Went to Costco yesterday...

get your garden going...

Grafting avocados and mangos with decent success. I also have several citrus fruit trees going as well. Insects are vicious to vegetables here. At least in the lower elevations. That's why I hit the farmers market. Veggies are grown upcountry. Usually mangos aren't that much. I was shocked! My mango tree is about to push flowers soon and I won't have to worry in a few months. I also planted several papaya trees and bananas. I will be using these for barter with the farmers market very very soon.

The cost I noticed the most was grated cheddar. Last year it was about $9. Then it went to $14. Yesterday it was $18! TPTB are going to starve us to death.

The issue with food prices here in Hawaii is all of the agriculture is owned by a couple of corps. HC&S and of course Monsanto. HC&S diverts 99% of maui's rainfall to the sugar cane fields. No more rivers flow here as they once did. They rob the soils of water and charge an arm and a leg for municipal water making it too expensive for personal gardens. Cheaper to buy from the store if you can imagine. Fortunately it rains enough in the higher elevations to sustain small kine growers that supply local stands. But with the costs of everything else going up, the local growers are now raising their prices too. It's unbelievable to imagine that an area like Maui that most of it's foods are imported. Therefore, the folks in control can price foods at whatever they want and there's not much we can do about it.

It's been a very long time since I've been to the mainland. Prices going through the roof there too?