Leveling the playing field
Woof. This season is tough! I probably say that every year around now. This year though (notwithstanding the perspective we’ve gained over the years) has felt particularly brutal. The heat and humidity of the last six weeks have been intense and relentless. And it’s only the beginning of August!!
The weather pressure has brought weeds, vermin, and disease from every corner. We are working our hearts out to keep the pests at bay and help the plants survive—thriving seems not exactly to be in the cards this year. Our bodies are worn and tired. Bone tired. And, it must be said, that with this herculean effort we have produced and continue to produce a huge amount of food. Really good food. Precious food. Ripe, seasonal, loved, sweated over, cared for, perfectly harvested food. Food that my girls look forward to all winter—Mama, I can’t wait until the cucumbers are ready. Mama, you know what I am looking forward to this spring? Sugar snaps. Mama, the strawberries are going to be soo good this spring. Mama, when will the cherry tomatoes be back? And that’s why we keep going.
I love this food. I love growing this food. I love watching my kids devour it in the field. I love bringing it to our community. I want everyone to have it. I want to give it away, all of it! But of course that is impossible—see paragraph above. This food is expensive. It’s really expensive. The truth is, it is incredibly hard and incredibly expensive to produce high quality, local food.
And yet, I can’t and won’t produce food only for those rich enough to afford our prices. So how to square this round peg?
Our answer is LEAP.
Here’s a little known secret: LEAP makes it possible for everyone to afford our food.
It works like this: anyone receiving SNAP, WIC, or Medicaid can receive a $1 for $1 match to spend on fruits and vegetables at our markets. That means if they can find $10 in their budget they can come to market and get $20 to spend on fruits and veggies at the market.
This matching program actually levels the playing field at the farmer’s market. It means that we don’t have to work for free. We can charge what we need to charge in order to keep sweating our hearts out and everyone can have access to that perfectly, ripe, perfectly delicious heirloom tomato that no one will ever find at the Dollar General. It works, it really works!
So this is where you come in… up until now, that “matching $1” has come from federal grants, grants that are drying up. And as those grants dry up every other kind of assistance grant is drying up, which means more and more people will have less and less access to the kind of food that you love, that I love, that my kids love, that we all should have equal access to. Will you step up and be the match with us? Please?