I Must Confess

I must confess after my husband came home from Iraq and after his last check we had to begin living off our savings, the savings I had saved just in case of lack of unemployment. Law or no law many employers out there find ways to not hire military. It doesn't help that the economy is the way it is either.

I must have not calculated the amount of money needed for several months correctly because we were going through our savings a lot quicker than I had planned. I wasn't sure we would make it much farther. About  two weeks before we knew he would be interviewed and hired I decided best we try WIC to help us live off our saving (pay bills and such) a little longer until he found something. I tried to keep my Wic appointment from him, knowning how much, he hates government assistance of any sort, but the day before my appointment WIC called to remind me of the appointment. He picked up the phone and handed it to me. He wasn't angry, but he was disappointed and the look on his face showed me that he thought I lost faith in him. That wasn't true at all, but I couldn't change his mind.

Still I went through with it the next day and I wasn't suprised at all when we qualified. We were well within need of assistance, afterall our only form of income was, the last bit of our savings and the $50-70 a week I recieve from work working twice a week outside the house. I couldn't pick up any more hours either.

It was sad to see so many people at the WIC office...moms with one kid, moms with more than one kid, moms that have been on the system for a long time for whatever reason. During the appointment WIC also offered me some paper work for food stamps and other assistance, but I knew this was only temporary and I knew we wouldn't stay on WIC very long. It was just enough to help us get back on our feet. Like when we were on it many years ago after coming back from Alabama. My husband had ended his year of duty. We searched and searched for work...

Being on WIC obviously means no more organic milk. The one thing left I had going for us and I had to let it go, but at nearly $5 a gallon it just proved too much.  This also meant no more organic much of anything else or any earth-friendly pesticide free food for a while (other than the CSA I had paid for in advance at the beging of the year and organic foods I already had stocked in my pantry). 

What does it all mean now? My husband is working again. He hates the job. It isn't what he wants to do, but he's doing it to put food on the table and until they open up positions in the career he wants to be in. Everyone there is still on a hiring freeze. We have one month left on WIC. It has helped the food cost come down a lot. They offer milk, cheese, beans, peanuts butter and eggs, juice and carrots and cereal for the kids and for the baby. Despite the fact that we still qualify, my husband asked me not to get anymore. I wont. I will just need to pinch pennies a bit longer again and look for other sources of income from home besides the ones I've been trying for the past year so that I can not only help feed my family, but feed my family with foods I truely believe are beneficial to our health.

I do believe organic is the true way to go and if I could afford it all our food would be completely local and organic.   If we could grow it all at home we would, but now my husbands working hours don't even allow him time to work in the garden. Between the kids, studying for my exam, the house and my work from home I haven't had much chance at the garden either. Our cucumber and okra  plants are all that is left in our vegetable garden.We are also still on watering restrictions, though it has rained at least twice since my last post.

Oh well...maybe next season. In the mean time I have a few weeks left of the CSA. If we want next seasons our bill is due the first of August. I'm still debating what to do. Pictures (not in order) of some of the past pick-up are to the left.