past year, I decided to walk to the town square and check out the farmers market. One girl tried to sell me her homegrown "heirloom" tomatoes for $3.99/lb. They had all the classic look of being overwatered.
I passed on those and headed to my local Mexican market where a good quality Roma tomatoes were going 2# for $1. And they were locally grown.
My favorite was at the Olympia, WA farmers market where "fresh crop cherries" were $4.99/ lb at the start of the season. The same packers label was only $2.99 at the supermarket a block away.
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