Grow Your Own Food. Is It Really That Simple For Poor People?

 

It seems pretty simple. Having a hard time eating? “Grow your own food!”, they say. “They” are usually well meaning and coming from a place of only good intentions, otherwise I’d be whipping out my, “Honey, you better check your privilege!”  speech. Which I guess is what I’m doing right now but I want to try to do it gently, in more of a pointing things out kind of way and not the tongue lashing kind of way. People living below the poverty line often feel that the ,”YES, you CAN grow your own food!” sentiment is just another way some people make poor people feel bad about being poor and blame them for not doing more to help themselves.

Growing your own food is undeniably one of the best ways to get fresh, nutritious food economically , and bonus points- ethically & eco-friendly. When someone suggests that a person struggling with food security just simply grow their own food, they’re making the following assumptions:

1. The person has access to land,space , and the soil it takes to grow food
2. They are able bodied.
3. They have time to devote to a garden.
4. They have a budget to acquire seeds & supplies for starting a garden.
5. They know how to do it.

Digging deeper (that pun was not intended but it does seem like I didn’t try to hard to avoid it), I want to talk about each assumption separately.

Land & Space To Grow Food

Americans who live in urban areas are more likely to live in poverty than those who don’t live in the city.217 million people receiving food stamps live in urban areas compared to about 62 million in rural areas.  Typically, the economically disadvantaged neighborhoods are not the greenest places on earth, which contributes to the food desert clime. In urban areas, the best places for growing food would be balconies,window boxes, fire escapes and rooftops. Not everyone has access to those spaces. If they do have an area they can claim as their own, they may have to consider getting permission from the building owner (who unfortunately, more often than not, is going to give the idea a thumbs down) . Is their hard work only going to be vandalized or destroyed? Is it practical?

I’m an avid gardener but I haven’t always been able to garden, even in rural small town America. I once lived in an apartment building that had a beautiful yard that I saw as potential edible gardens. The owners did not and tenants were only permitted to have small flower pots on the outside stoop. In the house we rent now, our Grey Gardens is A LOT of work for low yield. I’m mainly able to grow all herbs,greens and a few veggies but it’s not nearly enough to put a dent in the food needs of my 7 person family.

Community gardens and CSA co-ops are an excellent solution to this problem but as Novella Carpenter’s experience with her Ghost town Farm ,and other city farmers like the people of LA who founded The Garden can tell us, space in the city is coveted and premium. Meaning, to create sustainable food sources in food deserts,  communities need to raise money to own a space to call their own or a benevolent property owner will have to see a reason to give a gift of land to the community.

Ability

photo via eartheasy.com

There’s a strong connection between being a disabled American and being impoverished. Roughly 30% of all disabled people fall below the poverty line. Disabilities is a broad term but a fair amount are physical and even disabilities not considered a physical disability could inhibit someone’s ability to garden.

Under this category, I would also include elderly people…and sadly, the statistics for the number of elderly living in poverty isn’t so great these days.

It isn’t impossible to garden with disabilities or once you reach old age but there are limitations and accessibility issues. Raised garden beds that are wheelchair accessible are a fantastic solution. Community organizations could help fill the need by contributing supplies and assisting with labor.

Time

A common misconception is that poor people don’t work, especially people who receive assistance like SNAP. For example,30% of food stamp recipients are employed full time .This isn’t a reflection of all people in poverty, since many do not seek assistance or make just barely over the qualifying limit but still live below the line.  Some work part time and are full time students.It isn’t uncommon for a family living below the poverty line to be a two income household or a single parent household working 2 jobs. Underemployment is just as dangerous a place as being unemployed entirely. Time and energy are already being spent on working and/or raising a family in many cases.Gardening?  ”Ain’t nobody got time for that”.

Resources

There’s a popular homesteading page on Facebook that promotes growing your own food as a way to solve your economic hardships. After several posts with the “Poor people should just grow their own food!”, I felt the need to raise some questions, starting with ,”How?”. The response was a very simplistic: People who get food stamps can use their EBT to buy seeds!

Oh. Problem solved! 

Except… if a person on food stamps is buying enough seeds to actually provide fully for their family, that’s a huge dent in their food stamp allowance. Many people are not going to be able to put off food they can eat now for seeds. Many food budget decisions are short term when you’re poor because that’s the way it has to be. The creation more of seed banks and seed exchanges would benefit poor gardeners a lot more than their EBT card.

You can’t buy topsoil or potting soil with food stamps. You can’t buy garden tools with food stamps.

If the person has to resort to indoor gardening, EBT isn’t going to buy grow lights. Planting containers… nope, not those either.

It’s fantastic that the USDA allows people to use their EBT to buy seeds but to help people be self-sufficient food providers, there has to be incentives and programs that offset start-up costs for gardening. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. But you still have to give him a fishing pole.

Knowledge

Some people don’t know the first thing about growing food. That’s not just a poor people thing. There’s a gap in our American modern culture that has a huge disconnect with where our food comes from ,and with nature in general.  The bright spot in this deficit is the huge upswing of food education and ag-curriculum programs in schools. My children’s schools all have some type of food education and gardening program. These programs need to be in every school, not just for the gardening knowledge but for the nutrition education. It takes work,parental involvement and community support but it can happen.

The nice benefit that comes from community gardens is that the organizers pass on their knowledge to any adult interested and willing to learn and do the work. Peer education is an incredible free learning tool.

I’m not trying to rain on everyone’s real food parade here by pointing these things out. I’m just trying to raise awareness to the complexities of growing food. It isn’t as simple as just doing it. If a person CAN do it, then I am their loudest cheerleader. I’m just saying, not everyone can, so let’s just stop with the sentiment that says they can. If they really can and want to, everything should be done to cheer them on. If they can’t, so be it. Don’t keep preaching. It doesn’t help. Grow some extra food in your garden and donate it directly to a family or a local food pantry . That would be an excellent way to help.

Communities everywhere should facilitate and encourage gardening  and community supported agriculture to solve their local hunger and food security problem. I have asserted time and time again that we already CAN feed every single human being with the food that is wasted in the U.S. . Politics prevents this from happening.  With that in mind , it might seem like gardening is a moot point. If there’s already enough food ,why not just focus on managing that correctly and putting it in the people’s mouths? Why garden at all? The great thing that community and home gardens would accomplish is an end to dependency on corporations that grow and distribute the not-so-great food that’s in our system. Bringing food back into local communities and putting the power into people’s hands is best for everyone but everyone needs to work to make this happen. Poverty and food insecurity isn’t going to be eradicated by putting all the responsibility on the people in poverty. Becoming self-sufficient is a huge privilege and the obstacles to achieving it need to be kicked aside by those who already have the possibility of that privilege .

