Pirates in natural building

Erica went to our local natural building store yesterday to buy some supplies for this weekends work shop.
We dont normally buy stuff from this place for our work but some speciality items for work shops you just need top get. Mica, pigments, Etc. make a delightful additive to plasters and are hard to get unless you take a run to the mountains and find it.

any how the pigments dont cost much. However mica is running $15 dollars for about a cup and $99 dollars a bag and they sell cob mix in a 5 gal bucket for around $100.

 We can order a 50 lb bag of mica for $10 plus shipping and a gallon of milk paint costs around $7  a gallon for all the ingredients Cob cost almost nothing if you have clay in your subsoil. we got 3 yards of washed mason sand at $35 a yard and straw at $3 a bale.

I can understand making a living but those prices are bloody astronomical. this is the kind of thing that makes natural building look bad.  folks cant afford our work shops but will still pay this kind of price for a freeking gallon of paint! WTF is this some kind of joke. our damn work shops cost nothing in comparison to this boutique bull shit.... grrrr pisses me off when some jackass decides to make the cheap into a unreachable goal so some cash cow can feel superior cause he bought his cob mix in a bucket.