Everyday inflation!!

[EricG]

Is it just here in Alaska or does it seem like prices are going up everywhere?
Of course gas has gone up to over $2 a gallon. Hamburg has gone from $2 to $3 a lb. Other beef is even more. Layer feed has gone up $1 a 50 lb bag. Plywood has gone sky high since last summer. Milk is over $4 a gallon and butter over $2 a lb. Haven't looked at fence posts or 2x4's lately, I'm not sure I dare. These are price increases of 10 to 50%, not just a few pennies. On stuff people have to use everyday, not fancy SUV's or other luxury items Kind of makes me wonder what's coming. What have you noticed going up?

Eric

[Homesteader]

Oh yes I've noticed. At the moment it's actually cheaper for us to buy day old Cornish Rock cross, and butcher at 6 weeks than to buy it store bought. Of course, I'm just waiting til feed prices go up too.

[mysticokra]

Inflation is the way the government creates new money when they don't have the courage to raise taxes. You are only beginning to pay for Dubya's war.

[whodunit]

Originally Posted by Homesteader

Oh yes I've noticed. At the moment it's actually cheaper for us to buy day old Cornish Rock cross, and butcher at 6 weeks than to buy it store bought. Of course, I'm just waiting til feed prices go up too.

We are just getting into raising chickens for meat and eggs. Is the general consensus that it is or is not cheaper than just buying meat and eggs at the store?

[mysticokra]

I currently pay my local farmer $2.00/ dozen for her free-range, not kept in a concentration camp, rich-orange yolk eggs. I could buy the flavorless, less nutritious junk at Walmart for $.89/ dozen.

I think raising your own chickens is a great first step towards re-gaining control and a working knowledge of all of your food.

What's the deductible on your health insurance?

If better nutrition saves me just one doctor visit per year, I come out ahead.

[Mrs_stuart]

I agree, the fresh chicken, eggs , and we do pork and raw goats milk is so much better for you. The less "commercially processed" food we eat, the better off we are. My family has gone 2 years with out getting sick. We have gone over 2 1/2 years without seeing a doctor (and the last time we went to a dr. i took the kids to have a physical because it had been so long since they had seen a dr.) We also try to stay away from medicine. I make most of what we need in the way of super tonic and salves for cuts and scrapes. I am currently making a echinasia (sp) tinture, calendula tinture, thyme tinture, for this fall/winter. I figure, i better do it now before the prices go up on the alchol that i need to make them.

We sell our extra raw goats milk for $1.25 a quart and eggs for $1.50 a doz. and that helps pay for the extra feed expense.

Belinda

[OUVickie]

Originally Posted by EricG

Is it just here in Alaska or does it seem like prices are going up everywhere?Eric

Believe me it's happening everywhere, but I bet some will pay more than others for specific things because of location. My SIL lives in Hawaii and prices were already high over there because they have to ship things in - I haven't asked her lateley but I bet it's getting worse.
I believe transport of goods has and will keep skyrocketing because of fuel prices. No matter where I go - feed store, grocery store, etc. I'm amazed at how much things have gone up in such a short period of time. Paying $3-5 for one item seems to be the norm now!

[Sarah J]

Feed prices here have been seeing an all-time low, while everythign else around here has gone sky-rocketing! I can raise 25 CornishX chicks to 8 weeks and butchering weight on $100 or less...that brings it to about $1.25 a pound, plus packaging. Definitely cheaper when you consider that a SALE on chicken breasts alone is $1.99 a pound... You get two for each of your own birds! :haha:

Milk is up over $3, gas prices just hit $2 here, butter has been at $2.49 a pound for the last couple of months. Fence posts here: good steel t-posts, 6' cost me $2.69 on sale last week at Lowe's, but Menards were up over $3.25. 47' field fencing (woven wire) was $97 for a 330' roll. Haven't bought plywood recently but it was about $40 per sheet for the 1/2 inch stuff last fall, I shudder to think of it now. :waa:

It's definitely past time for homesteaders to be thankful for our own ingenuity and self-reliance!

Sarah
(started milking my goats just this spring! YAY!)

[Shrek]

Hasnt bothered me. I just jacked my retail prices to cover my expense increases and put a little extra in my pocket. Customers grumble, but they still pay. when prices drop, so will the price of worms.

[ajoys]

Originally Posted by Shrek

Hasnt bothered me. I just jacked my retail prices to cover my expense increases and put a little extra in my pocket. Customers grumble, but they still pay. when prices drop, so will the price of worms.

There is no doubt that consumers pay for it all. I haven't heard anything about demand going down at all, so prices will still continue to go up. Hopefully when all the baby boomers retire there will be a labor shortage and wages will rise so that we can all do this again in another 10-15 years.