# Shortages



## Baymule

As many here are aware, things that we have been used to for most of our lives, are getting hard to get. Some things are just not obtainable at any price. My sister in law has a 3 year old Ford F350 dually that got hit by lightening almost TWO YEARS ago. ALL the electronics are fried. It has been sitting at the repair shop waiting on parts. My DD has a car in the shop, it needs a particular part, that is not available. The dealership thoughtfully made her a lowball offer, to take it off her hands. It does not run. She is considering the offer. 

Our illustrious person in the White House has even publicly stated that there will be food shortages. In the Land of Plenty? Food shortages? For most of us here, it won't be that much of a problem. Most of us garden, freeze, can and dehydrate the garden proceeds. Most of us keep some form of livestock......but WAIT A MINUTE! 

DROUGHT! FIRES! These are hurting the hay and grains we need to feed our animals. Self sufficient! Yeah, until we can't afford the hay or feed for them. Or until there just isn't any. What then? How self sufficient are we? Keep the porch light on and catch June bugs for the chickens! A June bug in every egg!

At the height of Covid lockdowns, there were no canning supplies. Lids just weren't there. Anytime they hit the shelf at Walmart, they were gone quickly. I know, I went straight to those shelves every time I went in the store. If I found any, I bought them. I marked the boxes with the year so I can use the oldest first. I normally kept a year's supply, so I had enough for that year, now I am 2 years ahead. 

Prices are rising daily. Our money is buying less. Inflation. It's a great time to be a seller in the real estate market, lousy time to buy land or a home. Property taxes are being reassessed and are rising to reflect the rise in prices. Everybody I know has gotten new property tax statements and guess what? None of them are going down! I know! SHOCKER! 

My take on this for what it's worth is that we are headed into a recession, it has been announced all over TV and articles. Maybe even a depression. Are you ready for this? Is your pantry well stocked? Can you feed your family for a year or two? Do you raise a garden? if not, maybe you ought to get started, like now. 

Don't even get me started on gas and diesel prices. I'm angry. I only have a 2004 F250 Diesel truck. I'm spending a small car note every month on fuel AND trying not to go anywhere, but I am obviously failing at that. Diesel yesterday was $4.85 per gallon, what price today? I've looked at fuel efficient cars, there aren't any on the lots, dealerships have "arrivals coming soon" posted on their websites. I haven't looked lately, it may be better now. 

How is all this affecting you? What do you see coming in your future and what are you doing about it?


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## Poka_Doodle

Honestly so many great things to think about. 
The job market currently is only going to hold up so long, there is such a massive surplus of jobs, we can only wonder how long this will last.
I have to feel comfortable with where things are for our family. We have the boys hunting that always overstocks our freezer, there are the meat chickens we raise ourselves, I know its usually more expensive then the grocery store, but I can't help but expect the chicken market to be changing quickly, and as long as our hatchery can make it another month, we will be fine. Then there are the auction animals we have been buying and have some extra from each year. Can't help but think we will have our freezers as full as they can get.
The garden is going like normal and there are always some left over seeds, so we should be good. Just gotta hope what we normally do is enough.
The vehicle market like you mentioned is crazy, and we have experienced that first hand. Honestly it is hard to say where we are with preparedness, but when you only buy sandwich meat from the grocery store, I have to hope we are ok.


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## Mini Horses

For me I know I can personally be ok.  Not rich but do have a retirement income and still able to work.  While I had hoped to quit 2 yrs ago. C19 and the resulting fallout since, I'm not yet a stay at home old lady.  With economy in a tailspin I've chosen to keep at it a while longer.  Working keeps me in the active world.  

If I lost my job tomorrow, I'd feel jolted but not crazy😂.  I am able to increase farm income some and there'd be a big saving in gas!   No useless buys, etc, and bills could still be paid.  A tighter budget.  Many of the "shortages" aren't a problem as I have most of my food farm raised.  I'm supplied with enough staples to do fine.  Many of the things going up in price I don't buy any or much of, could do without, or I'm supplied.

The costs and availability of animal feeds is my main concern really.  Otherwise I've got all I need for myself...and the animals do provide for me, too.  I could always cut back the herd.  Right now, I'm cautiously optimistic that I can provide.  But, it is something I watch carefully and plan for, searching any decent alternatives to help with the increased winter feed/hay challenges that are always there.

I'm aware.  I'm concerned.  I'm not stressed.   Not yet   . Well, the garden is annoying this week.🤣. Honestly, just knowing HOW to provide and manage is key.


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## Mini Horses

Adding this ...the issues with major problems.  Things such as vehicle or appliance repairs or replacement that present heavy burdens for most.  Talk about sticker shock!  😲

I have a deep well and if that pump dies I'd sure be as concerned as having my vehicle go down!!  Maybe more so.     I just hate the thought of any "big" buy -- always a chunk from savings or a large monthly payment I don't want.

That outweighs how many rolls of TP I have.  . No spring chicken here.


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## farmerjan

I don't even know where to start in this thread.  Anyone that has read any of my journal, knows where the hay situation is going.  The costs of making hay this year and with the crazy weather so far, we are looking at lower yields already for first cutting. 
We are out of hay... DS is negotiating to buy about 250 rolls to get us through and to give us a little cushion.  We have fed more that ever, granted we have kept more animals that we normally do and longer than we planned on some of these;  plus this crazy weather has had the cattle eating more and more than we normally feed this time of year.  

The Deutsche  bank of Germany is predicting a "severe recession" next year.... just heard that on the radio.  That is not good news.  Any adjustable rate loans will get crazy, credit card rates will go up... Thank the lord my mortgage is such a low rate....taxes will go up;  for towns and cities and counties will need to come up with more money....

I keep trying to pick up extra when I go to the store.  6-12 extra cans of food, extra tp... things like that while I can still swing a little more out of the budget.  Get stuff that will keep and put it back and rotate stock.
Yes, have a garden... If you can't for whatever reason... go to farmer's markets and buy in bulk and bring it home and can it or freeze it or dehydrate it.....Vacuum packing is your best bet for things to keep long term that are shelf stable.  Canning fruits is easy, pressure canning a little more involved and I will be honest that I am not good at it... my mom never did any pressure canning.  We froze vegs and meat... canned fruits and jellies and acidic things... I like to dehydrate a few things.  I am certainly not an expert at some forms of preserving.  

Be more strict about turning off lights when you go out of a room.  Turn the heat down in a room/area of the house, when you are not going to be there for several hours.  
Make your TRIPS COUNT.... make a LIST and if it takes most all day, do it when you are out.  When I was a kid, my parents had 1 car.  One day my dad would get picked up to go to work or mom would take him.... she coordinated with her mom when I was young... they took a cooler chest, they went grocery shopping, did all the errands and she took her mom home ( didn't have a car at home either) and then came home. We helped unload groceries if she was late coming home and we got off the bus.  
If it was not on the list, you waited for next week and it had better be on the list for her to get.  

I am lucky in some ways since with my job I can do errands when I am on the way to or from work.  I have to go past some major stores/ through towns to go to most farms.  I will leave early and try to go before work.  The other day I went to test at 4:30 a.m. Got out of the barn at 7:30... went to another farm and then did some errands on the way home.   Stayed here for several days except to go to the pastures to check cows. 

I hope to do better this year with being more prepared for shortages.  Knees are done and not perfect but getting better a little bit at a time.  I have no excuse to not becoming even more self sufficient.  Hope to get a few more layers to replace the ones the possum got.... have freezers full of meat to get me through.  We raise our own beef, and sell some to others wanting good home grown meat.  It is going to cost more this year as feed and hay costs for the animals go up.  

Like @Mini Horses , I have seriously considered retirement.  I would like to not have to go out to farms and it would really cut down the gas costs.  But in my case, there is no one to take my job, and farmers are slowly selling out... lost a big 240 cow herd last month that sold out.  Smart move for them.  Many farms are stretching out and testing every 45 days or 60 days instead of every month.  So fewer to do each month.  That extra income is nice and right now I think it smart to not just quit.  This is a job that is no longer full time due to less farms in business to test.... and farmers are "funny" ... they don't like change and most do not want to have to go through 2-4-8 new testers that only last 1-3 months and then quit.  It has happened time and again. The farm I go to that is 125 miles away has had 3 testers that didn't show up as promised over the years... I had done them 20 + years ago, as a relief tester when their regular tester was out for 6 months.  They called me before even calling the main office and begged me to come and do them, the last time a tester did not show up.... so they could sell some cows back then.  They are a registerd herd.  Then they called the office after the fact and told them that they were tired of the testers that didn't show up, left them hanging, and they wanted me from then on, period.  They can request a certain tester.  They have to pay extra for my mileage, but he said it is worth it to know that I will be there when I say I will and work with them.   So, in loyalty to my farmers, I feel like I should stay on.  I can still do the job and it does get me out and not getting stale by being secluded here day after day.

But that is off the subject.    I cannot stress enough for people to keep more up on the weather conditions and go on the US Drought Monitor... whether you have animals or just for the knowledge of the conditions for farmers on growing conditions... crops that can affect the feed/grain that you feed your animals, and the wheat and stuff that we use in our own kitchens. 
Add to that the fires in this country...over half a million acres have burned or are burning.  Cropland and grazing land.  Farmers selling down herd numbers to try to save what they have, or to be able to feed their animals.  

Now we are looking at all these fires at food processing plants.  Sure, accidents happen all the time, but this is getting to be very "coincidental"... most are smaller plants, not JBS or Cargill and the like... Plants that produce a good amount of food and products... but owned by independent companies.  @Baymule  needs to post the links.  Even one Walmart distribution center... but there were like 7 or 8 in less than 45 days ... 
Yes, even the "conspiracy network" FOX NEWS, has had it on their radar.

What  is it going to hurt to get a stockpile of stuff????  So nothing bad ever happens, you simply use the "surplus" you have put back and are a little better off.  It is not going to get any cheaper.  If we do go into a recession as is being predicted, you will be glad to have extra put back.


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## Baymule

I’m excited to buy a place with grass so my sheep can graze. I’ll have a lot of fence to put up and lots of work to do. But I’ll be able to let the sheep graze and get the feed bill greatly reduced. Of course, I’ll still have to buy hay, and just have to pay whatever price it’s going to be.


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## farmerjan

With the shortages that I see all the time in the stores;  half filled shelves and things out of stock for weeks at a time.... has anyone paid attention to the stock market?  Up 600 points one day, dropping 900 or more the next ?  Much as I hate it, we are subjected to the whims of the stock market... and it is a good indication of how things are going.  It is getting worse... PAY ATTENTION.


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## Baymule

I catch chicken leg quarters on sale and can for the dogs. I mix a little with their kibble and they lick the pans clean. I put a quart jar in a half gallon jar and fill with water. It makes more broth and I can stretch it out longer. Haven’t seen any on sale lately. 

So I’m buying canned dog food, and that is getting hard to find. I buy it when I find it, going to get a stock pile of it too.


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## Poka_Doodle

With this thread, I can't help but be a little afraid with my timing of truly entering the work force. I am not sure I really am worried about food security, and I am in an area that is less likely to be effected by things, but I still can't help but be a little nervous for what lies ahead.


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## Alaskan

Poka_Doodle said:


> With this thread, I can't help but be a little afraid with my timing of truly entering the work force. I am not sure I really am worried about food security, and I am in an area that is less likely to be effected by things, but I still can't help but be a little nervous for what lies ahead.


I dunno....

With my sons trying to get jobs...

At least here... lots of jobs to chose from.

Now, making enough money to cover rent, car AND food... totally different story.


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## farmerjan

The weather has gone crazy here again.  We had 80's and things were looking like "spring" was here.  Then we had 2 " snow, then warmer, then cold rain and HAIL.... and then warmed up some and now back to chilly, cold, raw temps and some possible scattered frosts... the thing is, this cold for 2-3 days, with cold rain and all, chills the ground temps and all the corn that is already planted here will not germinate in the cold temps... and if it gets too wet, it will rot instead of germinate... something to really think about.  Alot of the corn here either goes into silage or goes to the poultry growers assocs like Pilgrims and Cargill,  and feeds the broilers and turkeys and layers.... less corn means less poultry too....
There are more wildfires in the west;  New Mexico has had a bad one that was causing several towns to be evacuated... this does a number on wildlife habitat, and crop and grazing land.  
This cold and warm temp swings here is bad for the hay... I see grass already starting to make seed heads and it is not even knee high.... natures way of trying to perpetuate the crop by producing seed that will hopefully germinate in better climate conditions.... these cold snaps after record warm temps are not helping the crops.  Our first cutting hay looks like it will be short... less tonnage...


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## farmerjan

Gas went up here Sat... was 3.99 before I left for the poultry swap... my tank was full.  I filled up at 4.04 when I got back and..... it is now 4.11 and 4.19  at the different stations... Diesel up to 5.89 here... it will hit 6.00 before another week I think.


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## Baymule

I’m paying the equivalent of a new car note, just in diesel each month. What are people going to do? This cannot continue.


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## Mini Horses

Same here. $3.99 grudgingly paid on Fri before swap.  $4.15 on Sun after 

Diesel only in tractor....that's steady climbing.   It's bad.  

I can say with temps and rain the grass is exploding here!  Looking at 30-35 acres across street that's hayed -- it's gonna be a great first cut, IF WE CAN GET a span of dry for him to cut and dry.  That's not looking good.  Parts are trying to seed and a coastal front keeping it raining thru at least the weekend.   . I'm not complaining about my pastures though.    Hope summer doesn't bring heat extremes but, probably will! 🙄

So many weather issues going wrong!


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## farmerjan

@Mini Horses ... you ought to consider getting 2 steers and putting one in the freezer and selling the other. Buy at 6-700 lbs... sell one at 9-1000... maybe to a neighbor....for beef???? Eat the other one....  Prices are down  when you get over the 6-650 wts... and by the time they are 1,000 lbs,  prices stay stable....and you would get the weight gain on the grass alone.... Prices are not going to go down... we are going to sell a few more head of feeder size....4-5 wts.... to cut back on our numbers... and sell another 6 cows tomorrow... to try to get more in line with what I think the hay situation is going to be... we are now thinking we should have put in 20 acres of corn instead of the 14-15 that they are planting tomorrow...
Some of the slaughter houses are opening up with dates... many people over booked and now there are cancellations around.   Don't mow that grass.... make something eat it...
Not that I don't want to sell you beef... but I think about all the grass you say you have... figure 1 steer per 1 1/2 acres... rotate around ... 2 steers would gain good at that weight.  That's what I want to start doing... buying some at 6-7 wts and selling at 9-1,000.... have 4-6 months in them... on good grass they should gain 1 1/2 to 3 lbs a day... so figure 2 lbs... that's 60 lbs a month.  4 months ought to put on 200-250 lbs.....

There is talk about shortages of corn since many farmers are going to soybeans because the input costs are less... fertilizer and such... that is going to make less corn for feed rations... more costly... and they will turn to wheat and other grains to try to make up for it... so will push the prices of them up too....We are hoping for the wheat we have planted that we were going to make into hay then plant corn.....that instead we are going to harvest if the grain is decent.... for it to bring in the neighborhood of $9-12 a bushel... then go back and plant soybeans behind it for harvest as either hay or beans if the season is good.... We are putting the corn in a different field; across from me,  that we can't keep the deer off the winter cover crops... and if it does decent we will put it in corn again next year then go back to a hay field of orchard grass... because we cannot grow wheat with the deer demolishing it through the winter...most wheat gets planted in the fall for harvesting the following June/July.....we always used it as a cover crop but not in this field anymore. 

As soon as I can get the bottom slide fixed for my big 4 ton grain bin, I am going to get it filled with feed for the cows.... insurance hedge against the higher prices I see coming.  And I am going to see about getting the one at the barn filled too.  It is not going to get cheaper... Like all the tanks we filled with diesel earlier... at $2.47 and 3.19 for off-road..... it will get us through this hay season.... don't know how we will afford it next year.  If we have a recession, prices will fall on some things... maybe we will be able to hit it better then....


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## Baymule

I wish I had already been moved and my diesel tank set up! Oh well. Brilliant move to fill everything y’all had. 
@Mini Horses growing out a couple of steers is a good idea. I’m still eating beef from the steer I raised. Plus if you rotate them around your pastures, they can help break worm cycles in your goats.


