Plant that Garden Bigger - Inflation "Spiraling Out of Control

[Wolf mom]

Just a heads up confirming what we already believe:

Food prices rose by 2.4%, the 6th consecutive monthly increase & the largest jump in over 26 years.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-91848684.html

So what are you all doing to prepare?

[Oggie]

I'm going to diet.

[wy_white_wolf]

Originally Posted by Oggie

I'm going to diet.

if you lose anything it reads:

"I'm going to die."

[MariaAZ]

Oggie, LOL!!! Actually that's kinda/sorta what we're doing. I'm trying to cook lighter on the meats and heavier on the veggies; like soups and stews.

Our problem with gardening is the limit in space. I am not prepared at this time to do extensive gardening ala the Dervaes; besides, a lot of our yard (front and back) are under trees, which help keep the electric down by shading the house. Still, several are fruit trees so I guess that counts

This year, after three consecutive failures, I decided to stick with only a few crops for our expanded garden (went from 10x10 to a blazingly huge 20x10!) that we tend to eat a lot of; tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. Also okra, more because it grows well than the fact we eat a lot of it. It's the only thing I've been successful with the past three years so we're going to learn to LOVE okra. Because we planted a whole lot....

[bluefish]

Probably lighter meals here, too. At least for a while. We just moved and have plenty of acreage, but it's all 'virgin soil' so it needs a bit of work. I've already got me a nice compost pile going (it's hot! woohoo!) but I don't think I'm going to have a terrific garden this year. Especially with the stuff like lettuce and all that likes nice, worked soil for the seeds to germinate, at least in my experience. The potatoes and onions might do well (sandy soil) and a few other things. We'll see. At the rate all my animals poop though, next year should be better!

[Oggie]

Due to some ancient construction debris spread just under the surface in the best place to put the garden, I'm expanding it slowly.

The beds have to be dig and sifted as best I can. Then raised beds go on top of that. I only add one new 6 x 16-foot bed a year, and that's usually in the fall.

[MN Gardener]

I think I will double my garden and sell what I don't need.....sounds like undersupply is the problem.

[Patt]

Thanks for the article!

We are doubling our garden over the next year or so. We already have plenty for us and then plenty to sell and Farmer's Markets are booming!

[ronbre]

i'm planting way more food than i could possibly consume or put up for the winter..the plan was to plant a row for the hungry..big time.

i know i'll have extra food..but my son and 3 renters at his house live next door and we have a preggie mom going to be staying on the other side of us after her child is born for a few months until she has to go back to work, with her 2 kids..and part time her hubby (this is their second home)..so i figure i can share share share..

i'm also planting nut trees, fruit trees, berries, grapes, perennial and annual plants and herbs..etc..for our future..

unfortunately i wasn't able to get a lot of heirloom or OP seeds this year..but the plan is to do that next year if i wasn't able to this year..i have a few so i will be letting them go to seed to some respect to be able to save their seeds for future .

[Kringees Mom]

We've got a huge garden, I'm gonna can like crazy. I saw Charles Payne on Fox Business today, he is predicting a sharp increase in meat prices in the next few weeks. I'm gonna stock my freezer with meat. We are gonna try our hand at raising some chickens for the table as well...

I'm so glad to have found this forum where I am learning so much!!

[MARYDVM]

Well, if you have a website dedicated to scaring people about hyperinflation, you can publish facts that reflect what you want to believe. They are quoting parts of the Producer Price Index report - which is not about what you paid in the grocery store.

Here's the March Consumer Price Index from the BLS showing a .2% increase in total food costs to the consumer for the month of March.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

The PPI (Producer Price Index) changes do not reliably translate into an equal effect on the CPI (Consumer Price Index).

If you want all the facts, here's the entire PPI report

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ppi.nr0.htm

And here's some light reading on the differences between PPI and CPI.

http://www.bls.gov/ppi/ppifaq.htm#1

[manygoatsnmore]

I expanded my garden area already this year, and am in the process of spreading lots of deep bedding pack on the new area before having it all tilled in. Looking to plant a lot more corn, squash/pumpkins, green beans, and carrots, as well as our usual big potato patch, etc. Already expanded the strawberry and raspberry patches, and planted 11 new fruit trees, 4 new blueberries, and 2 more grape vines this spring. Of course, those new trees and plants won't be producing for a few years, but at least they are in. I doubt fruit and veg prices are headed back down any time soon, so I consider this an investment in our future.

Looks like I should go ahead and pick up some of the buy one, get one free straight run chicks at the feed store, and feed them out in a chicken tractor to the point where I can butcher extra roos. Might be less expensive than buying meat. We have a wethered butcher kid growing right now, too. He will be ready to put in the freezer before much longer and has cost us next to nothing, as we would have been feeding his mother anyway, for the milk. We have a couple milk goats and another due to kid any time, so maybe we'll buy a day old calf to raise on the extra goat milk.

