Market Farming

["Heirloom Grower" <heirloomgrower AT gmail.com>]

Thinking back on the days when my children were small, and we were receiving WIC, the fact is that the people who can qualify for WIC are very financially challenged. Most of them cannot afford to eat a balanced diet. WIC serves as a nutritional lifeline to most of them. Particularly furnishing "necessary" formula for babies. This "essential" part of today's baby diet is so prohibitively expensive that the manufacturer's should be ashamed.

 

I administer a food pantry out of a mission church to a diasdvantaged community. As I spoke to a few of these people about nutritional issues, one old lady looked at me and said, "But Miss Elise, I can't afford to eat anything but starches." I looked at her and knew it was true. These people barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. And if they miss one they are usually out on the street. They are not extravagant or wasteful. Most of them cannot afford to seek medical care. None of them can afford to buy meat and fresh vegetables. Lots of them have difficulties affording the transportation to get to the places where they can buy the veggies. Many of them have to walk to the local grocery and can only bring home what they can carry.

 

Here, except for one Kroger, one Wal-mart, and one very basic fruit and vegetable stand, the nearest place to look for such things is 15 miles away--a 30 mile round trip. Wal-mart's "fresh" vegetables are trash...I have a picture of "tomatoes" that were a "special bargain" that I took a few months back. The things have weepy brown ooze seeping from huge lesions all over them. The kale was wilted almost to the point of paper dry. The apricots that day were so past prime that they totally collapsed if you tried to pick one up. I could list about 15 items that I examined that day that were not even fit to feed to pigs.

 

And so, lots of these folks live on ramen noodles, rice, beans, peas and store brand mac and cheese, corn bread, biscuits, gravy. Maybe there will be a can or two of some fruit or vegetable thrown in every now and then as a treat.

 

So please do not judge these young parents too harshly. Probably they would love to buy lots of things from you. They just can't do it and keep the rent paid and the lights on.

 

I have been there, and I remember how it was. My babies would have gone hungry if I had not dug up and planted a garden in my back yard.

 

Elise

On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 2:58 PM, Sharon and Steve <shopkins AT tdstelme.net> wrote:

>
> A question: do you see WIC customers spending any of their own money on
> produce? In other words, do they become regular market customers? Do you
> feel it's worth the bother? We've noticed they don't at either market
> where
> we sell. We started taking WIC gladly at first.
>
> paul tradingpost AT lobo.net

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The first year I got quite a few and after that it slowed to last year when
I was offered one check. And no, I dont recall seeing any of them a second
time even after doing the business, talking vegetables and tossing in
samples and recipes for anything they had never tried.

MAsteveINE

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