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## Mini Horses

Farmer planted 12 acres of corn next to me.  Coming up well!  Glad to see that for him.   Not sure what they are planting on other side, 40 acres.  Will know soon 😊

@farmerjan cattle don't sell here like there....few actual herds.  Those seem to go to auctions up by Blackstone ?    You find some with a few Dexter's or Jersey  that they want big $$ as breeders.  I could come to your area, even counting time and gas, to buy for less.  Even dairy bottle kids, $150+.  There's a goat auction this Sat. Some buyers there can give me info for when/where on other auction.   To be realistic, the meat goat kids sell well and can end up bringing close to same money results, after feed, etc considered, in my area.   Hay....we both know how that is going.  Most of the rolled, I have to travel 50-100 miles, then transport.  That's a toll for not being able to get but 2 or 3 a trip.  I can store it under cover and probably will this yr.  DS just got a big, older car/equip trailer.  More per load but, my truck isnt that big...tractor can't handle those 1k ones.


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## Baymule

People may be willing to buy a half of a beef. You could probably pay for yours and have free beef to share with family.


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## Blue Sky

What an informative thread. I’ve put back goods  periodically for years and they’ve come in handy. When we get to the new place we will start on storage we couldn’t manage here. I think things will get better but not before an all-star clown show.


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## Alaskan

Blue Sky said:


> What an informative thread. I’ve put back goods  periodically for years and they’ve come in handy. When we get to the new place we will start on storage we couldn’t manage here. I think things will get better but not before an all-star clown show.


Most likely


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## farmerjan

I think that if meat goats and/or sheep sell good there you might try to get some and run for the grass season?  I wish I was closer.... I'd run a couple calves on your grass and trade off some beef..... But 4 hours is not worth the travel  for just a couple head with the cost of fuel... but, still something to think about for next year if you don't find the boer goats or something to eat the grass....


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## Baymule

Blue Sky said:


> What an informative thread. I’ve put back goods  periodically for years and they’ve come in handy. When we get to the new place we will start on storage we couldn’t manage here. I think things will get better but not before an all-star clown show.


All star clown show!! Hahaha! You are so right! 
We have a recession coming at us like a freight train. Get in your new place, stock up on the things you consume. I’d plan for a year’s worth if you can. Have plenty of garden seed and the means to put up what you grow.  It’s going to be a wild ride. And if it ain’t, then you’ll be ok for awhile. Your grocery store will have cobwebs if they’re dependent on you showing up! LOL


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## murphysranch

I was shocked, I tell you, shocked today when I went to Wallys. We normally buy Jimmydean sausage - its the longer tube for $5. Cut it up, wrap, freeze and use on Sundays. Today it was $9.42. Onions went from 69 cents to 98 cents to $1.24 per lb for plain yellow ones. I'm hoping I can learn to grow some onions at our new place in WA state - I use them for a lot of dishes!

I was packing my canning jars - luckily more than 50% of my jar stash is full of food.


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## Blue Sky

@Baymule we’re in decent shape. Convincing my husband that we need to move the “backstock” will be challenging. He and the extended family wait expectantly for the return of normal, we won’t need the extra. I am planning the logistics of getting that stuff there on the down low. 😉


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## Grizzlyhackle

Delaware and Md. Gas is 4.35 to 4.39 funny the BP station jacked it 4.49 got no business and brought it back to 4.40. Even Sam's club was 4.35 Saturday had been 15-20 cents cheaper for months. I'll have to check the Jimmy Dean  sausage was 4.65 for the short roll at Food Lion but was 6 something for the big roll at Sam's. At least we've got tp on the shelves unlike last year.
MD had suspended the gas tax for 30 days, ended April 16 that hurt. .36 ¢ a gallon. I know some are  worse off. I travel 54 miles everyday Mon-Fri was costing 30 a week now it's 50. Where I work is closing and moving to New England next year. I'm thinking of bailing now. I'd take a pay cut but save 200 a month in gas. Walmart is a 10/15 minute walk down the railroad tracks. I'm seeing a blue vest in my future.


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## farmerjan

@Grizzlyhackle .... although not my "favorite" place,  I do shop at Walmart... and they do have the business so a job there might be a good move.  Especially if you KNOW your company is going to close, the thing to do is get a different job before everyone is looking.  The gas savings would be great... and if you have to drive in bad weather or something, at least you won't be spending but maybe $50 a month instead of a week. 
Virginia proposed to suspend the gas tax and it was tabled.  Gov is pushing for it again... 
I hate to harp on it but I keep telling everyone that it is going to get worse... and to get things stocked up and extra if at all possible.... things ARE NOT GOING TO GET BETTER for the foreseeable future...  this is a FARMER TALKING, not a conservative or a liberal or anything inbetween... we have gone past the edge of pulling back and are going to have to hit a bottom that many have not seen..... there will be food shortages to rival the early days of the covid stuff... and the prices will be 2-5  times what you were paying.  Interest rates are going to really get bad... I remember my parents building a new house back in 1966 and the mortgage rates were in the DOUBLE DIGITS.....

The fed is already saying that the next increase may be more than the half percent... and they are talking JUNE.... that is next month....


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## Blue Sky

I worry about corn. And other feeds for stock and dogs. We’ll get through if we plan and help each other. My mom went through the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Thrift and compassion saved many while the government bumbled through failed fiscal and social policies. I guess all things old are new again.


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## Baymule

There is nothing new under the sun.
Solomon


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## Baymule

Normal isn’t coming back. 

@Grizzlyhackle i think you might have a darn good idea. Git ‘er done!


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## Mike CHS

I have said before that since I have spent most of my adult life in the Panhandle of Florida, I have been a prepper just because of common sense.  That hasn't changed since and we still could go a little over a year without going to a store.


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## Mini Horses

Winter livestock feeds are the concern for those of us with them.    That's more difficult to handle, store, supplement....IMO.   At least the don't need TP or gas. 🤷😁. This is first year I'm buying hay at first cut.


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## Baymule

I just read an interesting newsletter on my email, titled Worse Inflation Than the Jimmy Carter Era.
If anybody here was around for that, then you have an idea of what's coming at us. The il embargo, lines at the gas stations, limit of 5 gallons and could only get that on even/odd days, depending on the last number of your license plate. Interest rates over 20% IF you could even get a loan. Businesses shut down. Prices went to the moon and back. It was bad.

This article stated that is inflation was measured under the OLD state, it would come in at 15% . The government keeps shaving down the requirements for reporting the inflation numbers, but we are not fooled. Only an idiot would believe that load of lies. Anybody that goes to a gas station or grocery store knows the truth.

This article predicts the possibility of hyperinflation. If that happens, it will be worse than bad. So best advice is be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.


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## murphysranch

Nothing very new, but I read that in Southern CA they are limiting gas to a total purchase of $75 at select stations. @Ridgetop  already noted mandatory water cut backs. My family in San Jose CA are on mandatory 15% reductions in water, but they thankfully live on postage stamp places. 

The destructive fire in Laguna Nigel yesterday, used alot of expensive water. One wonders how those expensive homes will rebuild with the shortages and prices of building materials. Hopefully they had escalation clauses on their home insurance.


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## Ridgetop

Not to worry about those expensive homes.  Even with the ack of water sewer services, electricity, closing power plants for a "GREEN" California, the CA government wants more and more homes built for taxing purposes.  People on regular city lots are being encouraged to build guest house size apartments to rent out.  Building codes, formerly some of the most stringent in the nation, have been relaxed or ignored for that purpose.  

Here barns are being repurposed without proper foundations and converted into 2 story homes on half and quarter acre horse property lots!  No water?  No problem - the rest of us just have to make do with half as much!


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## Mike CHS

We got a reminder today that if you have long term food supplies, you need to rotate things.  We had ordered several cans of dehydrated food to replace some that we have had for a long time.  We opened cans of butter and powdered eggs only to find that the butter hydrated very well but the eggs had a brownish color and looked nothing like eggs.


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## Grizzlyhackle

I remember those odd and even days, locking gas caps, locking the shed cuz a gas can disappeared. Pop's brother had an evil Chesapeake, he chained him at night in the driveway. His gas quit disappearing.
US 13 goes thru the center of town. I could probably point to a dozen or more places that used to be service stations that closed up before 1980.
I don't think there's one service station left here in Salisbury and only know for sure of one up in lower Delaware. You want gas it's at a convenience store.
I've kept an extra refrigerator in the utility room, really a closed off one car garage, for xtra sodas, bait etc. The old one the freezer quit and my DL offered hers that was in storage, rough but worked good. Well the circulating fan quit, DL and DS went to look at new ones. Needless to say the old one got fixed. 300$ labor, installation and new part. Here's the kicker. Fan comes from Indonesia. I wasn't surprised just bugs me that so little is made here any more. Then I saw the refrigerator was made in MEXICO.
My last job all the non military aircraft work was sent to Chihuahua in 2016.  My hats from China, shoes from Vietnam, pants are from Bangladesh. DS worked on his wife's car today and the back of package says Made in China. I was gonna fill a milk jug with water for the bunnies and stopped to read the label at least that's made here. Then I see the note at the bottom about cows treated with growth hormone rbST and there's no significant difference between treated and non treated cows. WOW shouldn't have read that. Meanwhile never forget most of everything we aren't happy about has taken place while the current occupant was a US Senator.


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## Baymule

I remember gas stations and the attendants that filled your tank and checked the oil. They washed your windows too. I believe it was 1976 that I had to learn how to pump gas.


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## farmerjan

I am not in favor of using rBST in cows... BUT, it is simply a lab made form of something that naturally occurs in cattle.  Any one that says their cows have no BST, or most say that the cows are hormone free..... is not telling the truth.  You have to say that there is no artificial rBST.  Again, I have seen the problems that it caused in cattle... breeding problems, feet/hoof problems... and some of the farmers that used it gave it up pretty quickly.... it has a place in a cow that does not come into her milk ... say she aborts after turning her dry... but it is SELDOM used by any of the farmers I know.  Like everything else that has been discovered and scientifically produced, it has a limited place.  
 Because of laws, all the milk companies HAVE to put that disclaimer on the milk. And I know for a fact that years ago all the milk companies here sent letters telling the farmers that they would not pick up milk if they were aware of the farmer using rBST on the cows due to the public's preference for "hormone free milk"... then they had to amend that to say no ARTIFICIAL hormones...

 They WON'T allow us to advertise that milk is 96.5 % FAT FREE though...in fact since they changed the "standard"... your whole milk in the store is only 3.25% butterfat... so milk is actually 96.75% fat free....  and they allow all the "nut milks"  to be labeled milk and that is false... Milk comes from a LACTATING MAMMAL.....

Double standards and talking out of both sides of your mouth.


----------



## farmerjan

Okay... no new comments after the free fall for awhile yesterday in the stock markets????? Over 1100 pt drop after it was all said and done....
Today was down another 200 pts I think... 
You know the sorta sad thing about this in my life... my nephew went to school for investing and all that... and last year when we were up for one of my parents funerals, we stayed at my sisters' house and her son came by and we got talking about the economy and all the increases on prices (must have been for my father's services in Sept) and what the "covid" lockdowns had done and how things were not looking any better.  I said that we were looking to go into a tailspin, that the economy could not keep up with all the give away programs, that we were headed for a rude awakening... and he basically told me I did not understand the stock market and that it was not in the dire straits that I was thinking it was... and my sister was talking about how much they were making with him managing the investments and that a few little dips were to be expected... and I said yes, it will fluctuate, and there will be good and bad months... but that this country was headed for a major correction and probably a recession... that people could not keep on sitting on their butts, and expect the gov't to keep supporting them and that prices were going to continue to rise...and that the mess with the gas and oil industry was pushing us to ridiculous prices... and remember this was when it had only gone into the $3.25-3.50 range.....
Yet they kept talking about how much prices of food were going up and I tried to get it through their heads that it was in great part due to a couple things then... droughts and crop failures...increase cost of fuel for tractors to run.... and TRANSPOTATION costs to get it to the stores.  My nephew just is that much too far removed to fully get the connection... 
I understand from a few comments on his facebook page that I checked on the other day... that he is really upset that they are having so many negative days... and it is stressing him out... 
WELL, HELLO..... been telling you this.... And on top of it all, he is one that is in the will... and wants nothing from the estate, has done nothing to help... and is one of the "3 grandchildren" included in the e-mail from the niece - his cousin - that is causing all the expenses and all with the latest BS.... but I am sure he will not turn down his part of the inheritance when it all finally gets settled ....he just bought a new sports type car because he was tired of his truck... yet it is not family friendly and they are going to have a 2nd child here shortly....and now his world is coming apart because he is feeling the financial problems... 
I am just glad I did not ask him to manage any of mine... He said I was way too conservative and that I was losing money with having most of my retirement funds in the very conservative low interest YET SAFE , account that I had switched them to a year or so ago.... 
Yep, I didn't "make " some of the money I probably could have... but it is 95% in safe, non-market oriented account that I won't lose any money on either... Not that anything is going to keep up with inflation now.... 

Okay,  so how are you all feeling with the last couple of days.... and the constant upheaval like no baby formula available?????  I know that several of us are well past that stage, but there are members here that do have young children/babies.... at least most are in the mindset of being conservative with money and self sufficient and putting up food for the winter etc....


----------



## Blue Sky

@farmerjan 
It will only get worse.  People are living in denial. When the true panic sets in the country’s/world’s inventories will be exhausted quickly and- not replaced. The infrastructure that supports our civilization is under systematic attack. Fuel, food and freedom. In this country most are distracted by nonsense and incapable of making good personal or political decisions due to the erosion of values. Whether you believe in the Bible or secular political theory about the lifespan of empires, we’re in for some tough years.


----------



## Baymule

@farmerjan there is your nephew, got the world by the tail and smug about how "smart" he is. Multiply him by hundreds of thousands, all the financial advisors that have known nothing but a pampered well to do lifestyle all their lives. They have nothing to compare to and refuse to see. They will be the ruination of millions of others. Because they and their clients are overextended, deep in debt with fine homes, cars and credit cards, they will lose everything they have. A avalanche of poverty will hit people who have no clue of what just happened, they are willfully ignorant and pooh-pooh any ideas other than their own, just as your nephew sneered at you. The idea of planting vegetables in the flower gardens is silly and downright repulsive, beneath them. The high and mighty are soon to be knocked off their lofty pedestals. I'm not saying that in a an ugly, jealous, that's what they get, tone, merely stating fact. I do not wish ruination upon anyone.  I applaud anyone who is successful in life and happy for them. Along with that success should come discernment and the ability to see beyond their own selves and take heed of warnings and signs that things are crumbling around them. The wise will prepare the best they can. Sadly, many will not. But not to worry, the government will rush in to save us all.


----------



## farmerjan

I totally agree with what you said @Baymule .  And it is not with any kind of "glee" that I think "I told you so" about my nephew... Everything you said is TRUE about so many many thousands of the younger generation... They have not had to struggle or make do or do without;  parents have made things easier for them because they did not want them to have to "go through the struggles I did"  and have only hurt this younger,  instant gratification, "high flying" generation.   I don't mind that we could make it easier for them, but they needed to have some sense of values and learn that it takes hard work and some application of elbow grease and responsibility to have that.
  For all our differences at least my son understands the hard work ethic... and being in debt is something that he is now getting even more careful about... talking about paying on the line of credit he has for the farm so he does not have to pay interest because it has nearly doubled... from like 2.8% to over 5% in the last 2-3 months... the mortgages on the farms are one thing... but the line of credit is essential for having to buy fertilizer and parts and such... and it helps to even out until cattle are sold.  He is doing better about it... and selling some of the things he does not need around the farm... just to have less clutter and a little more cash ..... The biggest problem we have is that there are things we cannot do without in order to run the operation;  and we cannot stockpile some of it... so get caught in the web.... getting the diesel way back and filling tanks will help to ease the costs this year... but what is it going to take to refill them?   Maybe by then we will be in a full blown recession; or DEPRESSION;  and the prices will have had to come down...I don't know.  
I am afraid there will be a huge number out of work and the gov"t is going to get in such a shape that it will not be able to "help them all with checks every month".... and this is going to leave us wide open to some big mess..... 
The saddest thing about that generation is that they are so "self absorbed".... and so smug about themselves and their daily activities... and into "good times" all the time....self indulgent with no thought for preparing for the future....
I am very thankful for the ones on here that are younger and can see further than the end of their nose and are getting or have gotten their finances in order and their ducks in a row and value that money doesn't grow on trees  OR come from the gov't.....


