SNAP!

Mmm mmm good. Here's the story of how these goodies made it from the Oxford Uptown Farmers' Market to our kitchen.



Taylor and I arrived in Oxford around 11:00 Saturday morning. It was an unusually busy day, with the local hospital and emergency response teams stationing a "family health fair" in conjunction with the weekly farmers' market. We paused to watch a martial arts demonstration before maneuvering through crowds of kids in balloon hats towards the fresh produce stands.

On our first lap around the market, we just wanted to check out the goods. Tomatoes, peppers, beans, peaches, squash--all freshly picked and humbly displayed in little baskets on tables under white, blue, and red canopies. Towards the end of the aisle, there were booths of locally made cookies, crafts, and jewelry as well, which we also stopped to admire. On our second lap, we started looking for a person or machine who would convert our food stamps into farmers' market money, but by the time we reached the handmade earrings, we still hadn't figured it out.
For some reason, most likely embarrassment, I was reluctant to approach the smiling people in their booths to ask how to purchase their delectable vegetables with our government money. For a brief moment, I even considered posing as some kind of reporter/researcher who just wanted to know about the process, nothing more. But we had come to buy local produce, and I didn't want to leave empty-handed.

Fortunately, Taylor picked up on my nervousness, and on our third lap around marched assertively up to a man in a bright yellow Oxford Farmers' Market t-shirt with the word "manager" on the back. His "Oxford Farmers' Market" visor and name tag further indicated that he was Larry Slocum, and was probably the right person to talk to. As Taylor shook his hand and introduced himself, Larry eagerly asked "oh yes, are you the musicians?" An image of us playing the spoons to earn our produce briefly flashed through my mind. That wouldn't have been pretty. Taylor quickly diffused what could have been a very humorous situation, and asked him about the article we had seen in the paper, and if it was true that we could use food stamps at the farmers' market. Larry nodded knowingly, and enthusiastically led us to his van, parked behind the row of canopies. Along the way, we talked about how great it is to be able to access real, healthy, local food--and I was impressed when he referenced Michael Pollan's work.

There in the driver's seat of his van, he kept the EBT card reader, which he plugged in by running a long white extension cord from the machine to an outlet on a nearby street lamp. When he returned, he told us that they had been accepting EBT cards since May but that not many people had used them yet. Then he swiped our card, I entered our PIN, and he deducted our requested amount: $10.

As he processed the transaction, I told him about serving as an AmeriCorps*VISTA and living at poverty level wages. Again, I felt the need to explain ourselves, why exactly these two kids were here at the front seat of the van swiping our food stamps card. I told him about my blog, how I write about living in poverty, and that I was really excited to post about the Oxford Farmers' Market now accepting food stamps. My story didn't really seem to matter to Larry--he didn't judge us--but he did ask me some questions about the possibility of accepting other benefits, such as WIC, along with food stamps. I bumbled through some kind of explanation about something I had read online once, but ultimately ended up admitting I didn't know the answer. However, I promised him I would find out and get back to him. He gave me his card for future contact, then suggested that we all do a cheer for food stamps. Taylor and Larry racked their brains for the perfect cheer, but I already had it--I explained that nationally, food stamps are now known as "SNAP" (supplemental nutrition assistance program) so, naturally, we should all do a big diva snap while yelling "Snap!" Larry counted to three and we did the food stamp cheer together. Twice. It was awesome.

We left the van door with big smiles and 10 'greenback' vouchers to serve as currency for farmers' market shopping. Below is a picture of one of the greenbacks:


The vouchers have a raised seal to prevent illegal copying, I imagine, and only food vendors at the market can accept the vouchers (no homemade purses or wooden benches for us). Our vouchers were perfectly legit, but because only one person has ever used food stamps at the market, I wasn't sure how the vendors would respond to the unfamiliar little white slips--would they act like the hot-shot cashiers at Kroger? Once again, I felt my cheeks color with nervousness.

Standing in the middle of the aisle, we decided to first try out our greenbacks on a small basket of tomatoes. We picked our basket, handed over the slips, and got our tomatoes, simple as that! All of the vendors with whom we interacted were kind and respectful, just as they were with every other paying customer. We bought a basket of tomatoes, a basket of "Butler County's best peaches," a giant zucchini, and two eggplants for $8.50 (and no funny looks!)

In the coming weeks, I would really like to learn more about the process of becoming a food stamp friendly farmers' market. It would be great to help markets in Hamilton and Fairfield get in on the fun. Of course, I'll be looking up the rules for accepting WIC, among other benefits, to pass along to Larry. Unfortunately, we probably won't make it back to Oxford until September, but that should give me plenty of time to come up with a new food stamp cheer.


To find a food stamp-friendly farmers' market near you, check out this PDF from Ohio Department of Job and Family Services:

http://jfs.ohio.gov/ofam/pdf/Farmers'MarketCompleteParticipants.pdf