THINGS I MISSED: Additional talking points that I forgot or weren’t aware of

To see all I’ve ever said here about hunger,food insecurity ,poverty, and living on food stamps,  go here.

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[Food Stamp Food] Food Stamped

Food Stamped documents Shira & Yoav Potash’s challenge to feed themselves on a food stamp budget. This has been on my To Watch list since it came out but my library just got a copy of it last week. I was the first one to check it out!  Woot. So, I watched the library’s virginal copy last night.

Shira is a nutrition educator who teaches families how to eat well within a food stamp budget, as well as children. I used to do something similar in a program with Head Start families. It was that experience, as well as working with children in my own daycare ,that helped me to understand one of the key pieces to helping people eat well when they’re living on limited resources. It all has to do with education. I encountered a lot of families who had never made anything that didn’t come in a box or a can. I worked with children who could not identify common vegetables. Even a potato, despite french fries being a  staple of their diet. And really, this education is not just needed for poor people. This applied to every economic class.

When I started this food stamp series here on this blog, I had a mission and that was very basically, to prove that you CAN eat healthy on a food stamp budget. It’s certainly become  diversified and I feel like I haven’t focused on things that need to be discussed in depth ( for example  I have over 3,000 words sitting in my drafts folder just about junk food and the complexities of why we should/shouldn’t prohibit certain items from being purchased on SNAP and why the current political climate isn’t going to allow change to happen anyway and why. It needs to be put out there but it needs edited so people don’t fall asleep reading it) . Overall though, this is still my main objective . This was also the basic premise Shira set out to explore :Can you eat healthy on a food stamp budget?

First of all, the amount Shira & Yoav worked with is quite a bit less than most food stamp challenges you read about. The amount they allowed was about $1 per meal for one week. Realistically, this is more accurate than the $35/week amount most challenges (even mine!) work with. This has been hotly debated both here and on my Facebook page before. I also moderate a private group online for food stamp recipients and no one receives this amount of $35/person. Right now, we receive $20/person per week and that seems to be about the norm.

The film showed both Shira and Yoav’s grocery shopping trip and also the grocery shopping trip of a food stamp recipient. Whereas Shira & Yoav’s objective was to eat healthy, the food stamp recipient represented the Standard American Diet.

I took notes while watching and compared how we shop to both:

Shira & Yoav’s Grocery List

• One thing that can’t be reflected in just a week challenge is the staple items you might buy that will last a whole month. Like for me, vinegar & baking soda are essentials because I also use them for cleaning …and along with the oil they purchased, they could have had salad dressing. Also flour…they could have made bread themselves.
• During the summer months when we have good access to free produce thanks to the Veterans’ Sanctuary Farm and garden shares, we have a little bit more flexibility to buy the more expensive things like coconut oil. I think the jar of coconut oil I have right now was bought in September and I use it for many things (even making deodorant). It was$9 ,so not a purchase that could be made when I have no flexibility
• They showed very well how every purchase requires forethought and how much planning needs to happen.During discussions of living within a food stamp budget, the critics will always scoff and point out that SNAP stands for SUPPLEMENTAL blah blah…. that the program isn’t designed to fund a recipient’s entire meal plan. This is where education of the general public fails and the disconnect with those people and the reality of living on food stamps. For most people, that is absolutely all there food budget is and for some, food stamps is the ONLY income they have.
• I was happy to see that they supplemented with a little dumpster diving (for bread). Depending on  the city, there are some organizations who will collect all the perishable food from the supermarkets and distribute to those in need, so you don’t have to dumpster dive.
• Yes, we eat a lot of beans,too. Not always organic,though.
• I buy coffee. It’s not ethical coffee and I consider it my “sin item”. One of these days, I’ll quit it.

Richard (SNAP Recipient)

• we do buy ramen,too but we throw the nasty flavor packets out (MSG makes me ill and my  kids don’t need it either).We just add spices and herbs to season. I joke that my Faux-Hubby should write a ramen cookbook because of the diverse dishes he can make with ramen noodles. We always add veggies..sometimes meat. The veggies aren’t always fresh .
• Meat is always the first thing axed from the budget to allow for produce
• Richard is type 2 diabetic (like my own dear Faux-Hubby) and admits that his diet isn’t what his doctor would recommend. I know from living w/ someone who doesn’t follow the best eating plan for a diabetic that it can be really hard to break out of the habits,even if you do know better.

They also visit a damn good food pantry. Here in my very small town, the food pantry very rarely has fresh produce. Actually, we don’t use the food pantry because most of what they offer is processed , pre-packaged foods. Obviously, if we were not making do within our food stamp budget, I’d have no problem accepting the food if I had to in order to feed my family but it’s not what I choose to feed them normally. It’s a last resort for me. However, we have accepted food from The Friendship Donation Network, which is one of those organizations I mentioned before that collect perishable food  from supermarkets,restaurants, and caterers and distribute.

Other than the actual experience of food shopping & cooking within the parameters of a limited budget, Food Stamped very thoroughly covers the basics of the hunger in America, the food stamp program itself , the political factors affecting poverty in America , the obstacles poor people face in accessing healthy food, and (hallelujah!) the relationship of The Farm Bill to SNAP. Shira & Yoav Potash did an excellent job at presenting the information that everyone should know, whether they are a critic of  SNAP, a concerned citizen who would like an activist role to play in food security, or a food stamp recipient. Rep Jim McGovern (remember him from the other day’s post?) and other politicians also appear to offer their input on why hunger is how it is and what should be done. As McGovern says, “Hunger is a political condition. We have all the resources, we have all the knowledge…we have everything we need to solve it. What we don’t have it political will.”  I often feel that if  citizens were better informed on the issues, there would be more of a push to affect change and more pressure put on politicians to change the broken system.

The harsher of my own critics who have followed the food stamp series here are the kind of people who could benefit the most from seeing all this information in one piece. I always feel so frustrated after watching a good documentary because I feel like the people who need the information the most will never take it upon themselves to watch it ,or if they do, they do so with their ingrained mindsets firmly planted and closed to receiving info that could even slightly alter their view. My local grassroots organization Back to Democracy hosts public viewings of documentaries on many topics and it’s always the same people who attend. People who already have an inkling on the subject matter and already would have a leaning to not only be receptive to any information learned but also be inspired to take action towards changing things.