----------



## Mike CHS

You guys have already covered everything but the biggest problem folks Jan's nephews age have is a changing reality. Most of us are old enough to remember fuel rationing along with high inflation numbers.  They haven't been through anything like what is coming.


----------



## frustratedearthmother

farmerjan said:


> OR shoot them.... SSS...


Sorry - I think there's been enough shooting lately.


----------



## farmerjan

frustratedearthmother said:


> Sorry - I think there's been enough shooting lately.


I edited my post.  I was out of line.


----------



## Mini Horses

Baymule said:


> US selling our strategic petroleum reserves to China


I did not hear the news you state BUT.....from what I gather, china has agreed to import Xxx$ worth of USA exports every year. Seems oil was one of many items and fastest way to meet their import agreement dollars.  Don't know exact particulars on all commodities involved.

Now I'm not saying Dem or Rep are best, good, better or.....We probably need to replace at least 50% of all of them!?!!......however, this trade agreement was put into place proudly by Trump.  There's enough blame for all of them to share in our dispair!

. We need to control the politicians.  Begin by their getting same average salary and poor benefits we get!  Punish THEIR waste and failures.  Don't allow the months of time out of session if their jobs aren't done.  Learn to compromise.  Wonder how many rolls of TP, or cans of formula they don't have?  It's appalling we vote their lies back in.

Ok....I'm done with my rant on the failures of most of our elected officials.


----------



## Baymule

Put in place by Trump because we had plenty of oil. Turn off the flow, shut down oil leases, spiking fuel prices, can’t blame that on Trump. Blame it on Putin. LOL

Term limits. Our founding fathers did not set up the government for lifetime parasites. And that’s on both sides of the aisle. 

We just all need to go buy electric cars and shut up. Then blow the power grid because there isn’t enough electricity! Hahaha! Can’t win for losing!


----------



## Mini Horses

Agree.....can't win for losing!   

It's why we live SS as much as we are capable.  Our own little stability plan.


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## farmerjan

Mini Horses said:


> I did not hear the news you state BUT.....from what I gather, china has agreed to import Xxx$ worth of USA exports every year. Seems oil was one of many items and fastest way to meet their import agreement dollars.  Don't know exact particulars on all commodities involved.
> 
> Now I'm not saying Dem or Rep are best, good, better or.....We probably need to replace at least 50% of all of them!?!!......however, this trade agreement was put into place proudly by Trump.  There's enough blame for all of them to share in our dispair!
> 
> . We need to control the politicians.  Begin by their getting same average salary and poor benefits we get!  Punish THEIR waste and failures.  Don't allow the months of time out of session if their jobs aren't done.  Learn to compromise.  Wonder how many rolls of TP, or cans of formula they don't have?  It's appalling we vote their lies back in.
> 
> Ok....I'm done with my rant on the failures of most of our elected officials.


Have to agree with the controlling the politicians and we need term limits... Especially the part about not allowing months off if they don't get their jobs done... And they get way over paid for what they don't get done...


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## murphysranch

Which is why, being on SS and just starting to dip into the 401K, I constantly seek out food and supplies. 

I went to an estate sale this morning (there were four listed on estatesales dot net), and bought about two bags of groceries/bath items for $15.  Some was expired (last year canned goods) but I know about food and how long it really lasts. Also got some free fertilizer (misc containers) that I'll use up this summer. 

Remember all that free money that many of us received? Its coming back to bite our butts. 

As for term limits, there are two very very old facelifted ladies in the govt that NEED to be OUSTED. And they happen to be from Calif.


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## Blue Sky

Baymule said:


> On the news just now, US selling our strategic petroleum reserves to China. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR CITIZENS OF OUR COUNTRY.  Way to go Brandon.
> 
> DOW on 8 week losing streak, longest in 90 years.


Selling our reserves😳😡?  Just when I think I’ve seen ultimate stupidity and betrayal. Good Lord. Folks stack food and necessities to the rafters. We’ll make it because we’re smart but make sure you have what you need.


----------



## Mini Horses

murphysranch said:


> for term limits, there are two very very old facelifted ladies in the govt that NEED to be OUSTED. And they happen to be from Calif.


Lot of old farts on both sides of aisle that need replaced.  I suspect some of them had facelifts too, paid for by overly generous medical care policies we pay for and cannot get.  Then there's the Dreamland retirement we pay them!   🤔


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## Simpleterrier

So I've been thumbing threw this I have to agree with alot that is being said I agree with alot of it. But what is the conclusion of it all.

Who created the young ones who don't know anything who voted in the people in the gov??

Why is the work force down and dropping?

Just keep reading and I'll tell ya and I u get mad and cause a seen then ok.

Boomers. Baby boomers and the generation after them. Maybe I e said this before but I'm gonna say it again. Don't get mad at the younger generations that were raised by them. It's not their fault they don't know any different. But they should listen to others more.

Why's the work force low who's retiring right now who started to retire when COVID started.? Boomers. Who didn't want to train the next gens? Boomers. I'm only 35 but this is what I see. I see it in all aspects of our lives. The older generations are to loud and proud to move out.of the way and let the next ones try. Some of the next ones are trying to but they still get ran over by the older folks. I was talking to a friend last night and he named 8 people I know who are between the age of 57 and 67 who are retiring next month.

So this isn't a who is at fault situation it is how do we get out.of it situation. To many people retiring not.enough people to replace  the biggest generation.  Why do u think the borders aren't gonna get closed alot of u will thank that nurse when your in the home. To many people from the boomers are gonna flood the homes also the next few generations had less kids so less workers. Why do u think COVID was released. Maybe to get rid of some older people who will be on ss and in the homes.

Just my thoughts we are gonna be in this for the long haul and yes you are correct the young ones won't know how to survive.


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## Simpleterrier

And u might ask how can I say this.

This is what I see from my own life. From work to church to family and friends. This is what I have seen. Maybe I'm wrong or maybe it's just me my family and my area. But I don't think so.


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## Baymule

You didn’t make me mad. I’m a big girl, blame me. I’m also retired. And on SS and Covid killed the love of my life. I did a damn fine job of raising my kids, thank you very much. I’ve always been happy to teach and train others who wanted to learn. I’ve owned businesses, employed others and trained them. I’ve worked at all kinds of jobs. I’ve earned my piddly little SS check. 

Our parents were the Greatest Generation. They went through the Depression and WW2. They produced the Boomers and we were the young generation that wasn’t worth a durn. Gee, we just can’t win!! 
LOL LOL LOL


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## farmerjan

@Simpleterrier  For the most part I basically agree with what you say.  I also raised a son that has a work ethic and knows what doing without is like.  DS also is basically pretty conservative and good with his money.  Otherwise DS wouldn't have been able to buy and put up his house (a modular),  buy another 10 acres right around the corner;  speculate, buy (and then sell at a profit),  a 5+ acre piece of property at a courthouse sale, or another 5 acre piece that he bought at a "closeout sale " that he now is trying to sell... or buy the 85 acre farm for over 200,000 and 2 years later buy the house and 3 acres that originally went with it at another 100,000 + because the guy couldn't make the payments because he was too lazy to take a job that was "beneath him"  and he was about 50 then... or go deep in debt to buy the 110 acre farm that belonged to the friend that passed away... that he finally bought when the widow decided that she wanted to sell...  because he wants to retire at 56 when he is eligible from his state job and still have a bit of a life and ability left to be able to farm... 
But there are countless others that did not grow up with the same ethics... and yes, the parents are greatly at fault... as I had stated a few posts ago, the parents wanted the kids to not have to "struggle" like they did, but they went WAY TOO FAR in the other direction and did not make the kids learn that it wasn't all easy.... 
the "entitled" attitude comes some from the parents that "made it easy" for the kids.  BUT.... all that aside..... the ones in their late 20's through mid 40's  are supposed to BE ADULTS..... Grow up and take some responsibility for your life too... I didn't learn everything from my parents... I have eyes and ears and can learn from others... I can see what is going on in day to day life.... I do not put "having fun" ahead of my responsibilities...If some of them would just stop and think a little they might see some things. 

You obviously have seen things, your parents may have done a great job of making sure you grew up with some ethics and sense of responsibilty..... But again, you are an adult and are conducting yourself as one.  Unfortunately I know several of guys/gals that are in the 30-40 yr old range with parents that did try to raise them right and they got on the lazy train and decided why should I work for things when so and so is getting it for nothing... and then they go so far as to say it isn't fair that my DS has this and has that.... He did more than sit on the video games and facebook and the phone, all that crap... he worked..... and I think he spends too much time on his phone too....

I don't have the answers either... I only had 1 child because I could not afford more and I did not believe in having a child out of wedlock...my moral compass in effect there... and there are alot of people that may have had a child without the benefit of marriage... and did not keep having babies to just get bigger checks every year.... and the children have  not had any real decent upbringing... so that is the parents fault too.  But it is society's fault for constantly making excuses for these people and not making them take responsibility for their children.  I have always said that ANYONE  can make a mistake, have a baby without being married... I will even give them the benefit of the doubt and allow a 2nd unplanned pregnancy.... BUT after that it needs to be SEWN SHUT OR CUT OFF ..... It is not my responsibility to support the children you keep having.... PERIOD.


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## Blue Sky

@Simpleterrier 
You owe @Baymule an apology.


----------



## Mini Horses

Simpleterrier said:


> Why do u think COVID was released. Maybe to get rid of some older people who will be on ss and in the homes.


  not working! I'm here in my OWN home, taking care of me. Still working by choice and getting SS I earned and paid for.....have paid into medicare for 12 yrs and never a claim. Since I work, I'm still paying into SS just like you youngsters.  I'll gladly train anyone who wants to learn, not just show up to watch.  I pay my own bills.  Owning my home is more important than a fancy new car and expensive phone.  I've had my share of fancy cars, too.

There are plenty your age who do well.  There are plenty who want to stay home, do nothing and wait for money to appear.  Certainly there has been moral decline and ethical devaluation in society. It spans many generations.  With current media, we hear more about it, faster......no more pony express. 🤣. It's life.

Shelf shortages aren't that huge for me.  I've seen far worse things in my life.


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## Baymule

Blue Sky said:


> @Simpleterrier
> You owe @Baymule an apology.


No he doesn’t. Nor anyone else. I’m not offended and there is truth in what he said. It just doesn’t apply to me or anyone else here. There are pampered, worthless individuals out there that are too good to work and think they are owed a living.  People who did well in life spoiled their children and raised up brats. Those brats became adults, failures at life. Those types span the generations, not just Boomers. Many parents did everything right, kids turned to drugs and rejected everything they were taught. Around here we call ‘em Meth Monkeys. LOL

Worker shortages? I remember being taught about over population and how a couple should only have 2 children to replace themselves and not contribute to over populating the world. I guess we failed, we got Covid as population reduction. By the way, I had 2 children. Couldn’t afford more. That drum of over population has been beating for a long time.


----------



## Simpleterrier

And that is why I like @Baymule. 

So to sum up what I said what farmerjan said and baymule said. There are young people who don't wanna work there are older people who are done working that was the largest work force who didn't produce as many babies and I agree u can't pay for them don't have them. I have to and can't have more and yes have talked about adopting to help but I don't have a heart I I honestly can't say if I could love a child who is not mine so we haven't adopted. The shortages are gonna get worse due to the work force retiring and not wanting to work. Our stock piles are gone in everything try to get tractor parts truck parts a new mixer or dishwasher. It's gonna take along time to rebuild with more workers then we ever had or needed before cause of the load that is naturally added to our system from many different directions.

I'm just pointing out a different side view and what I have seen. We try to help out at our church but the people who have been doing the work for 30yrs don't want to hand over the responsibility to the younger ones. Example being told how to serve ice cream by an old lady at an ice cream social. Others would have quite. I got yelled at by her for an hr. But I'm stubborn. I'm sorry I'm an adult as others on here said I can scoop ice cream. Leave me alone. And if u would have left others alone maybe they wouldn't have quite. I've been cussed out on job sites because I'm young and dumb and don't know what I'm doing. I waited until the next day when the guy finally saw u can't run duct threw a two foot steal beam. Like I said others have quite and would quite.


----------



## farmerjan

Well, I nearly fell over today because gas CAME DOWN... $.10 a gallon.  I cannot imagine what that is all about.  Not complaining, but where did that come from?  But there are alot of more empty shelves in Walmart than I have seen before.  I am getting a little more nervous;  I did get in more of the garden today... Hope to get it all in by the end of the weekend.  Then of course mulching it all.  And getting the fence up around it to keep the deer and chickens out. There are deer hoof prints all through part of it.  I was really not happy.... Got to get the fence up before the green beans come through the ground.  
At least I told the guy who did the plowing and the tilling that he was WELCOME to come this fall and use the bow to hunt them since there are so many here... I am tired of all the ones that are across the road and DEMOLISHING the cover crops we used to plant.  I am hoping he comes and does get some... get a little venison in the freezer...


----------



## farmerjan

The unexpected gas price drop didn't last.  It is up the $.10 and more... now 4.49 at a couple of closeby stations.  I see it is still 4.29 at the 2 across from each other so I will go fill up tomorrow.  Truck is about a 1/2 and car is a little less.   I am going to have to go with DS back to NH for the cleaning out of my parents house for the estate situation... the fuel costs are going to eat us up... he is taking the truck and trailer to get the backhoe he bought from the estate, and the pickup truck he bought that was having some work done on it... so I can drive it back... Dreading the trip for lots of reasons... but the costs in fuel and all are a big part of that.   

Heard on the radio that housing starts are down;  but that the price of lumber has dropped almost 50% since it's highs... people can't afford to do things... maybe it will come down some more.  We can only hope... If people can't afford to fill up their gas tanks and can't afford to fill up their grocery carts, other things are going to take a hit and will have to come down.  
So glad to see some things coming up in the garden... looking forward to fresh green and wax beans and getting some in the freezer.  My favorite all time vegetable... 

Onion plants looking perkier, and the tomatoes are getting darker green leaves.  Going to need all this stuff this winter....


----------



## Mini Horses

Gas up at most stations $4.49-4.54.  I was on half but filled at $4.39 anyway!!

A reset today changed most all frozen dinners and chicken dramatically.  One was $3. a bag!🤪.  Glad they're not things I buy!  Most were in the $1 per range.

Stopped for a bag of chicken scratch on way home...TSC. It ha s now had a 100% increase in past 11 months!  The goat fence up 55% in a yr.

It's all ridiculous and not acceptable!!!


----------



## Baymule

I last filled the truck in south Tyler on Sunday at $4.73 I was thrilled to find fuel so cheap. And that’s not cheap! I paid $52 for T-1-11 siding yesterday, per sheet. Terrible.


----------



## Mike CHS

I bought some Quikrete last week that was a little over $11 a bag.  That same product last year was just under $6.

Edit to say that Teresa told me I need to wear my glasses more often   It was only 50 cents higher this year than last.


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## casportpony

30 gallons in the dodge just cost $200.


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## murphysranch

Got gas at Costco in Southern Oregon. Regular was $5.01. 
Plywood, 3/4" 4' x 8', was $76 at Lowes yesterday. We need one sheet. Dang!!!!!!!!


----------



## Alaskan

casportpony said:


> 30 gallons in the dodge just cost $200.


Did you need defibrillation as you saw those numbers keep scrolling up?


----------



## farmerjan

Got the forester filled up earlier and it was still 4.29 but the other 2 stations had gone up to 4.39.  So I came home and was going to take the truck but I had filled it on the way home from testing so instead took the explorer to fill... it had 1/2 a tank.  In 45 minutes that station had gone from 4.29 to 4.35... so then I took the explorer down and picked up the outback that they had worked on and filled it too.  Left the explorer so they get the ac leak fixed and to "go over it" so it can be sold as soon as the title gets fixed.


