#harvest boxes

[septictankie]

[thesociologicalcinema]

Food is not a weapon for punishing Americans in need. - Defend S.N.A.P. benefits - Say no to "harvest boxes"

[alex51324]

Trump idea would not be total garbage if almost everything about it were different

As you may have heard, the Trump misAdministration’s budget “blueprint” proposes cutting billions from the nation’s budget by sending SNAP (aka food stamp) recipients a box of food in place of half of their monthly grocery budget.  Fortunately, as a recent NYT article reveals, they have no intention of actually turning this notion into a reality, but have instead suggested it as a way of shifting the goalposts prior to their serious proposal of cutting benefits by 30% and making up the difference with absolutely nothing.  

However, as a former SNAP recipient, let me tell you--if this change was proposed by competent and ethical people (coughmaybesomebodynamedObamacough) with at least normal intelligence and compassion for their fellow human beings,  instead of the human tire fire currently squatting in the White House, it might possibly not be a totally terrible idea.  

Let me start by outlining the reasons the proposed program is terrible. 

 First, the Administration has given no thought whatsoever to the logistical issues involved.  They say that it would be up to the states to determine how to deliver the food boxes to the end users; they also say that the goods in the boxes will be produced by American farmers.  They say nothing whatsoever about how the goods will get from the farmers to the states, probably because it didn’t occur to anyone that this was a problem they’d have to foist off on someone.  

Second, it ignores the fact that food stamps are an important source of revenue for retailers in economically disadvantaged areas--one that they rely on in order to stay in business and, not for nothing, employ people from those disadvantaged areas.  Most of us know that it’s difficult to find a decent grocery store in a poor area--those “food deserts” you hear about--but to the extent that they do exist, it’s because they can count on food stamp money coming in.  Not only would this change suck for the people who shop at those stores, it would also suck for the people who own them--and since most of these stores are large chains, the people who own them are people Trump cares about, i.e., rich people.

Thirdly, as has been widely noted, the plan would not accommodate food allergies, religious or cultural dietary restrictions, or cultural or personal preferences of the recipients, which would result in food going to waste and people going hungry.  

Fourthly, the object of the plan is to save money for the government--the food would be acquired in bulk, but passed on to recipients in exchange for the benefits they formerly received, at full retail value: in other words, what we’re gonna do is buy cheap surplus commodities and then force the poor to buy them at inflated prices, whether they want them or not.  

It’s this fourth point that forms the pivot around which this dumpster fire of an idea takes shape as the mirror image of an actually decent idea:  if the government bought those same cheap commodities, and then gave SNAP recipients the option of purchasing them at cost + overhead prices, then...well, it still wouldn’t fix point #2, about the grocery stores, but it would give recipients more food options and more bang for their buck, and support US farmers (which is also a thing the Trump plan is supposed to do, but won’t because they couldn’t organize a piss-up in a brewery).  

You see, manyseveral years ago, when I was on SNAP, I participated in a program that did...just what I said above.  It was actually a for-profit company that bought the food and sold it on at a modest profit, but the boxes were a pretty good value.  Each month, you had a choice of 3 or 4 different boxes--there were meat boxes, produce boxes, etc., and you could buy more than one if you wanted-- and you could make your selection either on their website or when you picked up the previous month’s box.  My pickup location was at a school; most of the kids who went to that school walked there, so it was an accessible location for a lot of the families.  You could also pay with regular money if you happened not to be a food stamp recipient.  If the company still existed, I’d probably still buy from them, but they collapsed in scandal only a few months after I discovered it. 

(Where they went wrong is that the for-profit company draped itself in Christian piety and had a great big whopping “donate” button on the site, and put in tiny print at the bottom that they were in fact not a charity of any kind and were in fact a for-profit company.  Also, their board of directors all happened to be members of the same family and and they were paid six figures apiece.) 

I understood about the for-profit nature of the operation, and chose to shop there because the deals were genuinely good.  To me, the fact that they were able to offer such great prices and still skim quite a bit off the top suggests that bulk buying and delivery of food is an idea that, if done right, could stretch SNAP recipients’ budgets and save the government some money.  

Obviously, the logistics would still need to be thought out, but most of the objections disappear if such a program is both well-thought-out and, I stress, voluntary. 

 It still couldn’t accommodate every possible dietary restriction--the set-package model is where the cost savings come in--but if no package includes enough things that your family eats to make a good deal, just don’t buy one that month (and spend your benefits elsewhere instead).  

Similarly, the people running the program would be motivated to keep quality high, because the packages are crap, people won’t buy them. (Run it like a business, ‘kay?)  

A voluntary program also allows for gradual roll-out, which would both ease the logistics--start in just a few cities, maybe--and lessen the impact on conventional retailers, who might find ways to compete with the program or offer value in areas that the program doesn’t.  (Competition!  Republicans love competition.)  

[restwellandsmile]

Just submitted my application form for the CSA harvest box for Klippers Organics. I guess I'm supposed to wait for an email response or something... I hope they still have summer boxes available, this was pretty last minute :S.

[restwellandsmile]

I was looking up which vendors are organic at my local farmers market, and was pleased for find that the majority are! Then I noticed that a lot of the farmers offered CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes, and that was something I've been interested in trying. These are the two that I'm deciding to pick: Crisp Organics (the top chart) and Klippers Organics (the one below).

They both offer a 20 week CSA/harvest box, from June to October, and are relatively the same price at about $25/week or $500 for the 20 weeks. (Crisp Organics is actually $525, but when paid in full up front, they discount it to $498.75, so same thing.)

I think I'm leaning more towards Klippers because of their fruit varieties...

[kristian-blog1]

More Williams-Sonoma News

Introducing the Reclaimed Redwood Window Box offered exclusively by Williams-Sonoma.

You can buy the product here online. Or if you can find a January Williams-Sonoma catalog you can find us on page 99.

This box is the culmination of months of labor, design work and finally build out by the team at the Urban Garden Workshop/Laughing Chickens in Mill Valley.

Cael initially came up with Harvest Boxes as a means for consumers to grow their own gardens in small-contained spaces. We had had this program running with varying degrees of success. I decided through some research and development that we could build on our knowledge of reclaimed redwood and begin making additional products that were tailored to garden enthusiasts.

During late summer, I prototyped a number of square boxes in the 4", 5", 6" ranges. We next took this idea and started to build out boxes that were more longitudinal in nature. Expanding to 7" x 14" and 7" x 22" boxes. As a nice finish we incorporated a semi-circular rounded/sanded edge to the boxes. We found hardware that would give the boxes some bling' with self-tapping screws. 

Finally we finish the boxes with light sanding and apply a linseed oil mixture - to give the box depth and magnificence.