As my friend Jennelle just said, “What annoys me more is people who should see a particular documentary and not only do they *not* see it, but then they comment on it like they’ve seen it when they’ve only vicariously seen it through whatever bullshit they’ve heard about it in the media.” It’s SO true. I know I’m an altruistic dreamer but I really wish people could just be open to receive information purely and unfettered,without preconceived notions and bullshit clouding how they process it and exactly what Jennelle said…. be willing to get the information themselves instead of being fed what they know from other sources.

So, see it or don’t but of all the information out there, this is one excellent resource to get the fundamental idea of the issues that affect those living on food stamps

[Food Stamp Food] Thanksgiving

42 million people used food stamps this year to pay for their Thanksgiving meal. There’s no telling how many people living below the poverty line who don’t receive SNAP spent their Thanksgiving struggling with food security.

I asked readers of the blog and followers on Twitter and Facebook to share how they celebrated Thanksgiving while receiving SNAP or just living “below the line”.

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Our family of five fully intends to chow down at Granny’s house on Thanksgiving day. However, with this many mouths to feed in our house and having my husband out of work for the past two months… I have been taking advantage of the holiday promotional prices in order to make the most of our SNAP dollars. Here is an example of what my last grocery shopping trip looked like:

1) 11-lb ham… regular price $1.99/lb… ad-matched at $1.69/lb. Sliced that bad boy up and then divided it into separate freezer bags. For a little over $18, we have enough ham for numerous suppers and/or hot ham and cheese sandwiches. Compare that to purchasing packs of lunch meat for $5/lb. Score!

2) Green Giant & Del-Monte canned vegetables ad-matched for 25cents a can. Even better… salt-free products were included in the sale.

3) 10lb bag of white potatoes… regular price $4.50… on sale for $2! Chopped up about half the bag and placed in the freezer for potatoe soup.

4) Cream cheese… regular price $1.50… on sale for .88 cents… checked the dates… good until March. So I purchased several. They are great for making cream sauces to pour over chicken or just for spreading on bread and bagels.

5) 1-lb Sausage… regular price $2.50… on sale for $1.75. I put one in the fridge and four in the freezer. Breakfast, supper, snacks… sausage is awesome.

There were also sales on flour, corn meal, and sugar. All items that are extremely versatile and can create many, many meals. So I didn’t plan specifically for a holiday meal, but I did take advantage of the holiday sales in order to extend our limited benefit dollars as far as possible. -Anonymous

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We don’t receive food stamps, but have applied. My husband and I both lost our jobs recently and have four children. We both start new jobs next week but these last two months with no income has forced us to move. For food, I’ve been food basket give away hopping. Extremely embarrassing. Just two months ago we grossed on average $750 a week, now I borrow gas money to beg for food. For thanksgiving a couple that are friends of ours had us over. They canceled plans with their family to celebrate with us. I am so grateful that I cry. Food stamps would have been a blessing, I couldn’t even take deviled eggs to help.

- Jenny

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Thanksgiving is toward the end of the month.I’m more worried about making sure the rest of the month is taken care of. By the time Thaksgiving rolled around, I only had about $15 to spend on groceries. I’m not blowing it on just one day.  -Toni

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the holidays make shopping so much harder i get 320 for a family of 5 and im on disability i fill like such failure to the kids on Christmas and birthdays – Jolene

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We’re going to a dinner a local church serves up. We just applied for food stamps but haven’t been approved yet. My husband lost his job 2 months ago and I’ve been a stay at home mom. We’re both looking for work now but haven’t been hired anywhere yet. We have zero income right now.The food pantry has helped a little but the one woman who works there told me that they have had 3 times the usual amount of people showing up and  they don’t have enough to hand out. – Anonymous

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yeah,right. We could go to relatives who live 50 miles away but I can’t afford the gas.- Anon

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 A Thanksgiving supper wouldn’t really be much different than any other dinner. If we were cooking for ourselves on Thanksgiving, we would have a main dish and a couple sides. I’m thrifty- use coupons & ad-match. That said, it’d be very difficult to fix a huge meal and invite the entire family over. We get $400 for a family of five. We make it work. And it’s my understanding that it is a supplement to our income… so we expect to also end up buying food with our “cash” as well. 
But extra for the holidays? Wouldn’t that be a nice treat.

-Shari

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My son and I are probably going to the soup kitchen.- Safira

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Meanwhile, the media has been all over Newark Mayor Cory Booker taking a challenge to live on a food stamp budget.

Fox News contributor Andrea Tantaros  thinks it sounds like a great diet plan.

I’ve been told that my foul language (aka ‘sentence enhancers”) is a distraction and does not do justice to the issues I’m trying to address. So, my apologies in advance  to those who feel like the language is a negative aspect of this blog series but I feel I really MUST say…

Diet plan? Oh,yeah? Fuck you,Andrea Tantaros .

I would also like to point out that the AVERAGE amount may be $133/month per person but many SNAP recipients don’t even receive that much .

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To see all posts on my blog related to eating on a SNAP (Food Stamp) budget, go here.

I always welcome comments and suggestions for future topics for future posts , as well as tips to news articles and blogs that relate to food stamps and food justice. If you don’t feel comfortable commenting here on the blog, there are other ways to contact me.

Aw, SNAP! : A Food Stamp Budget Challenge

It was almost a year ago that I stumbled upon Michael Nolan’s Food Stamp Challenge . My family had been receiving food stamps ,or SNAP  (or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as the USDA now calls it) for awhile. I was inspired to start blogging about  our experience. I believe I intended to write one post, say what I needed to say , and be done with it. What happened was different . Not only in comments, I received emails and private messages via other social networking from people in the same boat, feeling the same things, living the same (or quite often, worse) experience. I decided one post was not enough. There was an opportunity to raise awareness surrounding the issue of food security. There were also people struggling who needed some words of support and a little guidance on how to make living on food stamps be more like living and less like a fight.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of everything that needs to be said but since it’s been almost a year that I’ve been yammering on at my end about what it’s like, it seems like a good idea to give other people a turn to talk.  I give thee:

(I need to make a fancy button now, don’t I?)

