Penny Experiment - I need your help

[disneysteve]

That sounds great, Jeffrey. I think it is very clear. I love the art project concept. Let us know when the items are listed.

[PrincessPerky]

I sent the art link to a friend, she wants to know if child art work is ok or just adult (her mother is an artist-would be a neat cross generational project)

[jeffrey]

@PrincessPerky Apologies - missed your question. It was all adult artwork, but I think it would be a great cross generational project for the Found Money art if she is still interested: Call For Artists - Penny Experiment

[jeffrey]

Anyone an expert (or at least a fairly committed hobbyist) gardener? I've been getting couponers to help with this project and I want to know that if I gave gardeners a specific amount of money (say $25) how much food they would be able to grow to give to food banks.Would this also be a line that would be worth pursuing?

[cashqueen]

I'm going to forward this link to my sister who is just finishing up art school. Also, my sil is an an artist, maybe she'll be inspired.

[jeffrey]

@cashqueen Much appreciated. Of the artists that have sent in their work thus far, it,s been amazing at the number that have commented that the art has been good for themselves - either as motivation to get back into art or therapeutic in some way. This has been wonderful since I really do want it to be a win-win situation for all those involved,

[segmond]

A penny is worthless.

picking up a penny is not.

if it takes you 5 seconds to pick up a penny, then you can pick up 720 pennies an hour. $7.20/hr. most people pick up pennies for a living.

[marvholly]

Jeffry
I know our local food banks will NOT accept home grown food donations - only boxed, canned packaged items.

Maybe your gardners can take that $25 "seed" money, use it and buy items the food pantry will accept from the savings in their own grocery budget. Also, if they give surplus to neighbors & family they could ask for donations of cash or food for the food pantry.

[jeffrey]

Originally Posted by marvholly

Jeffry
I know our local food banks will NOT accept home grown food donations - only boxed, canned packaged items.

Maybe your gardners can take that $25 "seed" money, use it and buy items the food pantry will accept from the savings in their own grocery budget. Also, if they give surplus to neighbors & family they could ask for donations of cash or food for the food pantry.

Interesting...inthis area, there is a huge push to get backyard gardeners to give their excess to the local food banks and why I had this idea. Is that uncommon in most places?

[jeffrey]

Some coupons that I'm in need of if you aren't going to use them yourself: Coupon Help Needed! - Penny Experiment

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Gardener here. I would use seed money to grow butternut squash (a pumpkin-like winter squash). One hill of vines can yield about 21 pounds of squash. It takes six seeds for me to plant one hill. By planting seed from a fresh store bought squash, I can get 60 seeds (scooped out before cooking the squash) to plant. The squash will cost me about $1 per pound and the squash might weigh 3 pounds, so the 60 seeds within will have cost me $3. Those sixty seeds will make ten hills of squash plants. Ten hills X 21 pound of yield= 210 pounds of food produced from a $3 investment. So one cent yields 0.7 pounds of fresh food that is high in vitamin A and fiber, stores well for months, makes a smooth babyfood accepted universally by infants, can make fabulous pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, makes exquisite soups, can make chow-chow type condiments, can be made into spicy pickles, can be used inside ravioli, potstickers, and all sorts of ethnic dumplings, can be roasted, baked, boiled, grilled, or microwaved, and further provides seed for the next year's crops.

$25 dollars worth of butternut squash seed? I would not have enough land available to grow it all! (City gardener here.) But yeah, I figure that could return 1750 pounds of squash. If squash sells for $1 per pound, that increases the money by 70 times in one growing season. Where else does one dollar turn into $70 in four months?

That's just one example. What else might one plant?

[marvholly]

Jeffry
I live in metro Chicago and our food pantries "prefer" cash so they can buy. Supposedly the get a HUGE discount (about $0.07/lb of food). However, this is not possible for me. I generally donate theings I get for free using sales, coupons Extra Bucks (CVS) and register rewards (Walgreens).

On the not taking home grown/made food items: It is a "liability" issue.