Buying Garden Seeds with Food Stamps?
The other day I heard that you can buy vegetable seed with food stamps. After checking around and looking on the internet it turns out that indeed you can purchase “seeds and plants which produce food for human consumption” with Food Stamps. This came about under the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-86, August 10, 1973).
There are many blogs and articles about this on the internet. There are two things they do recommend about doing this. The first is to check with your state office that is in charge of the Food Stamp Program, or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) program as it is called in most states today, to make sure your particular state has not placed any restrictions on the purchase of seeds and plants. The second thing is to check with the retailer you will be purchasing your seeds and plants from that, 1 - they are aware you can purchase seeds and plants and 2 - they have the means to accept your EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) card.
The logic behind this is that people can increase the purchasing power of their food stamps by growing their own vegetables. Think about it. A $2.50 tomato plant will give you tomatoes all summer long and at the end of the season you can have fried green tomatoes (be sure to buy “Indeterminate” tomatoes and not “Determinate” tomatoes). If you were to buy a $1.25 packet of tomato seeds, you would have enough tomatoes to give to your neighbors.
Now if you do not have a place to have a garden you can grow most vegetables in pots or containers and grow them on your porch or patio. You can also ask if there is a “Community Garden” in your community where you can have a small plot of land to actually plant a garden. In the case of my community, the local Methodist Church has provided an area for a community garden. There is no fee and tools and water are provided.
So now you can have fresh, flavorful and inexpensive vegetables to serve yourself and your family.
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