I'm investing in food right now. Any time I see a good sale on something we eat and that will store well, I'm buying multiple case lots. If prices are going up that fast, and I know they are - I do the shopping, that's a pretty high rate of return on my investment.

[manygoatsnmore]

MaryDVM, I'm not looking at government or any other websites for my info. I keep a price book and do my own grocery shopping. I know how much fresh fruit and veg prices have gone up. Cauliflower that sold for .99 a head is now 2.99 - that's triple. Apples were .49/lb last year, then .69, now up to .99 and up for the same varieties. That's double. Onions used to be cheap - 3-5#/$1 - now they are over $1/#. That's up by triple or more. Other foods are up, too, or the package size is smaller, or both. I am a careful shopper, and very frugal, but my groceries are costing quite a lot more than they were a year ago. That's real inflation, not a statistic. And that's why I'm planting a bigger garden, fruit trees, and shopping hard/stocking up when I find a sale.

[7thswan]

There isn't much else I can do. Last night I asked dh is the folks that we get milk from, have chickens or a garden. He said no, so now I gotta think about barter.Grocerys have really gone up here also. The guys at dh's work have always asked him "what does you wife do at home"- well now, they are asking him how we do it on just his salary.Someday they will "get it". My fruit trees are produceing real well, so I'll probably taking fruit to the sale.The potato patch is going to be much biger- the area usally goes to vineing plants. Now those vines are going into a section of the cow pasture that is pure compost, fenced off with elec. wire. Last year I fed the cows the left overs from the root cellar, you should have seen them Grow. until the cows found the fruit. We have always had enough potatoes, but we'll have to eat more of them. Dh is going to have to learn to Not buy things that are in the pantry. Dh is going to Learn whats in the pantry. Dh is going to quit being so spoiled with store-bought junk.

[miboje]

Just three years ago, I saw the need to grow more of our own food. We now have 14 fruit and nut trees. The nuts are hazelnuts and almonds. For fruit, we have cherry, nectarine, plum, peach, pear, and apple trees. Plus a volunteer mulberry. We also planted 7 blueberry bushes, 10 strawberry plants (which produced another 38 plants!), grapes, and yellow, black, and red raspberries.I want to learn how to propagate so we don't have to buy more!

Last year, I had 4 gardens plus a greenhouse full of paste tomatoes, which we eventually lost to blight. Everything produced well, and I did a lot of canning. My fiance is a hunter, so we have a freezer full of venison each year.

Our apple does not produce well yet, but we did find an old homestead with a Smokehouse apple on it, and I was able to make butter and sauce with those wonderful free and organic apples. We picked a lot of wild raspberries, but they were eaten almost as fast as they were picked! I want to get more into identifying and harvesting wild edibles.

[SFM in KY]

Unfortunately, because of the climate, I'm limited to a few things I can grow in "hills" ... probably half a dozen tomato plants and half a dozen squash. Once it gets summer here, I have to be prepared to be finished with my outside work by 10 AM ... after that the combination of heat/humidity keeps me inside in the A/C ... so the chores with the rabbits and horses are all I can manage.

I've expanded the rabbit production so I'll have additional rabbits in hopes that I can trade for more fresh garden produce locally, will just have to see how it works out.

[geo in mi]

Could this be some of the reason? http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/0...-hit-from.html

Now, just go down in the basement and bring up a jar of your home-canned tomatoes. We'll eat well tonight and since we're prepared, we won't have to have an OMG reaction whenever some blog machine tells us that the sky is falling and that you should vote for him, buy his books, or watch his TV show so that he can save us from getting our hair mussed up.

geo

[Jennifer L.]

Originally Posted by manygoatsnmore

[ I know how much fresh fruit and veg prices have gone up. Cauliflower that sold for .99 a head is now 2.99 - that's triple. Apples were .49/lb last year, then .69, now up to .99 and up for the same varieties. That's double. Onions used to be cheap - 3-5#/$1 - now they are over $1/#.

In NYS, I haven't seen prices you're quoting for YEARS, and I mean that literally. I think maybe your area is just catching up with some other places in the country.

Jennifer

[Terri]

Originally Posted by MN Gardener

I think I will double my garden and sell what I don't need.....sounds like undersupply is the problem.

I doubled mine also, but I did it because I do not expect the kids to be able to find summer jobs. If they do, great, but if they do not they can sell veggies!

Store veggies have doubled over the past 2 years or so: hopefully they can make some MOOLAH!

[Lyra]

Inflation is hitting more than just food items. The cost of EVERYTHING is skyrocketing. I have spent almost $2000 on vet bills for my dog since December.

My plan is to downsize and relocate in the next couple of years to fight the rising cost of living. As far as gardening, I am trying to find ways to extend the season since I live up North. One of my dream list items is to have a greenhouse or converted sunroom attached to the house.