What for?

Participants in food stamp challenges connect to the reality of what feeding themselves and their family is like with a strict, low budget with no wiggle room. If one if considering  participating in this sort of challenge, they are problem already empathetic to the issue of poverty & food insecurity. Living within the same budget a food stamp recipient lives on makes it a “walk in someone else’s shoes” experience.

The Basics

1. Using this table  , find the state you live in. That is what your food budget allowance will be per person. The table is representative of a monthly allowance. Divide by 4 to get your weekly amount.Use that amount per person to find your weekly budget.
2. You can run your challenge as long as you like, with a minimum of  one week. Do only just that week or a whole month. It’s up to you.
3. The budget allotment is for food only. This also includes any dining out or coffee shop stops.
4. To make it easy, purchase a pre-paid debit or giftcard for the exact amount of the budget you’re working with. Use it as a food stamp recipient would their EBT (Electronic Benefits Card) .
5. You can use any items you had previous to the challenge already in your pantry
6. If you need ideas for menu planning,there are some great resources here.
7. There is no time limit or calendar you need to schedule your challenge around. This is an open,ongoing challenge.  Do it whenever works for you.
8. If you receive WIC, you can use it.
9. If you have a garden or farm animals, you absolutely can use them.

Blog or Guest Blog About It!

1. If you don’t have a blog of your own, I offer up my blog for you to have a guest spot to share your experience. Contact me  to work out the details.
2. During your challenge, take pictures of your  grocery receipts, food, or anything related to the challenge.
3. Tell about your menu and include recipes.
4. Share your general thoughts and feelings  and what you gained/learned ,if anything. There’s no right or wrong outcome here. Individual experiences will vary and that’s perfect. If you’re experience was negative or positive, it’s all good and worth hearing.
5. If you use supplemental rograms like WIC or a pantry, make sure you mention them.
6. If you use your garden, home canned goods,and your own livestock, make sure you mention those,too.
7. If you have a blog of your own, post your experiences there and link back here.
8. If you’re doing the challenge for more than a week, you’re more than welcome to have as many posts and share as much as you need to.

Challenge? Pfft! I LIVE  like this!

If you’re a SNAP recipient , mi blog es su blog.Contact me   to do a guest post. Or if you have a blog of your own, feel free to write about it and share the link in the Mr Linky link-up below.

Also, if you are low income but have been denied SNAP because you’re JUST over the eligibility requirements…by all means, share a post with us. Chances are, your grocery budget is even less than the average allotment for SNAP. I know how that works.

*UPDATED *

Some people think that the food stamp table allows too much and that it’s no challenge at all. I would like to remind people that the amounts listed are an average. Many families don’t get that amount. My own family who receives SNAP gets $652 per month for our family of 7. So, $23/person each week. Our old amount was $452/month for the 7 of us. So, I give those people another challenge…

The Extreme Austerity Challenge

Same rules apply as above. Just use half the amount for your budget.

Also, if you’re an extreme couponer and have stockpiles of boxed and canned foods, I don’t think you would get the real essence of the challenge. The majority of people who suddenly have an event that deems them eligible for SNAP do not have such a resource to fall back on.

[Food Stamp Food] Steak & Shrimp!

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve updated with a food stamp related post.

Honestly, I am pretty overwhelmed right now by what it means to blog about living on food stamps. Attention the topic has received here has made me feel more like I need to represent (yo?) food stamp recipients with a certain decorum. I can’t sound ignorant. I can’t swear like I’m some white trash mama who was raised in a trailer park. I can’t talk about doing leisurely, fun things. I can’t talk about buying things. I can’t bitch about how my “many” kids drive me a little crazy some days. I can’t complain about how my Kindle always fucks up my typing and autocorrects the most ridiculously substitutions. I can’t talk about taking the kids camping for vacation. I can’t talk about selling things on Etsy or Ebay (“Do you report all that income?” , a very concerned taxpayer asked). I can’t post pictures of my life with my “fancy” camera.

I can’t have nice things, period.

I may not even be entitled to rights as an American citizen.

Not only is The Farm Bill occupying my thoughts, but it’s an election year. Like any citizen who believes that voting is first hand participation in democracy, I talk about the candidates. I perhaps engross myself a bit too much in the whole media spectacle that politics can be during an election year but I believe it’s important to be informed. Recently during a political discussion, someone felt the need to tell me that because I receive food stamps, I should not be allowed to vote.

That’s right. Receive government assistance, get your right to vote revoked. If you receive food stamps, you have the same entitlements as a convicted felon.

The basis of this belief is this : Food stamps recipients will only vote for a Democrat because it’s Democrats who are allowing people to have food stamps.

Much in the same way a soldier will only vote for a Republican because that’s who keeps them “employed”?

It’s a flawed reasoning,anyway. The most states with the highest food stamp pay out are controlled by Republicans. If food stamp recipients make up a goodly percentage of that state’s population and those recipients are voting, then why aren’t all the political reps in that state Democrats?

As far as Obama being The Food Stamp President, Luis Gutierrez has an excellent explanation of who the real Food Stamp Prez was.

The most intimidating thing about blogging about living on food stamps isn’t the personal criticisms. It’s the daunting task of trying to educate ignorant people about food scarcity in America. It’s about the misconceptions people have about the political & social culture surrounding food stamps. It’s about trying to reverse the frustrating stigmas that so many Americans have about the average person who relies on food stamps. It’s the anger & outrage I feel every single day when all of these things collide and I realize there are people in this country who don’t give a shit if another human being doesn’t have enough food to eat.

I will never,ever be able to wrap my brain around the idea that food is a privilege and not a basic human right.

Don’t worry,though. I’m not shutting up about being a Po’ ‘Ho, living on the dole. I’ll keep on talking about it.  The issue of poverty needs to have visibility. The ones who don’t want to hear about it or only want to judge are not going to make me shrink back away from loudly discussing  the issue.

To help ease the pain the food stamp haters feel about me feeding my kids on their dime, I’ll show you the steak we had last week!

Aren’t they gorgeous? Ok, if you’re a vegetarian,I guess they won’t be so pretty but seriously, those are some great steaks.

It’s venison. It was free, shared from a friend’s freezer.

We also had shrimp and pasta the other night. The shrimp was $2. Sale and a store coupon.