----------



## casportpony

Alaskan said:


> Did you need defibrillation as you saw those numbers keep scrolling up?


I could not believe how quickly it got to $100! Being a huge tank, had to run the card twice.


----------



## Mini Horses

Gotta watch the pump, too.  Sometimes they change that before the sign! ☹️. It's a day to day price.  Some stations change with their fill, others with the news.  

I'm about done with all of it!!  I almost buy nothing except gas...my own revolt. 

Then there's feed to buy. 😳


----------



## farmerjan

casportpony said:


> I could not believe how quickly it got to $100! Being a huge tank, had to run the card twice.
> View attachment 91786
> 
> View attachment 91787


That sign would be funny if it wasn't so da#@ sad... and that we never had to get to this point either...


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## Simpleterrier

Gas went up 40 cents to 4.79 a gallon on Tuesday


----------



## Alaskan

Gas is 5.20-ish up here.  But then we tend to be more expensive than the rest of you.


----------



## Simpleterrier

Add 10 to 15 gas is 4.89 and one place is 4.94


----------



## Ridgetop

Every time DH sees beef for under $4.00/lb he wants to buy it.  I tell him it depends on what cut it is.  Boneless chuck roasts and steaks have been $3.99/lb which isn't too bd.  I have him get the chuck roasts wince I can get 3 meals for 5 adults out of it.  We put them i the freezer.  Haven't seen while pork legs for $.99/lb since we got the last one months ago.  We are putting a lot in our freezers when we find a good price.  Just got nice London broil for $3.79 last week and DS2 cooked it on his Traeger grill. Delicious!  

We are keeping the 3 ram lambs born between April and May for our own freezers.  They won't bring as much in August so might as well eat them ourselves.  We will be sending a ewe lamb to the butcher as well.  She keeps trying to have a rectal prolapse so don't want her to go to the auction.  She is almost 6 months old.


----------



## murphysranch

I'm thawing a 7 bone chuck roast from last year. They are my absolute favorite, for a slow on the BBQ cook. Delish and I can get several meals outa that hunk of meat.

Gas in Southern Washington (where I'm at this week at our new home/acreage) is $5.11 for cheap gas, debit or cash. More for credit. UGH. We still have two more trips to make from So Oregon to So WA to finish our move.


----------



## farmerjan

Heard today that the stock market dropped another 600+ points... I have very little in the stock market... mostly my retirement stuff and very conservative on most of it... but it is the "trending" that is the scary part as this is an indication of how things are going.... 
They say wheat will be twice what it is now, in the fall... and food is going to get scarce... Really is getting very concerning.  If you are not growing a garden or buying at a farmers market to put in the freezer or to can, you may not be able to find things this fall..... or be able to afford them.  I keep trying to buy a little extra as I go so that I have some more cushion.   
It is nice to have a garden again this year after several years of not having one.  Won't grow a huge variety but trying to grow plenty of what I am sure I will use.  I am thinking I need to make a list of some of the things that I really want to have available... make sure that I have that stuff stockpiled because I do not see any prices coming down until there is a crash.  And then it is going to hurt so many.   
At least I will eat.


----------



## Mini Horses

Feed store is killer!!  Gas too!!

Garden going and I see it extending into fall.  Canning, food saver bags, household ldry/clng, well stocked here.  Flour, sugar, coffee, tea, yeast, spices, all good.  I have eggs, milk, cheese covered at farm.   Only minimal buys at grocery.  Meats on sale. Basically.

Still considering -- do I need a pig?  Should I feed out a goat kid?  Should I buy these turkey poults I'm considering, or a lamb, or???  Maybe become vegetarian? 😁

Even looking at goat kid weaners...should I sell at this week auction, or keep and challenge feed prices a while longer.  Seller auction prices were really good last month! Decisions!!

The unknown makes it tough.  I just know it isn't gonna get better!  😔


----------



## murphysranch

I've been preparing for two years. Canning, dehydrating (alot!!), and Stocking up on all essentials. I think I'm going to be OK for a while. 

Would I say I'm a prepper? nah....just a frugal person on SS. I did have SNAP (new name for old Food Stamps) but when I started my SS at 66.5 yrs old, my SNAP was taken away. Luckily I used alot of that SNAP for stocking up.


----------



## Baymule

As soon as I close on the farm, get inside of house done, the stocking up will get going again.


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## farmerjan

Getting closer to the "closing" with getting the survey done.... .  I was listening to some radio station as I cannot get the talk one I like on the head ear protectors I have.  It even said that the economy was getting worse and that we are in a recession.... I say it is getting alot closer to the depression stage.  8.6 % inflation again.  
Gas is now more than DOUBLE than it was just a year ago.... 

I am getting really concerned.  
Does anyone get the EPOCH TIMES ????? There was an article in there about other vaccine effects... I don't have it in from of me but it concerned the mRNA can actually affect the prions that cause the "Cruetzfeld-Jacobs" (sp?) disease in people... the same prion that they say causes the mad cow disease and the rules that require anything over 30 months to not have any backbone or spinal cord in the slaughter carcasses.... 

Gas here went up $.20 today too....


----------



## Mike CHS

I watch Steve Bannon's War Room quite a bit and Naomi Wolfe is on there quite a bit.  She has been involved in a lot of research about the vaccines adverse affects.  She has about 3000 volunteers going through the Pfizer trial data and even has a team of lawyers that has filed law suits.  This team of lawyers is the same that got the mask mandate over-turned.

I filled up my 4 gas cans that I use for mowing and our Polaris and the tab was $85.  There are some positive factors in that several neighbors that we help with garden produce are actually starting to garden again.


----------



## Baymule

I was talking to a lady yesterday, her son and DIL were both in the military, took the shot. She is now pregnant, ultrasound shows the baby's spine to be too long, it's curved, but the brain is missing part of the top, down the middle. They already have a 6 year old healthy child. Is it the shot? They have a terrible future, whatever decision they make. 

@Mike CHS it is sad that it takes something like this to get people to taking responsibility for themselves and start a garden, but on the other hand, it's good that they have the land and know-how to raise that garden. 

The inflation numbers have been dumbed down so much that the figures we get are stupid. Brilliant politicians keep taking out the products and services that go up too much in price so that the population (dummies) are lulled into a false sense of "things are ok".  Uhhh....... NO things are NOT ok. 



farmerjan said:


> I am getting really concerned.
> Does anyone get the EPOCH TIMES ????? There was an article in there about other vaccine effects... I don't have it in from of me but it concerned the mRNA can actually affect the prions that cause the "Cruetzfeld-Jacobs" (sp?) disease in people... the same prion that they say causes the mad cow disease and the rules that require anything over 30 months to not have any backbone or spinal cord in the slaughter carcasses....


Population reduction. 

I had more to say, but I deleted it. Don't want to hurt anybody's tender feelings, that koolaid tastes so yummy!


----------



## farmerjan

God will be my judge in the future... but if I were that couple, I would take measures to terminate that pregnancy.  There is not only a future of heartache for the couple, but what about the baby that is not normal, and has what percent chance of having a "life".... A living being that is more of a vegetable is no life.  Sorry if that offends anyone.
  In the animal world,  it is a kindness to put down something that cannot function with a certain sense of normalcy.  Yes, there are children that are born with abnormalties and do manage to function... but to what expense?  Not just in money but in quality... and who is going to be around to take care of all these non-functioning beings?  If we have a baby animal born with certain problems, the kindest thing is to put them down than have them suffer or starve or become prey.  In the human population, they become totally dependent on someone as their caregiver, they cannot contribute to their own care, and often cannot even comprehend what is being done for them.  Then there are those that wind up in institutions and would be better off if they were sitting in heaven than here on earth.  
It is sad, but if we get into some really bad financial straits here; what then for these non-functional dependent beings?  I personally would rather say goodbye and have a proper burial for them, and then go about trying to have a life and thank God that I am capable to do so.  Rather than spend the rest of my days, and my energies, taking care of someone/thing, that cannot function, and cannot even know or understand, day to day life to some extent.


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## Show Sebright

Gas is 5 a gallon, we stoped looking at the number when we fill up the tank. 🫣 Apparently Publix is going to start selling eggs at 10 a dozen  my parents better start eats the eggs I “make” them


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## murphysranch

Here here, Farmerjan. I totally agree.


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## Baymule

My first baby was born with no skull. That was when ultrasound was first getting into use and I had not had one. There was no indication that there was anything wrong until she was born. Her brain was open, no skin, hair, only 1 membrane covering her brain. She lived 2 days. Her brain dried out and couldn't tell her body to function anymore. It was devastating. That was one of the worst things that ever happened to me in my entire life. 

 With each pregnancy, doctors told me I had a greater chance of having another baby like that. Why, I don't know, I don't think they knew either. I had 2 healthy babies after that and quit while I was ahead. had tubes tied, done. 

I am not for abortion either Jan, but if I was carrying a baby with terrible birth defects, I would terminate the pregnancy.


----------



## farmerjan

@murphysranch ... I am sure I missed it somewhere, but what part of the country are you in?  You can add it to your avatar... go to your name top right,  down to account details, and location and put in a general area, state or like mine... the part of Va I am in.  We seem to be in agreement about alot of things.... but where the heck are you???  Maybe Timbuktu?  There is a person on one of the cattle forums that I frequent and they are in Lithuania.... love to see the differences, and yet so many similarities.


----------



## Baymule

Below is the list of America’s 95 plants that have been destroyed, damaged or impacted by “accidental fires,” disease, or general causes.


1/11/21 A fire that destroyed 75,000-square-foot processing plant in Fayetteville
4/30/21 A fire ignited inside the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Monmouth, IL
7/25/21 Three-alarm fire at Kellogg plant in Memphis, 170 emergency personnel responded to the call
7/30/21 Firefighters on Friday battled a large fire at Tyson’s River Valley Ingredients plant in Hanceville, Alabama
8/23/21 Fire crews were called to the Patak Meat Production company on Ewing Road in Austell
9/13/21 A fire at the JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Neb., on Sunday night forced a halt to slaughter and fabrication lines
 10/13/21 A five-alarm fire ripped through the Darigold butter production plant in Caldwell, ID
11/15/21  A woman is in custody following a fire at the Garrard County Food Pantry
11/29/21  A fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. at the Maid-Rite Steak Company meat processing plant
12/13/21 West Side food processing plant in San Antonio left with smoke damage after a fire
1/7/22 Damage to a poultry processing plant on Hamilton’s Mountain following an overnight fire
1/13/22 Firefighters worked for 12 hours to put a fire out at the Cargill-Nutrena plant in Lecompte, LA
1/31/22 a fertilizer plant with 600 tons of ammonium nitrate inside caught on fire on Cherry Street in Winston-Salem
2/3/22 A massive fire swept through Wisconsin River Meats in Mauston
2/3/22 At least 130 cows were killed in a fire at Percy Farm in Stowe
2/15/22 Bonanza Meat Company goes up in flames in El Paso, Texas
2/15/22 Nearly a week after the fire destroyed most of the Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston
2/16/22 A fire had broken at US largest soybean processing and biodiesel plant in Claypool, Indiana
2/18/22 An early morning fire tore through the milk parlor at Bess View Farm
2/19/22 Three people were injured, and one was hospitalized, after an ammonia leak at Lincoln Premium Poultry in Fremont
2/22/22 The Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston caught fire after a propane boiler exploded
2/28/22 A smoldering pile of sulfur quickly became a raging chemical fire at Nutrien Ag Solutions
2/28/22 A man was hurt after a fire broke out at the Shadow Brook Farm and Dutch Girl Creamery
3/4/22 294,800 chickens destroyed at farm in Stoddard, Missouri
3/4/22 644,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
3/8/22 243,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in New Castle, Delaware
3/10/22 663,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, MD
3/10/22 915,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Taylor, IA
3/14/22 The blaze at 244 Meadow Drive was discovered shortly after 5 p.m. by farm owner Wayne Hoover
3/14/22 2,750,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Jefferson, Wisconsin
3/16/22 A fire at a Walmart warehouse distribution center has cast a large plume of smoke visible throughout Indianapolis.
3/16/22 Nestle Food Plant extensively damaged in fire and new production destroyed Jonesboro, Arkansas
3/17/22 5,347,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Buena Vista, Iowa
3/17/22 147,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Kent, Delaware
3/18/22 315,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
3/22/22 172,000 Turkeys destroyed on farms in South Dakota
3/22/22 570,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
3/24/22 Fire fighters from numerous towns are battling a major fire at the McCrum potato processing facility in Belfast.
3/24/22 418,500 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
3/25/22 250,300 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Franklin, Iowa
3/26/22 311,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
3/27/22 126,300 Turkeys destroyed in South Dakota
3/28/22 1,460,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Guthrie, Iowa
3/29/22 A massive fire burned 40,000 pounds of food meant to feed people in a food desert near Maricopa
3/31/22 A structure fire caused significant damage to a large portion of key fresh onion packing facilities in south Texas
3/31/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Osceola, Iowa
3/31/22 5,011,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Osceola, Iowa
4/6/22 281,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
4/9/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/9/22 208,900 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/12/22 89,700 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
4/12/22 1,746,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Dixon, Nebraska
4/12/22 259,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Minnesota
4/13/22 Fire destroys East Conway Beef & Pork Meat Market in Conway, New Hampshire
4/13/22 Plane crashes into Gem State Processing, Idaho potato and food processing plant
4/13/22 77,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/14/22 Taylor Farms Food Processing plant burns down Salinas, California.
4/14/22 99,600 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/15/22 1,380,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Lancaster, Minnesota
4/19/22 Azure Standard nation’s premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire in Dufur, Oregon
4/19/22 339,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/19/22 58,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Montrose, Color
4/20/22 2,000,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Minnesota
4/21/22 A small plane crashed in the lot of a General Mills plant in Georgia
4/22/22 197,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/23/22 200,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
4/25/22 1,501,200 chickens destroyed at egg farm Cache, Utah
4/26/22 307,400 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
4/27/22 2,118,000 chickens destroyed at farm Knox, Nebraska
4/28/22 Egg-laying facility in Iowa kills 5.3 million chickens, fires 200-plus workers
4/28/22 Allen Harim Foods processing plant killed nearly 2M chickens in Delaware
4/2822 110,700 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
4/29/22 1,366,200 chickens destroyed at farm Weld Colorado
4/30/22 13,800 chickens destroyed at farm Sequoia Oklahoma
5/3/22 58,000 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Beadle S Dakota
5/3/22 114,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Lyon Minnesota
5/7/22 20,100 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
5/10/22 72,300 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
5/10/22 61,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/10/22 35,100 Turkeys destroyed Muskegon, Michigan
5/13/22 10,500 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
5/14/22 83,400 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/17/22 79,00 chickens destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/18/22 7,200 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/19/22 Train carrying limestone derailed Jensen Beach FL
5/21/22 57,000 Turkeys destroyed on farm in Dakota Minnesota
5/23/22 4,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
5/29/22 A Saturday night fire destroyed a poultry building at Forsman Farms
5/31/22 3,000,000 chickens destroyed by fire at Forsman facility in Stockholm Township, Minnesota
6/2/22 30,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
6/7/22 A fire occurred Tuesday evening at the JBS meat packing plant in Green Bay.
6/8/22 Firefighters from Tangipahoa Fire District 1 respond to a fire at the Purina Feed Mill in Arcola
6/9/22 Irrigation water was canceled in California (the #1 producer of food in the US) and storage water flushed directly out to the delta.
With inflation at 40-year highs, this is devastating news.


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## Show Sebright

when I kept seeing chickens destroyed all I was thinking was the devastating AI going around.


> 3/4/22 294,800 chickens destroyed at farm in Stoddard, Missouri
> 3/4/22 644,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
> 3/8/22 243,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in New Castle, Delaware
> 3/10/22 663,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, MD
> 3/10/22 915,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Taylor, IA


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## Mini Horses

I saw a list of fires on Patriot Supply, with descriptive reports on many.  The avian flu destruction was also devastating!   Yep, it's shown up in store pricing and availability.
Notice the fertilizer component fires and processing plants.

