In Trump Country, a season of need on family farms

Washington Post logoBERKSHIRE, N.Y. — The grocery list took Anne Lee hours to make, an exercise in her increasingly desperate effort to feed her family of seven.

“Chicken noodle soup?” she wondered as she sat at her kitchen table with a pen and notepad. “No, I’ll make chicken and biscuits. That’s more filling.”

These days, Anne has only about $175 each month to spend on food, beyond the eggs, milk and meat that her family’s dairy operation supplies. So this has become her monthly ritual, going through several drafts to create an affordable meal plan that keeps her husband and five kids from going hungry. Continue reading