My point in throwing the steak and shrimp out there is to just give some brain food for thought. If I had said, “I has steak and shrimp this week.” , the food stamp haters would have been outraged and I would have heard, “Must be nice to eat so well at my expense!”. Things are not always what they seem. There are plenty of SNAP recipients who are also freegans out of  the necessity to stretch their food stamp budget.  They pick out of the trash and dumpsters and yes, sometimes they find some pretty nice steaks. Maybe not the safest to eat steaks but no one else was using them. There are lots of ways to eat steak when you live on food stamps.

You can also relax a little about the amount you pay for a SNAP recipient to eat whatever they deem worthy to spend their food allowance on. A person making $50,000 a year pays roughly a dime per day for food stamps. It works out to be about $36.82/ year.  Please take that into consideration, judgmental,food stamp -hating taxpayers. Next time you bitch about some kid not going to bed hungry on your dime, remember that it’s only a little over $30 for an entire year that you’re complaining about. And that’s only  if you make $50,000/year.  That’s probably about what you spend on your own coffee habit every week.

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To see all posts on my blog related to eating on a SNAP (Food Stamp) budget, go here.

I always welcome comments and suggestions for future topics for future posts , as well as tips to news articles and blogs that relate to food stamps and food justice. If you don’t feel comfortable commenting here on the blog, there are other ways to contact me.

[Food Stamp Food] “Food stamps are immoral”

For the sake of clarity, when I use the words “people on food stamps”, I’m referring to those who actually need food stamps, not the fraudulent minority. Here on this blog, you should always assume I’m speaking about the former and not the latter. 

This quote from Jeff Sessions is months old but it’s worth rehashing as the Farm Bill hoopla continues.

Sessions is your standard,stereotypical Republican who calls himself a Christian. He’s the kind who wants to turn back the clock to when women used wire hangers to DIY their abortions yet votes “No” to fund programs that provide contraceptives and education to teenagers and young women. Fetuses are God’s precious little gifts . Once they’re born -meh, fuck them. The little fuckers can starve for all he cares.

He and I have very different ideas on morality. I think it’s immoral to leave more than 2 million Americans without assistance to feed themselves, especially when half of them are children. One can not crusade to rescue unwanted fetuses from wombs and then treat a living,breathing child as an ephemeral idea that doesn’t need nourishing and still call themselves moral.

I agree with Sessions that the food stamp program needs some reforms but you can’t punish the majority of people who are benefiting from the system honestly because there’s a group of dishonest recipients who abuse the system.  I’ve always hated that disciplinary tactic.  A few kids act up in class and boom…no ice cream for anyone. As one of the well-behaved ones, I do wish the system abusers would stop being such twatwaffles and get an honest profession like stripping but I’m far more pissed off at the asshats who want to essentially punish those who have done no wrong.

Sessions asks,”Is our national goal to place as many people on welfare, food stamp support, as we can possibly put on that program? Is that our goal? Is that a moral vision for the United States of America, just to see how many people we can place in a situation where they’re dependent on the federal government for their food? I just ask that. I think we should wrestle with that question.”

It makes me wonder what his personal moral vision is for the United States of America. It also shows this gaping chasm of disconnect with the people who rely on food stamps. People on food stamps don’t want to be dependent on their government to feed them. By allowing them to receive food stamps, you’re not placing them in a situation to become dependent.They were already in a situation to begin with that warranted the need. You don’t have to be a rocket surgeon to figure this out.

I don’t know if it’ll do any good but I throw this out there again : Write your Congressperson and ask them to not approve The Farm Bill.

There are other important reasons beyond the food stamp measure,too.

Via Environmental Working Group , here are nine other reasons why the Farm Bill is horrible.

• Gives Big Farmers a Big Raise – The Lucas-Peterson farm bill would give every big subsidized grower a raise in the form of higher price guarantees for their crops – at a time when large commercial farms have average household incomes of more than $200,000 a year and net farm income has nearly doubled in recent years. The largest 10 percent of subsidized growers collect roughly three-fourths of federal farm subsidies, so the Lucas-Peterson farm bill will give mega-farms even more tax dollars to drive out small family farmers.

• Expands Crop Insurance by $9.5 billion – Right now, farm businesses can get unlimited insurance subsidies. As a result, 26 of them collected more than $1 million each in 2011 and more than 10,000 growers collected more than $100,000 each. Rather than place reasonable limits on crop insurance, the Lucas-Peterson proposal actually expands insurance subsidies – at a cost of more than $9 billion! Reasonable reforms such as payment limits, means testing and administrative reforms – which are applied to SNAP but not crop insurance – could save taxpayers more than $20 billion.

• Cuts Conservation Programs by $6 billion – Like the farm bill passed by the Senate, the Lucas-Peterson bill cuts conservation programs that assist farmers in all parts of the country and benefit consumers in the form of cleaner air and water. High commodity prices and unlimited insurance subsidies are encouraging farmers to plow up millions of acres of wetlands and grasslands to grow crops, but the bill cuts more than $3 billion from programs designed to protect and restore wildlife habitat.

• Lacks Protections for Prairies – Chairman Lucas turned back a bipartisan proposal by Reps. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) and Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) to expand to all states a provision temporarily reducing crop insurance subsidies when prairie land is converted to grow row crops. This “sodsaver” proposal would help offset the damage done by rising crop insurance subsidies and cuts to critical conservation programs.

• Includes Anti-Environmental Riders – Reps. Lucas and Peterson included two riders that would gut common-sense rules that protect water quality and wildlife from agricultural pesticides. That’s despite the fact that more than 1,000 lakes and streams are already too polluted by pesticides to meet clean water standards. What’s more, the bill guts environmental protections on logging by short-circuiting environmental review and public involvement in “critical areas.”

• Has Few Incentives for Healthy Diets – More than a third of Americans are obese, and consumers have said that supporting healthy diets should be the top priority for this farm bill. But the House bill would cut SNAP by $16 billion (as much as 20 percent of SNAP purchases go to buy fruits and vegetables) and does not include as many incentives as the Senate bill to encourage more fruit and vegetable consumption by low-income consumers. What’s more, the bill omits proposals to expand access to fruits and vegetables and takes the “fresh” out of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program for school children.

• Weakens Regulation of GMO Crops – Exempting GMO crops from environmental reviews and setting arbitrary deadlines on regulators will eviscerate already weak oversight over biotech crops by allowing the sale of foods that haven’t been approved or analyzed by USDA. Even industry groups such as the National Grain and Feed Association oppose this poorly designed provision.