Boils down to egg, bird, red meat having heavy loss and process failures.  While such fires are not uncommon, this many in a concentrated time frame is highly unusual and questionable.   Supposedly investigating.  The flu issues...it happens. Sadly.   But so many of these fires happened when people weren't there...🤔🙄...makes you wonder!!🙈🙉🙊

At least there's plenty of TP🤭


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## Ridgetop

Terrible times are coming, but we have survived similar bad times in the past and will again, God willing.


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## murphysranch

Thank you, @farmerjan  I thought I had filled it out, but I guess not. It won't save a pic for my avatar, altho over on TEG, it does that easily.

I'm moving from So Oregon on a golf course in a drought, to Vancouver WA suburb with 2.6 acres and tons of rain and water. For a 4.5 hour drive, its amazingly very very different up here.


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## Simpleterrier

I know and am friends with a guy who grew up in Timbuktu


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## Alaskan

murphysranch said:


> Thank you, @farmerjan  I thought I had filled it out, but I guess not. It won't save a pic for my avatar, altho over on TEG, it does that easily.
> 
> I'm moving from So Oregon on a golf course in a drought, to Vancouver WA suburb with 2.6 acres and tons of rain and water. For a 4.5 hour drive, its amazingly very very different up here.


Ah!  That is where you are going!  Vancouver is supposedly nice (I have never been).


----------



## farmerjan

Has anyone been paying attention to the stock market today?  Down 800 pts at 11 a.m..... after down 700 pts the end of the week last week.  Gas gone up again....a couple more cents....
I got an offer in the mail from a bank I recently started using here local... Got a 200 bonus for direct deposit when I opened a checking account and since I was getting really unhappy with the credit union I had been using for 30 years when they could neither consider me for a mtg on the house nor the loan for the explorer.... I switched my SS direct deposit to this bank.  My paycheck still goes to the credit union account.  Anyway.... The credit card offer was for 15 months NO INTEREST, for balances switched from another account,,, and also bonus points for paying certain bills with it... including electric and cable, phone, and other stuff... I had a balance left on one card that I have been working on because of taking out the loan for the explorer... with a high interest rate... so I just opened the cc with this bank and put in the request to transfer the balance... The money I save every month on the high interest rate will pay this off in less than the 15 months... and since I already pay my wi-fi with a cc, I am going to see about paying the electric ...if I can get around the stupid fee they charge...and get bonuses for doing it.  
Anyway... what I was getting at is for anyone that does use and pay off their credit cards etc... to pay attention to these kind of offers.  They can save you money, and if you are a good manager, can actually help you to do some things... I got the electric netting and paid off the cc just last week so used the cc money for 45 days at no cost... got what I needed when I wanted it...

But, as things get more and more difficult to find, it also allows you to get something when you find it, and then stretch your budget so you can get it paid off without getting caught up in high interest payments.  You have to be careful of how you use it... but it has helped me to get further ahead here lately than I ever was.  Juggling a bit, but using someone else's money to my benefit.  With the cost of everything going up, sometimes it makes sense to get some things now and pay for them a little later.... if you can do it without paying through the nose for interest rates and such. 

It is looking like we are really going to go into a bad spiral .... Funny, but I was just thinking about my nephew... he is probably going apoplectic with the stock market drops....yet I cannot feel bad for him anymore....


----------



## farmerjan

Here it is Thursday... and the stock market dropped another 700+ points today.  Below 30,000... I don't have very much money in the market since I had taken alot out to use as downpayment on the house... moved a great amount into a very safe, not based on the market, investment... yes I am losing a little money with these drops in the few allocations I have in the stock market,  but I am moving nearly all of that out now... it is interest I have accumulated not my actual own money invested.... I will not gain much in the other allocation, but it is "safe".....and I still put in the amount I need to get the match from work too.  

There has been alot of talk about the farm situation, the costs of inputs like seed and fertilizer and fuel.... There is going to be shortages of certain kinds of food.  There is a drought out in parts of the west.  Friends are talking about hay shortages in Texas... about cutting hay in the morning, it is "CRUNCHY" BY MID DAY.. AND YIELDS ARE HALF....  so cattle are getting sold.... 
And with the horrible heat wave that has hit the central plains states... the deaths in the feedlots are reaching unheard of numbers.  
NOW understand I do not like feedlots.... the lack of shade and such for animals.  That said, I understand the mindset of farmers that have them, that they have saved the farms over the years by diversifying into feedlots to use the grains grown on the farms... using the product right there so that there is not the transporting of feed stocks.... DON'T agree with the way they are run in many ways.... but they serve a purpose in supplying the beef to the masses.  
There have been THOUSANDS of cattle ready for harvesting, dying in this extreme and unexpected heat wave.  That not only is horrible for the cattle... it takes that much more beef out of the pipeline, it causes the cost of the ones there to go up since the feedlot operator has to make back some of the cost... If the feedlots cannot deliver the numbers that are contracted, then the plants operate at lower capacity... workers get laid off.... less available to ship to the outlets... supermarkets and such.... 

Find a local supplier and buy your meat from them.  Get your pantry stocked up with some of the staples... and grow a garden and can or freeze your own food... OR patronize a farmers market and support your local hardworking farmer and gardener....


----------



## Baymule

Temperatures here next week will be 100-102F and no rain in sight.


----------



## Mini Horses

Sad about the cattle losses to heat stress.  Saw that on net. 😔

 It will get worse, as we've all been saying.  Floods out west will roll out more problems and losses.  So many things are going wrong, many of weather, many of people origination.  Those who are not paying attention are going to suffer badly.  Those paying attention will take action to prepare but, it will be a hardship.

Difference will be survivability.


----------



## murphysranch

I can't remember if I have mentioned this on this forum. Go To Estate Sales! Yesterday, I went to two of them locally in town.

I buy their food - lots of food. I also happened to get a LEM meat grinder for $70 which retails for $550. Only missing two parts. Pics of the food below. Is some of it old? Yes, I only go back to 2019 even tho I have a few cans of things in my own pantry dated before then. 
First pic: $30. (that is sugar in the vac pac bags). 
Second: 50 cents for each tin.
Third: rice about $3
Fourth: lentils about $8
Grinder


----------



## frustratedearthmother

murphysranch said:


> I can't remember if I have mentioned this on this forum. Go To Estate Sales! Yesterday, I went to two of them locally in town.
> 
> I buy their food - lots of food. I also happened to get a LEM meat grinder for $70 which retails for $550. Only missing two parts. Pics of the food below. Is some of it old? Yes, I only go back to 2019 even tho I have a few cans of things in my own pantry dated before then.
> First pic: $30. (that is sugar in the vac pac bags).
> Second: 50 cents for each tin.
> Third: rice about $3
> Fourth: lentils about $8
> Grinder


SCORE!


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## Mini Horses

Meat grinder definate SCORE!  👍 My area rarely has an estate sale.  Lotta military and that means transient every couple years.  I've found a few and most are furniture, appliances, some garage, tools, etc.  It's a great outlet if any around. 😊


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## Baymule

WOW!! On the meat grinder!! Good buy on the food too. My meat grinder is a small cheap one I bought 30 some-odd years ago. Adequate, but I sure like yours better!


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## farmerjan

Fantastic deal on the meat grinder.  LEM is a very good company, and I am sure you will be able to get replacement parts from them.  
That is also good on the food.  You don't see that around here much either.  People don't put the food out for sale, they toss it in the dumpsters.


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## murphysranch

Here is where I go to find estate sales. The website actually send me an email a day before they start. One signs up with your em addy and your zip code. No muss, no fuss.

estatesales.net


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## murphysranch

I didn't go back 11 pages, so if this is a repeat, please forgive. 

Mustard will be short. Seeds are short so therefore prepared mustard will be in short supply. I've bought several varieties that I'll keep in the basement for the next year. It lasts a long time!!

I cannot stock up on things that use mustard as an ingredient however. Shrug - can't win them all.


----------



## BaBaaHMonica

I just found a greenhouse on facebook marketplace and another on craiglist.  (OMG my new favorite websites!!!)  I will have one for vegetables and another for putting around the rainbarrels.  I am bound and determined to grow vegetables for our household and keep us in eggs. If push comes to shove...I can get the goats bred and we can have milk. 

There is time to prepare for winter,  We will get through it.  I refuse to give in to negativity.


----------



## murphysranch

I'm always scouring those two places for garden stuff. Good finds!!


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## Baymule

BaBaaHMonica said:


> I just found a greenhouse on facebook marketplace and another on craiglist.  (OMG my new favorite websites!!!)  I will have one for vegetables and another for putting around the rainbarrels.  I am bound and determined to grow vegetables for our household and keep us in eggs. If push comes to shove...I can get the goats bred and we can have milk.
> 
> There is time to prepare for winter,  We will get through it.  I refuse to give in to negativity.


 
Awesome! Yay for the greenhouse! Good for you!


----------



## BaBaaHMonica

I forgot to mention that I used our rainbarrel all winter last year.  I kept draining it almost dry to water the goats and chickens.  I had to take water from the house a few times and I knew I was going to have to do something different than bringing a 5 gallon bucket from the basement and still not have enough.  It was a balancing act of checking snow forecasts and letting the water out when we were getting a lot of snow.  The hardest part was keeping the hose clear so it didn't freeze.  I don't want to pay for water when I have it dripping off the roof making ice puddles to walk through.  I take these shortages as incentive to use my intuition.  Stay positive and plan ahead & we will get through.


----------



## Ridgetop

We are heading for Texas on the 22nd in our car.  Can't use the truck.  It has been in the shop again for the past 3 weeks.  DH went down to find out what was wrong.  They don't really know what is wrong but have now replaced enough parts to build a new truck.  DH was tld now that it needs a whole new turbo.  Goody!  They already replaced half the turbo parts in the past 6 months.  DH said he would not pay for a whole new turbo because of that and got them to discount it by half.  I have been complaining about that shop for 2 years and DH gets mad at me when I do.  Now he is raging about them.  They had an excellent reputation for service when we bought our truck but then the owner retired and turned the entire business over to his sons.  Since then their service department had gone to . . . .   Galpin is the largest Ford dealer in Southern California but they have ONE person in the entire service department to work on diesels!   And he is terrible!  Our truck has been in the shop longer than it took to order it new!  I told DH we should have them pay _us_ for the time we have not been able to use it.  Anyway, when we go to Texas in September we are going to look at a new gas engine F-150 truck.  We will keep our big diesel F-350 dually, but will keep it for pulling the 5th wheel.  We should be able to find a good diesel mechanic in Texas.

My brother TR4ever on this site retired 2 weeks ago.  He says that working on his 2.6 acres is exhausting.  I had to laugh when he said that he works until dinnertime at 6:00 pm then takes a shower and is ready for bed.  He says he can't get enough done.  I told him that on a ranch you don't work till 6pm, you work till the light is gone, have supper, shower, and *then *go to bed.   Hopefully, we will be hearing from him on BYH.  He has some heritage breeds of chickens.


----------



## Baymule

I have an EXTREMELY HONEST and excellent diesel mechanic in Lindale. I took my diesel mule to him last week. BJ and I used him on our truck and mule. @Ridgetop i got you covered!


----------



## farmerjan

Thought I would bring this thread up to date a bit.  
Stock market has had a few rallies, but it is slowly working downward... lost more today.  Lost alot last week... It is a sign of things getting worse but many are not taking it seriously enough.  

The weather has been so yo-yo in so many places.  There are still some real bad drought stricken areas and a recent article says that corn and cotton is 50% off this year in places like Texas and other states.  Arizona is hurting so bad for water... the conservation dept or whatever they are called is hauling water to "sinks" in the desert for the wildlife as there is nothing for the wildlife to eat and drink.  Not counting what they are trying to do for the people... and let the farmers figure it out on their own since they have cut all the water allotments to.  Most places that have cut all the water to the ag sector have farmers cutting the production of vegetable crops to try to save what water they can get for things like some of the trees and all where there is a much greater investment.  There is an article on SS sister site under the shortages thread... mostly about AZ but list what so many farmers have done because they cannot afford to plant crops that there is no hope to harvest from the drought conditions.  Wheat production is way down, grain sorghum has been cut so much.  It is primarily an animal feed.  
Everyone on here is pretty much on the "bandwagon" for being more self sufficient... have pantry's and freezers full of food... being prepared.  Prices are up and will continue to creep up and there is going to be less food available, or it will be priced to the point that people will not be able to afford it.  
There will be less beef available in the future with the drought causing so many to sell down or sell out in the mid and south west.  It will drive the prices up too.  There might be a bit of a drop in prices right now as there are more animals being butchered... If you find any "better prices" you need to stock up if you can.  

Gas right here has dropped to $3.35 a gallon for regular but diesel is back up to about $5.00 a gallon. Most gas is in the 3.49 range... 

How is everyone else doing with the economy as it is and are you going into this winter in as good a shape as you can be??


----------



## Mike CHS

We are in pretty good shape but having spent most of my adult life in hurricane country, I have stayed prepared for many years.  We saw this coming last year and we had been planning on cutting our sheep numbers down from a high of 80 head to 20 or so.  We kept 10 more lambs last season than we had been planning on and we are back up to 30 head and already have enough pasture stockpiled that we won't have to buy any hay until well into winter.


----------



## Baymule

My life has been in an uproar for almost a year. I’m moving and unpacking to see what I have . I’ll be ok. I do want a garden again, probably will be raised beds.


----------



## murphysranch

Out west Power outages are happing this week and next. One of my brother's in San Jose,CA had a planned outage last nite for three hours.

My friend in Vista, CA has one planned for this weekend. Electricity is strained to the max. I know that Bay and Ridgetop talked about this conundrum and the governor's new proclamation last week.

Potato crop is waay short this fall. I've been reading that the storage potatoes are not lasting as long in their bags - spoiling.

In my area, more and more hay fields are being surveyed, then huge land movers come in and dig them up. Only about 2 miles away, a very large parcel was sold to a developer for office space. WTHECK does anyone need office space now a days? Sheesh.


----------



## Mini Horses

A lot of crops are short this year...a fact that will be VERY apparent in a few more months when replacement stock for things already processed isn't there.  I suspect temps will have a lot of effect on storage of some products....like those potatoes. 

Because we know things don't grow overnight -- unlike city people who just go to a grocery store and think it "happens" right there -- I believe we react sooner and plan.  Food prices will continue to rise, supplies will shrink and alternatives will happen. 

I LOVE my farm, animals and my ability to raise my own food!


----------



## Mini Horses

We all dread the trip to the feed store register 😥. Many farms lost entire crop production.  Here's what's out there in many fields...low production.  Mostly these are both water issues.  Look and weep, this is why prices will continue to rise.


----------



## farmerjan

See where OPEC has decided to cut production... sent the gas prices climbing like a squirrel up a tree trunk... over $.20 rise in 2 hours at several stations here.  I paid 3.15 2 days ago... got it for 3.32 at the same station... filled all 3 vehicles... was up to 3.59 2 miles away.... 
NOT GOOD.....


----------



## Alaskan

We are back above 5 bucks a gallon.

Lack of refineries up here... most of our oil goes south... gets refined, and then has to be hauled back



I always find it maddening!


----------



## murphysranch

Gas went up $1.03 in two weeks here. Last I looked at the cheap station, it was $5.25 a gal. But that's been a few days.


----------



## Mini Horses

They just mention an OPEC change and up price on what's already here. 

Been talking COLA for months... no increase because of that!  No...wait!!!!!😦🤬


----------



## farmerjan

Although I don't agree with some of the ways things are done... a friend in the oil and gas industry explained to me that they go up when things like a cutback, or a shortage or say a disaster like a hurricane happens... because the gas station owner/operator has to think ahead to what it is going to cost him to REPLACE  the gas in the tanks when he gets his next fillup... AND has to slide it a bit so that it doesn't go up $.50 or $1.00 the next fillup.  Say they continued to sell the gas they got delivered for 2.75 a gallon... so with taxes and all they are getting 3.00 gallon at the pump... they have to pay their rent heat lights, etc and so on... OKAY everyone else goes up $.20 at this announcement but he does not so he sells out of gas in 2 days instead of 5....  he can't get a delivery for 3 more days until his scheduled one... his income from "convenience items" in the store goes way down so he is sitting on "nothing"... gets a new delivery and the price is up to 3.25 gallon...so now his gas is priced higher than every one else because they went up some and can afford to average it out a little and since they only went up .20 before , now they are only going up another .20 so they lose a little or just break even on the gas but they have business coming in the door. 

