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Change the World Thought of the Day:

Maybe instead of giving out so many food stamps, the people that qualify could be hooked up with a garden or a fruit tree!

Pros:
• Less tax dollars spent overall
• Healthier food options
• Open 24 hours a day
• No worry over whether food stamps are accepted
• Don’t need a lot of space (a lot of plants can be grown in pots)
• A small farmer’s market could be set up for the participants to exchange what they’ve harvested
• If the right, willing participants are selected, this really could work
• Growing your own food is active, rewarding, and healthy for the tummy!

What brought this on: I have spent several hours today chopping up fruits and vegetables. That is not a complaint by the way! My dad has had a garden for several years now, and he always hooks me up with the latest and greatest crop. This trip, I probably came home with 30 lbs of produce. We brought home cantaloupes, okra, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and an eggplant. My mom and dad also made some pickles and sent me home with a humongous jar.

Justin’s grandparents are also gardeners, so they keep us stocked up, too. This year we have gotten blackberries, green beans, potatoes, purple hull peas, and a few other varieties of peas from them. We are quite fortunate and very grateful. I’m looking forward to looking up healthy recipes for all these veggies, seeing as most recipes I know include frying everything. Plus, I have to cook them in different ways, so as not to tire of the same flavor.

One day, when I have a home and land to call my own, I plan to tend my own garden. I might even have some fruit trees. There is no better produce than the fresh, pesticide-free, grown-myself kind! Not to mention that fruits and veggies are a vital part to my new healthy lifestyle. Due to the fact that I am so excited about vegetables, I am confident that I am now an old lady. So, in the spirit of aging, I’m gonna go make pickles, pickled okra, and jelly!

Stay tuned for veggie tales produced by the fruits of my labor…