• Guts State Food and Farm Standards – Thomas Jefferson must be turning over in his grave. A last-minute amendment to prevent states from setting their own standards for farm and food production will do far more than block a California law that requires more humane treatment of egg-laying hens. This proposal will block any state from setting its own standards for how crops and livestock can be produced.

• Repeals Organic Certification Cost Share Program – The bill repeals a program that provides cost share support to help farmers defray the costs of certifying that their crops meet organic standards – at a time when demand for organic food is soaring.

On a positive note, there are people like Kristin Crouch at That Bloomin’ Garden who are growing food for their local food pantry .

Onions & ‘taters for the food bank

And at Union Square Greenmarket in New York, when you spend $5 using your EBT cars, they’ll give you $2 for fruits and veggies. How cool is that?

Morals. These people have some.

 

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To see all posts on my blog related to eating on a SNAP (Food Stamp) budget, go here.

I always welcome comments and suggestions for future topics for future posts , as well as tips to news articles and blogs that relate to food stamps and food justice. If you don’t feel comfortable commenting here on the blog, there are other ways to contact me.

[Food Stamp Food] Write your Congressman

June is Hunger Awareness Month. There has been much talk about food stamps in the news due to the cut backs the SNAP program faces with the Farm Bill and possibly because it is so in the forefront right now, many have taken Food Stamp Challenges.

The Food Stamp Challenge isn’t a new concept. It’s a common challenge issued by compassionate churches,food pantries and social activist groups to help people gain perspective on what it’s like to be one of the 46 million people in the US who rely on food stamps to feed themselves.  It was last October that I came across Michael Nolan’s food stamp challenge and besides Sean Callebs experiment on CNN , I had never heard of any one doing this.

People willingly eating on a food stamp budget? It inspired me to blog here about what it’s like to live on a food stamp budget, more than a month or a week. And here we are. Like I said when I began, I love that people are inspired to do this. People don’t do these challenges for themselves. They are doing it to open up a dialogue about food scarcity that is essential , not only for Americans but on a global scale as well.

I receive Google news alerts about food stamps in my email daily. I’ve seen many articles over the past months that mention lawmakers who have accepted the food stamp challenge. Typically , this is the end of the story. There tends to be little follow-up on the participant and how they did or what they gained. Recently though, NBC10 in Philadephia  did an excellent job covering and tracking participants of a food stamp challenge issued by Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia. Mayor Michael Nutter, Congressman Bob Brady, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall and Brian Gralnick of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia were among the notable participants ,with locals also making the commitment. The local news tracked participants progress and feelings during the week via Twitter and blogs.

Participants reported such things as, ““I am starting to feel a certain detachment,” said participant Mariana. “A shutting down, a sadness that’s hard to describe.”
At the end of the week, columnist John-Hall had this to say -“It was one thing to talk about hunger and be empathetic with people who are on SNAP or take a benefit.But it’s another thing to do it yourself.”

Congressman Brady started the week saying,“We’re here to prove a point.Hopefully the visibility and awareness will make some people aware.”  The problem is, the people listening are almost always already aware ,or at least are very open to having this conversation. The lawmakers who participate, gaining knowledge of the problem first hand through experience are time and time again, are men and women  already supportive of SNAP and will vote accordingly. They are almost always Democrats.

The Food Stamp Challenge needs to have a new face, some fresh blood to this real life hunger game. Let’s get some Republicans in on this thing.  If you know a Republican, ask them to take this challenge. $35 a week per person in their house.  If you’re feeling ambitious (and I hope you are), write,call AND email (all of the above, not either or) Republican representatives  and encourage them to take this challenge. Well, you could also ask your Democrat Reps ,too…just to cover all the bases.

Dear [Congressman],

More than 46 million Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to feel their families. With high unemployment, record numbers of families are depending on federal nutrition programs to provide food for their children. These programs are critical in making sure all American children get the food they need to reach their full potential.

As a constituent, I am asking you to take part in a Food Stamp Challenge. For one week, I challenge you to eat as if your food budget were than of an average SNAP recipient - $1.48 per meal.  The challenge gives participants a view of what life can be like for millions of low-income Americans. This experience could be beneficial as you work to authorize The Farm Bill and consider sparing cuts to SNAP.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]

This letter can be adapted to encourage politicians on a local level. Even though they may not vote on a Congressional level, their support is still needed for local supplemental food programs,too.

 

If you’re looking for my own personal posts about my own experience living on food stamps, they’re in the Food Stamp Food category.

If you have a past or current food austerity challenge on your blog, let me know about it!  If you are participating in a challenge and don’t blog, send me your thoughts. My email is on the sidebar of the blog or you can send me a private message on my Facebook Page

Food Stamp Food- 11/16-11/20: Planning for the holidays,using leftover carrots and more

One of this week’s most popular search terms that brought people to my blog: “extra food stamps in November  and December”  or more directly,“Can I get extra food stamps for the holidays?”. Sorry…it doesn’t work that way. If you really need help putting together food for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, contact your local food pantry or call your food stamp caseworker for a list of organizations that distribute food. In my area,for example, beside the food pantries there is a network of people & groups who rescue food and distribute to those in need. When I say “rescue”, I don’t mean they picked out of the trash. They have an arrangement with grocery stores,caterers,restaurants and other food service to collect food that may otherwise go in the trash for some reason or another. There’s nothing wrong with this food – it truly would be completely wasted if not for food rescuers.

You could also try calling a local youth group ,such as 4H to see if they’re organizing anything for families in need during the holidays. My daughter signed up this week to sort canned goods and bake goodies for families (ironic ,I know).

For those on the opposite side of the food scarcity dilemma, especially those who garden, Growing a Greener World’s  episode 220: Gardening for the Hungry  has a wealth of information about growing food for the hungry and how to get it where it needs to go. There’s also a great post on GardenHelp.org on Feeding the Hungry from Your Home Garden. If you do contribute in some way, make sure you tell The Gay Vegans about your do-gooding.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we have our turkey. 48¢ a pound. Nope, not the most ethically grown turkey,as I would prefer but it’s a turkey. Someday, we’ll raise our own.