I don't agree the way it works, but I do understand it after having it explained to me.  It is all about margins... 

 Honestly, my grandparents had a gas station in Ct. when I was a kid growing up.... went through the gas rationing and even/odd days in the 70's... and I know for a fact that they made a few pennies per gallon on gas... and they did NOT have a convenience store... a soda machine was about it... they did some repairs but towards the end was just a gas station....this was 50 years ago.... but they had a steady clientele for gas and you could make it a little easier... then when the gas rationing hit, and all that, they finally sold out as the land was worth a whole lot more than they could make.  It is a different ball game now than it was back then. Gas is actually just the "convenience" thing that gets the people in the door....


----------



## Grizzlyhackle

It was 3.69 yesterday. 3.59 on Friday. Diesel was 4.76 last I looked at it.
Pop explained it to me years ago. The profit margin was always low. Store owner/ service station only made a few cents off each gallon.  There's only one old time gas/ service station I know of around here. His draw has always been they filled your pump for the same price and it's one of the best reliable service places around. Full auto shop, I had a Buick rebuilt there in the 80s. Same family since the 50s.
Convenience store now has to have gas, beer, lottery and some kind of quick good food. Fried chicken, hot and cold subs/sandwiches. Plus they are all corporations. All the Mom and Pops are gone except on the islands or little towns to far off the main road.


----------



## farmerjan

@Grizzlyhackle  yeah it is a shame that all the convenience stores are now the "gas/service stations" of old.... 
Gas here at the station I got it for 3.32 just as it was going up is now 3.49.  The diesel here is 5.15 and there is a range of 4.59 to 4.99 in the 20 miles between here and town to the north.... Crazy.


----------



## Grizzlyhackle

And today regular is 3.75 in Md. 3.59 in Delaware. Diesel in Delaware now 4.95-5.05.
I stopped to get a bale of hay on the way home. 9$. I asked was it something new and special. 
Can't find the old receipt but I'd swore it was 7$ not that long ago.
Dr. Pepper is 5$ a six pack at food lion. 3.33 at Wally world. I'm confused.
So I walk past the coolers  and meat displays in Walmart and they're about half full or less. Did something happen today I ain't aware of? Maybe it was during a rush or shift change.
Go to checkout, 30 people standing in line to use the do it yourself checkout. So I keep walking. Nobody in line at the express, 2 other cashier's talking. People are truly lemmings. 
Last has anybody seen Muncho's in the stores lately? I've tried for 2 weeks to get just one bag. 
The only bright spot was going to CVS and get a prescription. 3$ for 90 days. Thank God DW has Blue Cross.


----------



## SageHill

Grizzlyhackle said:


> I stopped to get a bale of hay on the way home. 9$. I asked was it something new and special.
> Can't find the old receipt but I'd swore it was 7$


Wait - what the heck - $9 a bale --- good Lord I'd take that any day in a heartbeat. Don't out here (So Cal) a bail is ........$27 alfalfa.


----------



## Mike CHS

I guess that griping about $5 a bale from the field wouldn't be a good idea.


----------



## farmerjan

Mike CHS said:


> I guess that griping about $5 a bale from the field wouldn't be a good idea.


Nope, not a good idea to gripe about $5...... we are getting $8 a sq bale now.... farm I went and tested this evening is getting $9 a sq bale of good orchard grass...


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## farmerjan

Talking about shortages... awhile back I started buying extra butter to stick in the freezer... just because.  It was something like 2.98 /lb or a 2 pack for 4.98 or something.  I just read somewhere that butter is up to 4.98 for a 1 lb package??!!!! I would pick up a 2 pk out of the dairy dept ....am I ever glad that I did.  Cannot imagine it is nearly twice what it was ... but then the price paid to farmers for their milk is up... for the last 6 months or so....


----------



## Baymule

A square bale of bermuda  is $11 at the feed store. I paid $80 each for 10 round bales of unfertilized bahia. Fertilized would have been $120. The sheep hit that hay after coming in for the evening and getting their pellets. So I guess even unfertilized it has some nutrients they aren't getting or else they need the roughage. Either way, it's good.


----------



## CLSranch

When I looked at prairie grass square hay here it was $8 a bale, $7 a bale if you bought 50 or more, according to the flyer. When I called it was $10 a bale for 50 bales. I'm trying to sell a horse to help lower cost. It might be better to put her in the freezer. $65 a bale for the small 4x5 1/2 bales. That guy hasn't called me back. 🤔 Last year (maybe year before) $50 for a 6x6 heavy bale.

  I lucked out on 160 small square in July that was 20 years old but still good. They just wanted to tear the barn down and I got to get the hay first. It won't last long though.


----------



## farmerjan

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from testing... and yep... saw where butter was 4.98 for 1 lb pkg and 8.98 for the 2 pack.  WOW.  Farmers did not get a raise of double on their milk prices 6 months ago....

Talking to DS last night when I was picking him up with the truck to bring the baler back up to the barn to store while we go through this rain spell... He said he called about diesel for the farm... last time he got it about 2 months ago(?) it was up to 3.49 delivered for off-road diesel.  It is 4.59 delivered right now and  4.25 at the pump at the co-op.... Another place was 4.99 delivered to the farm.  The guy at the first place, co-op to the south of us, said it will be going up again as they are hearing that it will be going up at least another $1 a gallon or so.  Based on the mess with Russia and the whole mess with the OPEC nations cutting the production. 

I realize that those of you out west are paying those prices already.  But if it goes up that much here, it will also go up out there and it will be so expensive that you are going to see more and continued reduction in farming practices.  If prices keep going up, and there are continued decreases in acres planted and farmed, there is going to be increased costs of food and increased SHORTAGES of food.  

I know that most on here do "get it"... but folks, this is getting more serious.  Get some stuff stockpiled if you don't already have it because there might come a time that barter of food and basic staples may be what will save you.  
Hunting season is upon us and if you can possibly do it, freeze or can any and all you can.  Vacuum packed meat will keep for several years if not compromised with freezer burn for tiny holes in the bag from rough handling.  It will lose a little nutritional value but it does not go bad if kept at 0* freezer temps.  
INVEST in a bigger freezer if you have a smaller one... pay it on time.. it will be worth having the extra space.  And things are not going to get cheaper overall.  We may see a crash in prices if the recession goes into a more "depression" state... and that is very possible with the way things are going.  But there will be few that will be able to take advantage of those prices falling unless they are better situated now going into it.  
Most everyone on here cans and believes in trying to have enough put by for 6 months or more.  Make sure of it.  Grow a garden next year or buy at farmers markets or offer to WORK at a friends garden in exchange for food.  In SS, our sister site, there is a member @farmerjamie that got into a community garden with the church offering land to people... seems most did not take advantage of it, corn was planted in much and although I think he did his part, much went to waste because there was so much to be harvested.  That is a sad situation.  We have to do better... and I am as guilty as anyone of not using all that I have planted and tried to put up.  But, it might be the difference down the road in eating or not eating.  
I hope it never gets to that place.  I would hope that I would get to the place where if I have surplus, I can have a small roadside market or consign to a food co-op like I used to do.  Or to give to friends and share with those less fortunate.  But in that line of thinking, I also am tired of giving to those that are not even willing to TRY to help themselves.  Maybe God will judge me for that, but I am not going to be a doormat for those that think they are entitled, to just take and take with no sense of "paying for" their food in some manner... money, shared work, barter, something.  If you have issues, health problems, whatever, then I can be very generous.  But I am not handing things to able bodied lazy people.  

I am getting the rest of my financial situation in order.  Hopefully before the SHTF.... and maybe we will be lucky and it won't happen.  I am hoping the government has some major changes so we can start to crawl our way back to a financial and moral balance in this country.  But, even if we do a swing and go to the super conservative direction.... it will take YEARS to back up and FIX what has been allowed to go so crazy.... it will take twice as long to just go back to where we were 2 or 4 years ago... In the meantime, we still need to eat and provide for ourselves and our families. 

I don't have the answers for much, but I do know we are going so far away from what this country was started for and the principles that the we were founded on.  
We are not perfect.  There were wrongs done here and the black population was not the only ones that were "done wrong".... everyone here can agree on that.  BUT we cannot go back and change history... it is GONE... but we had da#@ well better learn from it and go FORWARD... and we had better learn from the history of what happened to VENEZUELA and what they have finally started to see and come back around..... read articles on how socialism failed and how it destroyed their whole financial standing. 
We are on the cusp of going down that same road.


----------



## Ridgetop

I have cut down on the amount of meat I prepare for meals for the 5 adults in the house.  I bought boneless rib steaks at $7.99 lb., brought them home and cut them in half to freeze.  My sons were shocked to get a small steak 3"x4" for dinner instead of a whole one.  I told them that at the prices of meat they were going to be getting half as much meat for meals as usual.  Same goes for breakfast eggs.  We can't grow a garden - my last 2 gardens were eaten by the ground squirrels - however, I have tried to stock up on cases of canned vegetables.  The store brands when they are on sale.  I also stocked up in coffee.  The bottom shelves of my large hall closet are where I keep the canned goods and the top shelves that are not reachable except on a ladder are for the coffee.  I still have some TP and try to replace stuff when we use it.  Unfortunately, my family does not see the need to stock up and complains when I try to do it.  I guess I will eat my stockpiled food behind locked doors while they complain and go hungry!   I am just afraid that we will not get to Texas in time to plant a garden and fruit trees before everything goes wrong.  

I am really worried about war coming to us because of Biden and his stand with China and Russia.


----------



## Mini Horses

Those boys will get used to smaller portions -- or they can buy the meats....share the bill.


----------



## murphysranch

Preach it Sister. I'm sooooo with you, we must be twins. 

I have hoarded a bunch and still check out the damaged cans and the clearance stuff. Now that Kroger is prob going to buy Safeway and Albertsons, I'm gonna be dog on mad cus Safeway has the best digital coupons. I go there every week for the digital coupons for the things we use. Free cheese this week, 29 cent ice cream one week, 13 cent pumpkins, mangos for 49 cents. You know - loss leaders to bring us in. 

Kroger is much more expensive when you compare the same ad from Safeway to Kroger for the same brand/item of food.  This week: Progresso soups 96 cents at Safeway, $1.29 at Kroger. I could go on and on. 

I have a ton of tomatoes down in the garden that I just don't "feel" like harvesting. But GET WITH IT, Girl! Pick the da$% things and throw them in the freezer.

RT: we are supposed to only eat a piece of solid muscle meat the size of a deck of cards. Tell them all that is what they are getting. Hubs and I have done that over the last two years and we're used to it now. Would I rather eat a thigh and a leg? YES!!! Would I love to have an entire steak? OMGOSH yes.

My chickens eat everything now. They are only 4 months old, but I've been training them to enjoy a large bowl of anything I chop up/mince, smoosh, soak, etc. Today they had crackers, 2017 corn flake crumbs, a rice cake, and 1/2 of a cooked yellow squash that was all seedy. Tomorrow they are getting the rest of the squash, a tin of chicken salad mix from 2015 (I got a bunch of free food from an estate sale that was going to be thrown away), some very old oatmeal, and a lettuce leaf that is brown. Don't worry - they have good food and they get a handful of scratch and a handful of milo, which is slightly cheaper per lb than the scratch. 

Oh, and I'm always ready to share.


----------



## Mini Horses

My chickens love it when I let extra goat milk clabber for them to have.  Cats often get fresh, warm milk.  No "scrap" food here.  Trimmings when I can, freeze, cook go to an animal.  Big meal leftovers become heat & eat meals, soup or casserole ... If a lot...planovers. 👍

I think we all do this to some extent.  I'm pretty strong on it.  If I feed one animal who can feed me and others, I'm happy. 😁. Saves $.  My chickens free range and feed from any dropped food my goats might share...plus eat bugs, flies, grasshoppers, etc....which amazing become eggs.🤗 less chicken feed to buy.


----------



## SageHill

farmerjan said:


> I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from testing... and yep... saw where butter was 4.98 for 1 lb pkg and 8.98 for the 2 pack.  WOW.  Farmers did not get a raise of double on their milk prices 6 months ago....
> 
> Talking to DS last night when I was picking him up with the truck to bring the baler back up to the barn to store while we go through this rain spell... He said he called about diesel for the farm... last time he got it about 2 months ago(?) it was up to 3.49 delivered for off-road diesel.  It is 4.59 delivered right now and  4.25 at the pump at the co-op.... Another place was 4.99 delivered to the farm.  The guy at the first place, co-op to the south of us, said it will be going up again as they are hearing that it will be going up at least another $1 a gallon or so.  Based on the mess with Russia and the whole mess with the OPEC nations cutting the production.
> 
> I realize that those of you out west are paying those prices already.  But if it goes up that much here, it will also go up out there and it will be so expensive that you are going to see more and continued reduction in farming practices.  If prices keep going up, and there are continued decreases in acres planted and farmed, there is going to be increased costs of food and increased SHORTAGES of food.
> 
> I know that most on here do "get it"... but folks, this is getting more serious.  Get some stuff stockpiled if you don't already have it because there might come a time that barter of food and basic staples may be what will save you.
> Hunting season is upon us and if you can possibly do it, freeze or can any and all you can.  Vacuum packed meat will keep for several years if not compromised with freezer burn for tiny holes in the bag from rough handling.  It will lose a little nutritional value but it does not go bad if kept at 0* freezer temps.
> INVEST in a bigger freezer if you have a smaller one... pay it on time.. it will be worth having the extra space.  And things are not going to get cheaper overall.  We may see a crash in prices if the recession goes into a more "depression" state... and that is very possible with the way things are going.  But there will be few that will be able to take advantage of those prices falling unless they are better situated now going into it.
> Most everyone on here cans and believes in trying to have enough put by for 6 months or more.  Make sure of it.  Grow a garden next year or buy at farmers markets or offer to WORK at a friends garden in exchange for food.  In SS, our sister site, there is a member @farmerjamie that got into a community garden with the church offering land to people... seems most did not take advantage of it, corn was planted in much and although I think he did his part, much went to waste because there was so much to be harvested.  That is a sad situation.  We have to do better... and I am as guilty as anyone of not using all that I have planted and tried to put up.  But, it might be the difference down the road in eating or not eating.
> I hope it never gets to that place.  I would hope that I would get to the place where if I have surplus, I can have a small roadside market or consign to a food co-op like I used to do.  Or to give to friends and share with those less fortunate.  But in that line of thinking, I also am tired of giving to those that are not even willing to TRY to help themselves.  Maybe God will judge me for that, but I am not going to be a doormat for those that think they are entitled, to just take and take with no sense of "paying for" their food in some manner... money, shared work, barter, something.  If you have issues, health problems, whatever, then I can be very generous.  But I am not handing things to able bodied lazy people.
> 
> I am getting the rest of my financial situation in order.  Hopefully before the SHTF.... and maybe we will be lucky and it won't happen.  I am hoping the government has some major changes so we can start to crawl our way back to a financial and moral balance in this country.  But, even if we do a swing and go to the super conservative direction.... it will take YEARS to back up and FIX what has been allowed to go so crazy.... it will take twice as long to just go back to where we were 2 or 4 years ago... In the meantime, we still need to eat and provide for ourselves and our families.
> 
> I don't have the answers for much, but I do know we are going so far away from what this country was started for and the principles that the we were founded on.
> We are not perfect.  There were wrongs done here and the black population was not the only ones that were "done wrong".... everyone here can agree on that.  BUT we cannot go back and change history... it is GONE... but we had da#@ well better learn from it and go FORWARD... and we had better learn from the history of what happened to VENEZUELA and what they have finally started to see and come back around..... read articles on how socialism failed and how it destroyed their whole financial standing.
> We are on the cusp of going down that same road.


I love the way you think - I could not have said it better. 👍👍


----------



## Mini Horses

In Walmart today I checked dairy prices.  Had to blink and do math again for this one...

1# pkg of WM butter. 4.48.....but a double pkg was 11.79.  cleaned my glasses and looked again!!  Yep, double way more than 2 singles 😦🤔

Guess the singles will be more next shipment 🤷🥴

Gave my hens a kibble treat tonight.  WM eggs at 6 a dzn for brown free range.....