My family has decided (not the family in my own house but extended fam- my mother,aunts,,uncles,etc) have decided to not have Thanksgiving at a family member’s house and instead , “Let’s all go to a nice restaurant for Thanksgiving!”. Um, no. Not only can I not afford to take my 9-person family out to a restaurant but I have a toddler. Toddlers don’t necessarily mean you can’t eat out but at this current stage in his life, he doesn’t do restaurants. We went out for brunch this week and he was much more interested in checking out his surroundings, which meant I had to chase toddler instead of actually eat…and when I did eat,I was trying to hurry so we could get out of there and didn’t really enjoy it.

So, we’ll be at home, which actually sounds nicer to me than spending Thanksgiving in a restaurant. Besides, who wants to eat out and miss all those awesome Thanksgiving leftovers? Not I!

Anyway…

Here’s what we’ve been eating:

Wednesday 11/16

I felt like crap all day and the toddler wasn’t quite feeling up to par,either. I don’t quite remember eating much of anything. I made dinner ,though. I had 5 lbs of ground beef to use up (it had already been frozen and thawed) so I made meatloaf with some of it. It was all I could do not to hurl while cooking. I’m not a huge fan of beef but then feeling ew… not good. It was basic meatloaf with mushroom gravy. Used up the last of the potatoes for mashed potatoes and cooked carrots for a side dish. They were honey-glazed. I don’t normally sweeten veggies but I hate carrots so I’ll do anything to make them more palatable to me. Carrots are the only food I really don’t like at all.

Thursday 11/17

Remember how I broke my front tooth ? I called every dentist  in the area to see if I could make some arrangements to pay monthly. Without insurance, no one would see me unless I agreed to pay 100% of the bill at the appointment. So, Thursday I went and applied for Medicaid . Very heavy sigh. I just didn’t know what else to do. The sad thing is , even if I get approved, it’s no guarantee I’ll be able to see a dentist .

We had to take an early bus into The Little Big City for my appointment. We had hours to kill before my appointment so we ran errands and went and ate waffles for brunch. Obviously, not a food stamp transaction…cash money but it was frugal.

Dinner that night:

I had garlic scapes, thanks again to the Veteran’s Sanctuary.

Nobody was very excited about eating these,except for me. but then? Some chicken breast, feta cheese and the garlic scapes tossed with pasta and some herbs – yum.

Some roasted red peppers on top for garnish. By the way… go visit Red, White & Grew to see her Roasted Veggie Spectacular.

Friday 11/18

Kids had the day off from school for some conference thing. Pookie made pancakes for everyone, all by herself. Lunch was a combo of leftovers and tuna fish sandwiches.

For dinner, I made a pizza that some cooking mag I have refers to as Pizza Bianco. It’s a sauceless pizza topped with a combo of ricotta & mozarella and basil, then topped with mushrooms,garlic & onions.

yum.

Saturday 11/19

We ate pretty crappy all day. The toddler hasn’t been feeling well and Saturday was the worst. I personally didn’t cook anything all day…older children made eggs & toast in the morning, then PB & J for lunch. My oldest son made dinner….leftover cooked pasta from Thursday with some browned ground beef,salsa & cheese thrown into it.

Sunday 11/20

Kids all went out to breakfast with Grandma and I didn’t feel like anything besides coffee in the morning.

My fabulous hubby made these sandwiches for us for lunch:

They’re pitas stuffed with ground beef (did I mention we have a ton of ground beef to use?), cukes,tomatoes and sprouts w/ a greek feta dressing drizzled on.

I had intended to make sweet rolls for breakfast that morning but with no one around,I just made them later on. Earlier in the week, we had carrots. I was waiting to see if they go gobbled up like the other leftovers but no one seemed too crazy about them. I swear, I try very hard to keep my disdain for carrots to myself for fear of infecting the kids with it. I know adults who tell me they never ate certain foods as kids because their parents didn’t like them. If my kids end up liking carrots, that’s awesome.

I hate wasting food so I needed to figure out how to use up the leftover carrots (a little less than  1 cup ,originally honey-glazed ) .I hate a lot of suggestions for what to do with them (as a dip,in soups,in cake,muffins,etc)  but I think most  required more carrots than I had .Someone passed on a recipe for sweet rolls, made like cinnamon rolls but filled with a carroty-mixture. The dough was straightforward cinnamon-roll dough but the filling called for an entire container of cream cheese, a box of vanilla pudding, a jar of baby food carrots & a whole half cup of sugar. Wow. And that’s for just 12 servings. One thing I notice with a lot with recipes is that they’re WAY too extravagant ,both with calories & finances.

So, here’s what I substituted for the filling:

mashed cooked carrots

1 cup of ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons cream cheese ( because that’s all I had left)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

I blended this and spread it on the dough , just like when you make cinnamon rolls. Over the mixture,I sprinkled brown sugar . not a ton, just enough to cover the area lightly. Instead of making these super sweet I let the cinnamon & nutmeg dominate and the sugar accentuate.

The result was a slightly sweet rolls with a very slight carroty flavor.

My daughter was half finished eating one and asked what was in it. “Carrots”, I told her.

“But I hate carrots! But these are actually ok”. Yay!

For dinner, I made chili in the crockpot.  Using the very last of that ground beef. Thank the gods… I was getting tired of that ground beef.

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I’ll be using hashtag #foodstampfood when I tweet about food. If you use food stamps to eat, feel free to use it,too.

Food Stamp Food: 11/13-11/15

Note to self:  Remember to take pics of food BEFORE everyone eats instead of looking at an empty plate and saying,”Oh,shoot..I forgot to take a picture!” . Blogging fail.

Pictures or not, we ate:

SUNDAY 11/13

Sunday brunch, the twins had a friend over. Thing 1 wanted to make Banana Waffles but her friend said she didn’t like to eat bananas unless they had peanut butter with/on (hey, I can’t judge. The only way I can eat a carrot is if it’s in a cake). So, we decided on Peanut Butter Banana Waffles   .We did not follow ←that recipe to a tee…we used real dairy ingredients but they turned out nice.The whole house smelled like peanut butter cookies.  I didn’t change the amounts at all but obviously for my crew, I had to double the recipe. Normally I’d be feeling anxious about using that much milk for one meal but I had 3 WIC checks that needed to be used before the 14th, and each had 1 gallon of milk on it. I haven’t been able to use the WIC checks because , like an idiot, I lost my WIC ID and had to wait for a replacement before I could use them

That evening, I made macaroni and cheese. Just basic homemade mac -n-cheese.

MONDAY 11/14

Breakfast: bagels & cream cheese. 3 of the kids decided to eat breakfast at school that day.