----------



## Baymule

I have a bunch of WM butter in the freezer. During Covid, couldn't find butter, but I had enough to get us through-in the freezer. LOL Then I bought up more as it became available. So I haven't checked out prices lately. Was getting eggs from nephew's wife, but dogs got her chickens. Guess I'll have to get a few hens sooner than I planned. Still have plenty of meat in the freezer.

Going to host Thanksgiving dinner. Me, DD and family, friend (like a daughter) Sarah and family, maybe DS, totals 10. Going to invite 2 maybe more friends, maybe my sister and her sister will come. Yes, my sister (same mom, my dad adopted my brother and sister) has other half siblings, seems their father "got around" LOL So maybe 14-ish people. 2 friends and sisters will just come for the day. DD, Sarah and family are 8 people, glad I got a sleeper sofa. 

I walked 1.8 miles yesterday. Going to church this morning. Friends coming over to visit this afternoon. Coffee is kicking off the day!


----------



## Mini Horses

Fortunately I have enough butter in freezer from somewhere in 2.50# range.  Plus some minor amounts of goat butter but, several # of ricotta cheese from goat milk and a couple #mozz made this summer.  Was just WOW, at current prices!


----------



## farmerjan

@Mini Horses ... totally off the wall for the 2 pkg compared to the 1 lb pkg. there by you.  And yes, I expect that the next shipment will have the 1 lb pkg higher cost too.  I purposely checked the prices and bought 1 of the 2 lb pkgs  just to add to what is in the freezer.  Also bought another big pkg of toilet paper.  I am sure hoping that people are going to just see ENOUGH,  that the vote goes very conservative in Nov and then it will take time to turn around... years I am afraid and there will continue to be shortages and outrageous prices for awhile.  Look at the debt we are going to have to try to come out from under.  There is a very interesting article in the Epoch times discussing the different econmies around the world and how BAD things are going to be in European countries and places like Japan... that we are actually in a fair place to weather it under the circumstances.  But they are talking some possible world wide famine due to the lack of food from not enough farming/growing and the lack of fertilizer so greatly reduced crops too... and how this is all within the talking points of "reducing the world population" that ties in with these viruses and then the "vaccines" that cause more death than help. 
Really recommend this paper for the insightful thoughts.  Don't agree with some of it but it really digs into subjects and makes you think...


----------



## murphysranch

My young chickens are not free range. We have coyotes and racoons at night and raptors by day.


----------



## Mini Horses

farmerjan said:


> very interesting article in the Epoch times discussing the different econmies around the world and how BAD things are going to be in European countries and places like Japan... that we are actually in a fair place to weather it under the circumstances. But they are talking some possible world wide famine due to the lack of food from not enough farming/growing and the lack of fertilizer so greatly reduced crops too... and how



It is true that the problems we see here are being experienced in other parts of the world.  Just not made such a front page issue here, rather a brief mentioning.  Inflation and shortages are greater than here, actually.  They are also having greater job loss.  Some of those countries had already been in limited food supplies.  Now compounded.  No matter the annoyance, the USA is still THE BEST ,🥰👍

Yeah, this will be around for years, as to recovery.  But doing and knowing how to be your own frugal self will keep you in the "remember and complain" status rather than starve and collapse. 🥴. It's why we strive to live and produce for our family and friends.  We share knowledge freely.


----------



## SageHill

I think it's time for me to start freezing butter. I've been able to keep about 2lbs in the fridge throughout the current mess. From a safe food preserving board I was on (before I left FB) I found that it was ok to freeze eggs - so when the girls are giving more than we need I freeze them. Crack into silicone muffin mold (I'd say pan - but it's not metal) freeze and then vacuum seal in 2 eggs/bag. Works great for baking and such. Haven't tried them as fried though.


----------



## Ridgetop

Just bought 3 lb. pack of butter 2 days ago for the freezer.  Told DS1 that we needed to buy each time went to store if he wanted Christmas cookies thus year.  I think I will cut back to just one batch of each kind instead of several batches to share with family.  Let them make their own!  I would like to make my grandmother's fruitcake recipe this year.  I am down to one loaf in freezer.  I used to make it a lot for mother, uncles, and aunt but now with everyone dead, my kids don't really like it.  Good fruitcake is an acquired taste.  My grandmother taught e her recipe and I am the only one in the family to have it.  She told me that good fruitcake had just enough batter to hold the candied fruit and nuts together.  Then you have to soak it in liquor every month.  Good fruitcake, stored properly and liquored enough, will keep for a year and gets higher in proof every month.  I store mine in the freezer and just liquor it up every couple months - after a year or so, just a couple pieces can give you a real buzz!  LOL.  This year we will have to have it with Granny Wahl's Eggnog.    Wonder who will be the last person standing?  

I freeze everything, but will have to go back to canning if electricity becomes a problem.  Once we move to Texas I hope to get a propane generator and tank.  With a garden I can go back to canning everything again.  Even meat.


----------



## CLSranch

Mini Horses said:


> 1# pkg of WM butter. 4.48.....but a double pkg was 11.79. cleaned my glasses and looked again!! Yep, double way more than 2 singles 😦🤔


I've noticed years ago that sometimes the "value" size is actually more per pd. or oz., than the regular pack. Always do the math. Sometimes the small print on the price sticker gives the price per oz on lunch meat and various items. Even canned beans or chili. If not looking for an exact size per recipe I look at the oz. 
  Canned beans and other things that come in 3 sizes the double size is cheaper than 2 regular cans but much less volume than 2 cans and possibly more per oz.


----------



## Ridgetop

I always check the price per ounce.  You are right - sometimes multiples of the small sizes come out cheaper.  The giant sizes are often not as cheap per ounce as you think.


----------



## murphysranch

I love good fruitcake. And chocolate fruitcake too! I made one of those years ago, and have never forgotten that flavor!


----------



## Ridgetop

I have never had chocolate fruitcake.  How did the glacee fruit combine with the chocolate?  I think rum would be my liquor of choice to use for the chocolate variety.  

My grandmother's recipe is traditional fruitcake from family recipe over 150 years old.  Pounds of glacee fruit, almonds, walnuts, honey, applesauce, lots of liquor, and just enough flour to make a batter to stick everything together.  Recipe calls for either brandy or muscatel wine.  Line pans with buttered parchment and bake over water like custard.  My grandmother used to save her coffee cans and use them.  I use loaf pans because it is easier to cut and store.  Wrap in cheesecloth soaked in liquor.  Your choice of brandy or rum to soak.  I have also made this recipe in fancy Christmas cupcake papers when I was running my boutique pickle and jam business.

I have some glacee fruit in the freezer.  it is getting hard to find and very expensive.  I do't use the chopped "fruitcake mix" but instead the individual glacee cherries pineapple, citron, orange and lemon peel, etc. that have to be cut up.  Thank goodness yoi can buy the shelled nuts now n bulk.  I can remember my grandfather sitting at the kitchen tabe with a hammer and his piece of wood and shelling the nuts for the Christmas baking.  Occasionally he would sneak us kids a couple nuts.  My grandmother would get after him when she caught him, and he would just wink at us.  The piece of wood had a big dent in it from years of shelling nuts.  As a child I thought it was made that way and was a special nut shelling block.     So many wonderful memories -like turning the crank on the old hand grinder that bolted to the kitchen table when my grandmother was making the stuffing for the turkey at holiday time.  *'m sure she used it other times too but seeing that grinder clamped on the table meant that Thanksgiving or Christmas was actually here!  

We lived with my grandparents, so I have those memories.  My children and grandchildren didn't see me making Christmas cookies often since I found it easier to make them when they were in school and then freeze them. Otherwise I had to make twice as many due to theft.     And of course, I use a food processor to make the stuffing - how nostalgic is that?!   But I do have the hand grinder put away along with great grandmother's washboard, and some other antique kitchen items.  If electricity gets too expensive, I might have to get them out and start using them!  

Today I am going to go through my kitchen cabinets and remove the items that I will bring to Texas next trip to store in the sheds.  I have some kitchen crockery, along with the fancy pottery coffee cups, and other things that I don't use often.  I have other stuff that I use more frequently, but they can be packed to bring to Texas and used there, *OR* I will offer the really pretty ones to my daughters and daughters-in-law.  I have some really pretty large platters for parties too that can go to them.  I will go to the thrift stores in Texas and pick up some Pyrex to cook with - the thrift stores always have lots of that stuff and I won't have to drag it with me.  That glassware can be disinfected in the dishwasher easily.  I can also get new cookware, knives, towels, and bedding at either Sam's club or Ross.  I think they have both in Lindale so an all-day shopping trip once we are moved there will outfit the house nicely.  I also have a complete set of bedding, curtains, and matching wallpaper in the Conex that I will bring that I really like.  It is in very good condition and will look pretty in our bedroom (again).  LOL As well as an almost new set of double bed sheets and comforter set from the spare bedroom that I stored when MJ died, and we converted the spare bedroom to our office.  Even though I plan to install a Murphy bed in the spare room, I will need bedding when I pull it down for the wall for visitors.

So many plans.  I hope they will be accomplished.  Better get the moving boxes put together and the packing paper out.  I keep the old moving boxes and packing papers that are in good condition and store them.  My children have used them several times and I have stacks of them in the Conex and sheds.  Time to start filling them with stuff to go to Texas.  Also, will have to bring some boxes of reno & building materials, and the industrial shelving they are on as well.  Oh yes and the wood stove.  See comment about expense of electricity in Paragraph 3 above.


----------



## farmerjan

Is anyone watching the possible rail strike that is impending in early Dec??? What it is going to mean to supplies... with the holidays coming???? 
If this happens, and I hope not but with the fed gov trying to play both sides of the fence who knows.... there will be such a backlog of stuff, and shortages will be much more common....


----------



## Baymule

Great, that’s not good news. More shortages, more of can’t get what we need.


----------



## Mini Horses

Would hate to see such disruption but, seems everything possible is happening -- so wouldn't be surprised.  Right now, I can't think of anything I'd be concerned about needing.  Feed may be interrupted but, I can source that from a "local" farmer if need be.  Prices are already increasing  as suppliers jab "because they can". 🤨🤔😞


----------



## CLSranch

farmerjan said:


> Is anyone watching the possible rail strike that is impending in early Dec??? What it is going to mean to supplies... with the holidays coming????
> If this happens, and I hope not but with the fed gov trying to play both sides of the fence who knows.... there will be such a backlog of stuff, and shortages will be much more common....


Since before he hit office Biden has been trying to get behind the big unions so they get behind him. The rail is all union so not much of an alternate train line to pick up the slack. Knowing the president will do whatever, it makes it easy to make whatever demands you want.
  Disclaimer I'm not anti-union. It was great that they came along.


----------



## farmerjan

Just thought I would revive this a bit.  

Rail strike averted due to some legislation.  BUT, stock market continues to fall.... sure it was up today... and they are touting ONLY a 4.2% inflation for the year... on core things... which doesn't include food or fuel... WTH....
 It drops 7-800 pts, and not much gets said,  then is up 100 and they say it is a good day on Wall street.  Everyone that is not really keeping up with things had better take a good look.... it is getting ALOT WORSE.....
I see the same thing in the grocery stores when I go in.  Shelves maybe not quite as empty as the ones that some have seen... there is a "Shortages thread" on SS and some were showing really EMPTY shelves.... it is a little scary just how things are getting harder and harder to find... or they are just so much more than they were...

I am very thankful that I started "stockpiling" some things back 6-10 months ago... buying at cheaper prices, buying in bulk.  And like the other day with the "find" of the alfredo spaghetti sauce on closeout,,, yep, I will take 12 jars @ .91 each over the jars of another brand next to them for over 3.00 each.  Pain to do the "slow walk" shopping through the store... but it will pay off...  I check out the clearance isles ALL the time now...

Today they passed a new "budget" that will go for a year   (well, until the end of Sept since this past years' budget was extended through special provisions 3 or 4 times)  .... 1.7 TRILLION....  with us sending another 45 BILLION to Ukraine..... NOW understand that I have absolutely no ill will towards them and admire their tenacity and believe in helping them to continue their fight for maintaining their freedom.... BUT.... if you look at the federal budget on the Wikipedia page... see where the income and the outgo are... and see that we are 1.3 TRILLION in the RED.... it makes you start to wonder..... 

I do not know where we are going in this country with the way things are looking.  No common sense to try to live within our means at all anymore.  

Those of us here and on sister sites;  that are trying to live more self reliantly... are going to see more and more that we HAVE to get more productive at the basic farm level.... Things like the price of eggs have doubled... and the cost of chicken also.  I keep buying tuna fish to stash in the cabinets.. it is still pretty reasonable... but for how long?  Paper goods are more expensive but I try to add a pkg of TP every so often so I still have plenty ahead and the average cost is not as bad as just buying when needed.  I try to pick up an extra jug or box of soap powder for washing clothes when I can find it on a "special"... and a pkg of paper towels even though I do not use alot of them... I try to buy things when they are "out of season"... and scour the clearance shelves in the stores now.  

I am lucky... we have beef.  I do not have to worry about that source of protein.  I have plenty of chickens in the freezer.  Due to still working on the knees rehab,  from the replacements, and the D#@#  DEER, I did not get near as much out of the garden as I wanted to but I have potatoes, and peppers, and butternut squash,  and got tomatoes for some eating towards the end of the season. Next year it will be better.  I will have more mobility with the knees as they slowly get back to somewhat "normal" for me.  Fencing is a priority for the property and the garden specifically.  I am going to grow more "sellable" crops like potatoes, and the butternut squash.. because they also keep pretty good.  Put out a small "stand" with them and if they don't sell, I can eat them anyway.  Good return for the work put into them.   Green beans that the deer eat off will be more of a priority for ME... and there will be deer that will wind up in the freezer if they don't stay out of the garden... kill permits for the farm can be used here since we farm across the road.  If the neighbor that said he wanted to hunt does not show up this time, I will do whatever I have to, to keep them out.  

I intend to have more chickens,  and the fruit trees will get moved even if it winds up being the "wrong time of the year" because I am not waiting on promises that DS makes to get them moved.  With this cold, I greatly doubt he will get anything done this winter again.  I will not wait on him but find someone to do it.  His priorities are elsewhere so I will find someone to do it myself.   But that is part of it... taking the "bull by the horns" and getting things done.  By yourself or with help... but DO IT.  Hoping I can find someone who is needing work.. as things get tighter and money gets more scarce and people get laid off; maybe there will be more "handyman" type people wanting to work for cash money.   There are physical things that I cannot seem to do... the knees are limiting more than I had hoped... BUT... it doesn't hurt to stand and walk so I am thankful for that.   Barter is a good thing too... might find someone wanting beef as trade/partial payment for work.... 

The upcoming year really worries me... interest rates keep going up and the economy just is not coming around. I want to be where I can make it with little to no "outgo" .....


----------



## Mike CHS

The time to start prepping was a long time ago but if you haven't started, you really need to make it a priority.  We have literally become a third world country and I'm not sure that those of us that are the base of this country can do anything about it.


----------



## Mini Horses

farmerjan said:


> core things... which doesn't include food or fuel... WTH...


Like that isn't "core" to living???


farmerjan said:


> do not know where we are going in this country with the way things are looking. No common sense to try to live within our means at all anymore.


Trying but it's a challenge.


farmerjan said:


> try to buy things when they are "out of season"... and scour the clearance shelves in the stores now.


Ditto.


Mike CHS said:


> I'm not sure that those of us that are the base of this country can do anything about it.


I'm with you and sad about needing to feel that way


I'm sure glad to be able to handle what I have and work to improve where I can.  Been able to stockpile and barter, share, garden and not lacking for food.

Knowing how to be more SS is something I wish we could instill in more people.  Many are not wanting to learn, or put in the hard work.  Society is so different than when I was growing up.


----------



## Baymule

I too have that feeling of hopelessness sometimes. All I have to fight back against the political powers that be, is my vote. It doesn’t seem to matter who I vote for, it’s voting for the left or right side of a 2 headed snake. 