Lunch: Normally, it’s only me eating lunch at home and I typically have leftovers.  I had 2 sick kids home so I made us some wraps…. whole wheat tortillas filled with sauteed mushrooms,melted cheese, a little salsa and a dab of sour cream. Hubby ate lunch out w/ his Mom, her treat.

Snacky: Kids ate grapes after school.

Dinner: Spinach & Black Bean Egg Rolls  and some quinoa-tofu thing I whipped together. Thinking about it now, the quinoa dish was protein overkill. Not that that was a bad thing but it had quinoa ( a complete protein source by itself), sunflower seeds (27g per serving)  and sugar snap pea pods (3 g) . The peas had been in the freezer for quite some time so they really needed to be used up. They were looking on the verge of freezer burnt. I like using quinoa now at least once a week  - my hubby is diabetic and it’s a good source of fiber & plant based protein for him. A bag is around $4.75 and goes a long way.

TUESDAY 11/15

Breakfast: bagel & cream cheese again

Lunch: Um…. hmmm. I think I ate a banana? Hubby ate at work.

Snacky: Pookie cooked tater tots with cheese after school.

Dinner: So, I don’t know who Julie is but her Noodle Casserole caught my eye in an old issue of Family Circle (free box at the library snag).

This is exactly what it looked like:

The only change I made to the recipe was I didn’t use cottage cheese….I used about 1 cup ricotta instead. Also…I forgot to add the marinara and it was just fine without it.

There was a head of cauliflower that needed to be cooked. I was inspired by this recipe from Rachel Ray for Cauliflower-Feta Pasta Bake…except my main dish had pasta so I just excluded the pasta from this. It was awesome. I did not use all the feta the recipe called for and it was still great.

Foodie Fail of the Week: The remaining  black beans I cooked on Monday for the egg rolls got left out somehow. by the time I discovered them, they already smelled fermenty and there was no way I could risk saving them. Into the compost they went. It was only about a cup of beans but on the other hand,it was a whole cup of beans.

Other food stamp related bits:

Michael Nolan’s Food Stamp Challenge  has ended. His final thoughts.

Religious leaders have issued a challenge to lamakers: Eat on a food stamp budget for one week. The article says there are a dozen democratic Congressmen (persons?) taking part in the challenge. I would love to see a follow up .

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I’ll be using hastag #foodstampfood when I tweet about food. If you use food stamps to eat, feel free to use it,too.

Sunflower! There’s a zombie on your lawn!

This isn’t the prettiest picture of a sunflower ever taken but this sunflower has a story, so forgive the scaffolding in the background and all other unattractive things you might spot through the ugly blinds in my front porch/mud room windows.

In front of  the house we rent, there’s a dirt patch maintained by the Village.Well,actually not by Village employees but volunteers. I can’t remember what they call themselves but they clean up the trash on Main St and plant flowers and stuff. This Spring,the area in front of our house was looking sad. No one had come by to tend to it and it was overgrown with weeds. Some of the perennials they planted had started to grow back – some ornamental grasses and Sedum, mostly. Pookie (my 10-year-old) decided she wanted to plant some things there, so we cleared some space and she planted bush beans and some flowers to complement their scrubby perennials.

The beans were coming along nicely, as were the flowers and some herbs I had added. Until one Saturday morning in early Summer, this volunteer crew came along and tore everything out. Pookie came rushing in, in a panic when she saw what they were doing. I was walking out the door and I overheard a woman ask someone,”What’s this?” .He said,”Looks like beans. Chuck it.”

On the ground was everything green we had planted along with weeds so they could make room for new stupid plants. To add insult to injury, the man who knew the plant was a bean and gave the orders to treat it as a weed is someone I’ve known for years. I’m not going to rehash the entire conversation that followed after I discovered this  here but the result was, my 10-year-old was in tears and I honestly don’t care to ever talk to that person again. The idea that someone treats food as a weed? I don’t want to know people like that.

A week or so after The Bean Killers swept through, Pookie had a sunflower plant she had started from a seed in a pot.  It wasn’t looking very good and I didn’t expect it to make it. Thinking that it wasn’t going to live long enough to meet the same fate as the beans next time the crew came through, I transplanted it in the area in front. It would have killed me to throw it out. I had to give it one last chance. I  reasoned that it would have a little bit of a chance to grow there, if it did make it, because the likelihood of that crew coming back right away was slim. Also, I was feeling pretty defiant still. I was going to grow something there,dammit.

I had forgotten about it until I noticed a few weeks later, it was getting taller. I told the plant it had better be  a bit more inconspicuous or someone would come through and turn him into compost. But nobody did. Twice some men came by to do a little weeding maintenance during the summer . I think they were from the local rehab place  or maybe the probation department . Whoever they were, they did not touch the sunflower that was so obviously growing just fine. When I realized they were using other ,kinder volunteers for the small weeding, I started to sneak in some other plants here and there….marigolds, Diablo cosmos,sage,basil, lavender.

All summer, when I walked around town I’d notice all the places that were just ripe for guerrilla gardening. When you’re a gardening concerned with food security, you look at spaces differently. Manicured lawns turn your stomach and dusty dirt patches look like they have potential to be a pumpkin patch. What I really,really,really wanted to do was plant a corn field in front of the bank but it was too late to plant corn by the time I had that inspiration. I wanted to plant herbs and vegetables – things that people could EAT.

As you can see from the picture, Pookie’s sunflower got to be kind of a big one. We estimate it was about 11 feet. This picture was taken a few days before we got our first snowfall. It was JUST beginning to bloom. The day before it snowed ,it had a huge and beautiful sunny sunflower on it. I didn’t get a picture of it. Sadly, it only had a few days of glory.The 6 year old brought the flower in to us one afternoon. He found it on the ground. I think the winds snapped it off the stalk. At least I hope that’s what happened and it wasn’t a human at fault. It doesn’t matter what happened to it . It got to live a good little life this year, occupying our Main Street. You know what that sunflower was? A rebel, just like this guy:

Nobody ever said anything to us officially about our contraband plants in the public space. Which means I’m welcome to add my own details next year after they do their first big clean-out of the flower beds,right?  Making seed bombs feels like a good thing to keep me occupied in the winter months. I will absolutely be participating next year in International Sunflower Guerilla Gardening Day,too. I always wanted to be a sunflower farmer!