Having just moved to a new place, there is so much to do. Run down, grown up fences are top priority, followed by at least a small barn in front pasture. Someday a bigger one in back pasture. Where I have the sheep now will become my garden. I want to plant berries, fruit and nut trees. It takes awhile for trees to bear, so I’d best get started!


----------



## farmerjan

I am with you too @Mike CHS .  I think that people either just don't, or refuse to see it.  I see it with DS GF... she still is not "getting it" as far as making things go farther and last and doing for herself.  She has made the comment that she had to do without too much as a kid so her daughter will not be in that position.... I just don't think she realizes that she won't have a choice to make on some of it... and where that is going to leave DS and what it will mean to me,  putting me in a position of being between a rock and a hard place between her and him.  But that is going to be my problem I guess... if it comes to total financial collapse, who and how do you choose between....
Well, as people still refuse to take some of this seriously, I intend to take advantage of it.  I have been slowly gathering things together... didn't get to it last fall but will have everything together to have a big yard sale this year.... get rid of things I don't need and some of the clutter and get more money in my pocket to turn into necessary goods to have.  If the inflation keeps up, money will not be worth much and things to barter and trade will be worth more. And having more tangible silver will be the better form of currency... I cannot afford gold, but silver will be the way that most will be able to trade for goods.  
The animals may well have to be dependent on just pasture, as grain will be necessary for those that cannot just eat grass; like chickens and pigs that have to have other sources of protein.  Luckily we have basically a grazing operation... yes we feed some grain as incentives for the animals to come in and we feed some silage... that we have grown... we can get by without added "grain" for our cattle.  

I don't know where this country is going, but it seems headed to a collapse that many have no clue that it is really coming, until it is too late.


----------



## CLSranch

Mini Horses said:


> Like that isn't "core" to living???


Well if you included all the "core" things that went up %100-%400 it'd be much harder to make this Pres look good.  Readjust the figures until it works for what you want. Not so bad when your not splitting the bill.
  Go through the exact definition of a recession, and were just going to say no, it's not really a recession.


Mini Horses said:


> Knowing how to be more SS is something I wish we could instill in more people. Many are not wanting to learn, or put in the hard work. Society is so different than when I was growing up.


That's much harder than just looking down at my phone and saying siri, order grub hub, bring me this.

 Once I asked a local kid directions to the post office, he said google it, I said I can't, he said just use your phone, I said I can't and then showed him my phone. He had NOOOOooooo idea how I got up there we'll say 400-600 miles away from home, I don't remember. He had no idea how I got anywhere without multiple Gps devices. No clue about an atlas, which I can use without reception or batteries.


farmerjan said:


> I don't know where this country is going, but it seems headed to a collapse that many have no clue that it is really coming, until it is too late.


  I've seen many that can be drowned in facts and still say, well that's not how it really is, well so & so MSM said this, your taking it out of context, no it was Trump that started it, excuse, excuse, excuse.

 Eggs double, milk, meat, FOOD, land (at least here) doubles. With a %100 increase in prices how are you going to tell me inflation only went up %10.

 Sad times for the USA.


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## Mini Horses

@CLSranch   all of which points to people seeing what's needed, and what's going on, older ways & ethics....not the GPS kid.  🤷🤔😐


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## CLSranch

The only ones seeing are the ones who have already been through it or can half sustain themselves anyway. The gps kid and a LOOOOOT of the people under 35 are just believing whatever MSM tells them.
 We/these people are also the ones who are not standing on a corner yelling at people, because we have better things to do, like work. Our or me and many conservative people say live and let live. You do your thing just LEAVE ME ALONE. There is enough of the others who yells from the rooftops you must do as I WANT. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

 I can't find it now, but there was a group of conservatives on a college campus (Mass???) with tables set up and handing out pamphlets, buttons, info and things of the sort. They were mildly attacked, cussed yelled at had their tables flipped over, everything on it thrown around, some were slapped/hit. Security shows up and it slows but doesn't stop and they are allowed to continue some harassment. Later the school was sent a petition to not allow them in the school and said it wasn't legal or shouldn't be allowed for them to gather. Any other event like name their cause was fine. They could stand and yell that's fine. Someone else can't sit at a table and talk to those who did WANT to listen.
 Now if you set up a table next to their's with opposing views IMO that's fine. You can have pro/anti this, that and the other. But the same rules should apply, yet noooooo. One side me says leave me alone. The other side screams you must do like I wish. Fing spoiled $hits. That's our new gen (didn't work out like the dodges  ).
  What happened to the people who burned buildings, attacked police and got away scot free. Some Jan 6 are still in jail after 2 years without being properly charged or allowed to talk to a lawyer. Some were even in solitary confinement for a year.

 Sorry for the rant.


----------



## SageHill

So as I drifted off to sleep last night the shortages of course came to mind. my DDIL was chatting about the egg shortage yesterday as were some friends earlier. All of us have chickens so other than the normal on-vacation mode our chooks take this time of year we're all ok. The little local grocery store has plenty of eggs. The big box stores and some of the "regular" stores may or may not have them. Everyone screaming shortage.
But I ask: (in all seriousness):
*Where have all the chickens gone? *
Seriously - they were here yesterday and now not today???? Did someone turn their lights off, and now they aren't laying because they are in the dark?? OR who is dumping all the eggs?? 
Think about it - it's probably the one crop that doesn't take a lot of "extra" work. Just pick up the eggs and stick them in a carton. No milking machines, no butcher, no processing (ok other than washing them before sale to the big stores). 
There is something VERY FISHY about this - and notice it happened during a time when many use eggs for baking Christmas goodies. Hmmmmm.


Baymule said:


> I too have that feeling of hopelessness sometimes. All I have to fight back against the political powers that be, is my vote. It doesn’t seem to matter who I vote for, it’s voting for the left or right side of a 2 headed snake.



You're not alone in that @Baymule - I have that as well, as I'm sure there are others of us that also feel the same. 
When I'm out and about here at the ranch I look and see that everything around me is normal. That helps. I've got simple veggies, eggs, and eventually lamb for the freezer (hopefully by the end of 2023). I have neighbors with goats - for milk and cheese, another with beef cattle - I think we are good - but still need to be smart. Put us as much as we can. Be ready if need be. 
.
As for voting -- that seems a joke. I still do, but. If everything is up and above board WHY don't they go ahead and do a recount and PROVE us wrong?! If it walks like a duck, talks like duck, looks like a duck .... it IS a duck.


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## Mini Horses

There were a few egg poultry farms that had to euthanize thousands...bird flu.  That accounts for "some" of the shortages.  There's disinfection, wait, inspection, raise birds, etc. to upstart.  But, like many things -- raise that price and laugh!!

I haven't bought an egg in years!  But, do check prices in stores.  😊


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## SageHill

Mini Horses said:


> There were a few egg poultry farms that had to euthanize thousands...bird flu.  That accounts for "some" of the shortages.  There's disinfection, wait, inspection, raise birds, etc. to upstart.  But, like many things -- raise that price and laugh!!
> 
> I haven't bought an egg in years!  But, do check prices in stores.  😊


According to my DIL it's a worldwide shortage (she has chickens too so that's not an issue for her). Still shaking my head over it. "Forced" shortage?? Eggs shipped to the far east? ?? It is whatever it is. Being somewhat self sufficient is a good thing especially now.
I haven't bought eggs in years, thankfully I found freezing them works for when we've got the glut of eggs in the summer.


----------



## farmerjan

There were some serious issues with a strain of "bird flu" and there were hundreds of thousands of birds destroyed last year.  That not only took the immediate egg supply numbers way down.... but it also affected some of the normal houses that raise the birds as layers for setting/hatching eggs.... so then less eggs set, less replacement chicks hatched... less pullets to grow out to maturity..... and it takes an average 20+ weeks (5 months) for any pullet to get to laying potential.... some breeds longer... so the number of eggs has been nearly cut in at least ONE THIRD... which is alot of eggs just gone.....It was not only here in the US but also in many other countries...  Supposedly it was the small backyard flocks that were the "PROBLEM" here, because they were exposed to the wild fowl (and waterfowl)  that were spreading it.... but these small flocks do not have contact with the huge confinement houses that the layers are housed in.... explain that connection....

I don't think this was as "contrived" as some of the previous times when they were killing off so many broilers and such... and there were many rumors of a surplus of chickens and we were not allowed to ship to certain countries .... avian flu here,  but for some reason they somehow reasoned that dead FROZEN chicken parts were carrying a live avian flu bug????? REALLY....and the chickens were supposed to be safe to eat once they were killed and processed since it was only affecting the live birds... like passing a cold bug from person to person with their coughing and sneezing.... but it wasn't safe for an infected person to be around a dead person????  Sometimes their "reasoning"  just doesn't make a bit of common sense ....


----------



## SageHill

farmerjan said:


> There were some serious issues with a strain of "bird flu" and there were hundreds of thousands of birds destroyed last year.  That not only took the immediate egg supply numbers way down.... but it also affected some of the normal houses that raise the birds as layers for setting/hatching eggs.... so then less eggs set, less replacement chicks hatched... less pullets to grow out to maturity..... and it takes an average 20+ weeks (5 months) for any pullet to get to laying potential.... some breeds longer... so the number of eggs has been nearly cut in at least ONE THIRD... which is alot of eggs just gone.....It was not only here in the US but also in many other countries...  Supposedly it was the small backyard flocks that were the "PROBLEM" here, because they were exposed to the wild fowl (and waterfowl)  that were spreading it.... but these small flocks do not have contact with the huge confinement houses that the layers are housed in.... explain that connection....
> 
> I don't think this was as "contrived" as some of the previous times when they were killing off so many broilers and such... and there were many rumors of a surplus of chickens and we were not allowed to ship to certain countries .... avian flu here,  but for some reason they somehow reasoned that dead FROZEN chicken parts were carrying a live avian flu bug????? REALLY....and the chickens were supposed to be safe to eat once they were killed and processed since it was only affecting the live birds... like passing a cold bug from person to person with their coughing and sneezing.... but it wasn't safe for an infected person to be around a dead person????  Sometimes their "reasoning"  just doesn't make a bit of common sense ....


Gotcha. I know all about the avian flu as it has impacted us here in So Cal many times. I just haven’t heard of a recent outbreak- but then I’m not on an IV drip to msm. 😉 perhaps there was one - but on a global basis all at the same time? Whatever. Glad to have my own birds.


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## CLSranch

I got this off of a different forum under "jokes"

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
************************************************************
MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS,MSNBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case. Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin say justice has been served.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't
maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote!


----------



## canesisters

I KNOW it's completely naïve of me - and one day I'll probably be cold & hungry & wishing I'd been more involved/informed... but I just can't stand to watch/listen/read the 'news' anymore.  It's probably been 2-3 years since I've tuned in for more than the weather - and then only when a big storm is expected.  Every source has an agenda and presents the 'facts' in a skewed way to promote the conclusions they support.
I raise my animals.  I grow and preserve some foods.  I try to live frugally.  I've learned some 'old timey' skills - butchering chickens, canning everything I can shove into a jar, scratch cooking, etc.   Many of the 'prepping' things are out of my reach financially (root cellars, massive water storage contraptions) or just out of the question for me since the only horsepower on my 'farm' is my own back.
When I happen to use the word Farm to describe my home and people ask what I raise, I like to tell them my farm produces peace, and comfort, and the desire to worship & praise.  That I grow friendships and provide knowledge (where I can).  
I like to think (again, naively) many many many folks got through previous hard times - hard decades even - with little to no prepping.  They just made-do with what they had, traded with friends & neighbors for what they didn't have.


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## Baymule

That is so true! Funny and humorous but sadly true at the same time. 

Another version could go, the ant refused to give up his home and defended it with his 30-30 rifle. SWAT teams were called in, Homeland Security and the ant was declared a terrorist. The FBI and the new, armed IRS agents came to the party. It was a standoff until a FBI agent stumbled and his gun went off. Immediately all the letter agents fired upon the ants home. Under heavy fire, the ant tried to surrender but was shot to pieces. The barrage of bullets blew holes in the gas stove, it caught fire and the ants Home blew up. The press defamed the ant, calling him a subversive shadowy figure, home grown terrorist and insurrectionist. His death was ruled a suicide. Nothing more was ever mentioned about the ant. The grasshopper was warned to never speak of this again, given a new identity and moved to an undisclosed location.


----------



## Mini Horses

And people wonder WHY I WANT to just live on my farm, love my animals, grow my garden, preserve the foods, share with neighbors, and tell the questioners to get lost!!    

When gas was 29 cent a gal, min wage was a few dollars and financially things were tight but ok....we didn't have people running around just shooting things up!  There was respect, rules and families. 

Yeah...things changed!


----------



## SageHill

CLSranch said:


> I got this off of a different forum under "jokes"
> 
> OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
> 
> The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
> 
> The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
> 
> MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
> ************************************************************
> MODERN VERSION:
> 
> The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
> 
> The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
> 
> Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
> 
> CBS,MSNBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
> 
> How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
> 
> Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'
> 
> Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
> 
> Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
> 
> Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
> 
> Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.
> 
> The ant loses the case. Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid and Dick Durbin say justice has been served.
> 
> The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't
> maintain it.
> 
> The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
> 
> MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote!


Funny, sort of only because it’s too true.


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## frustratedearthmother

canesisters said:


> I raise my animals. I grow and preserve some foods. I try to live frugally. I've learned some 'old timey' skills - butchering chickens, canning everything I can shove into a jar, scratch cooking, etc. Many of the 'prepping' things are out of my reach financially (root cellars, massive water storage contraptions) or just out of the question for me since the only horsepower on my 'farm' is my own back.
> When I happen to use the word Farm to describe my home and people ask what I raise, *I like to tell them my farm produces peace, and comfort, and the desire to worship & praise. That I grow friendships and provide knowledge (where I can).*
> I like to think (again, naively) many many many folks got through previous hard times - hard decades even - with little to no prepping. They just made-do with what they had, traded with friends & neighbors for what they didn't have.


THIS!  A gazillion likes!  No blame, no excuses - just doing what needs to be done!


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## farmerjan

canesisters said:


> I KNOW it's completely naïve of me - and one day I'll probably be cold & hungry & wishing I'd been more involved/informed... but I just can't stand to watch/listen/read the 'news' anymore.  It's probably been 2-3 years since I've tuned in for more than the weather - and then only when a big storm is expected.  Every source has an agenda and presents the 'facts' in a skewed way to promote the conclusions they support.
> I raise my animals.  I grow and preserve some foods.  I try to live frugally.  I've learned some 'old timey' skills - butchering chickens, canning everything I can shove into a jar, scratch cooking, etc.   Many of the 'prepping' things are out of my reach financially (root cellars, massive water storage contraptions) or just out of the question for me since the only horsepower on my 'farm' is my own back.
> When I happen to use the word Farm to describe my home and people ask what I raise, I like to tell them my farm produces peace, and comfort, and the desire to worship & praise.  That I grow friendships and provide knowledge (where I can).
> I like to think (again, naively) many many many folks got through previous hard times - hard decades even - with little to no prepping.  They just made-do with what they had, traded with friends & neighbors for what they didn't have.


Basically I agree with much of what you said.... EXCEPT ...... the last paragraph... that many people got through previous hard times with little or no prepping.... I agree they made do and did alot of trading.... BUT.... most had a previous generation in their household or closeby,  that kept them grounded on needing to prep and store and put  back any and everything they could to be able to provide for their future.  They also were not of the "run to the store 4 times a week" generation or of the "instant gratification" I want it now generation either.  The sad thing is that the generations from the 50's-60's-70's when things got a little better, all said they did not want their kids to go through what they went through and they did TOO MUCH for their kids and made it too easy and the kids did not grow up with much sense of having to work for what they had because mommy and daddy would just give it to them or provide it for them.  There was no sense of having to be responsible.   It has mushroomed to the gov't thinking that they should step up and make up for all the social ills that were created and now we have 2 and 3 generations of kids/people that have never had to take responsibility for themselves and it keeps on mushrooming..... 

It is going to take a very hard lesson and some real suffering before we can get back to being a more moral and responsible society..... churches took care of the poor instead of the gov't.... and hard work was respected and revered instead of those being looked at as fools and stupid when it can get handed to someone for doing nothing.  Playing the system today is the name of the game for a great percentage of the ones that don't want to work for anything.


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