Pensioner Jim Deghand has had it tough in recent winters.
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Reliant on the aged pension, he's just moved out of a place that had no electricity, with a wood fireplace the only heat source.
But after spending a year on a waiting list, he now lives in an independent living unit in an aged care village in Deloraine.
"I have electricity now at least," he said.
But like so many other Tasmanians, one of his biggest concerns is the rising price of food.
"I just paid $20/KG for brussel sprouts, and $17/kg for parsnips," Mr Deghand said.
After rent, he has little left over for all of his other expenses.
Mr Deghand has turned to gardening as a solution.
He said he has asked permission from the managers at his retirement village to plant vegetables in the front lawn area of his unit.
Thankfully they allowed it, he said.
"Alot of people there [in the new retirement village] have flower beds. I like flowers, but I want something that I can eat," he said.
He is planning to immediately plant broad beans and leaks, which he thinks he can grow even in a harsh Tasmanian winter.
He wants to expand his plot to other vegetables in the future.
Mr Deghand has joined millions of Australians that are struggling with a cost of living crisis caused by the Covid pandemic, but exacerbated by Russia's assault on Ukraine.
Both countries are big food exporters, and Russia is one of the world's biggest exporters of energy.
The invasion itself cut off Ukraine's grain exports, while resulting sanctions against Russia have pushed up energy prices. The effects are being felt as far away as Australia.
Inflation in the country reached 5.1 percent in the year to March, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Since then, the Ukraine war, local energy prices and floods in the Northern part of Australia may have driven food prices up even further, experts say.
Coles in Tasmania on Saturday was selling iceberg lettuce for $5.50 - up from $3.50 afew weeks ago. Truss tomatoes, just $7/KG afew weeks back, are selling for nearly $13/KG.
Other significant price jumps were seen on packaged spinach (now $33/KG) and broccoli (now $11.90/KG).
The price rises are devastating for Tasmanians on low incomes.
While Kings Meadows retiree Ron Corino is comfortable financially, he is aware of the price rises.
A keen gardener, he said he has been saving money for years by growing his own vegetables at the backyard of his unit in the Onecare retirement village.
"In the summer, we don't buy vegetables, so we save alot of money," he told the Examiner.
His garden has parsley, peppers, celery, various herbs, and passion fruit. In the summer months, he also grows lettuce and tomatoes and other salad vegetables.
"In the summer, we save an awful lot of money. I don't buy lettuce, I don't buy capsicums, I don't buy tomatoes. Beans and peas - we save alot of money growing our own. " Mr Corino said.
A keen gardener, Mr Corino also has a plot at the Punchbowl Community Garden.
Started as a scheme under the Launceston City Council, the Community Garden has 180 public plots for hire - and Mr Corino said he pays about $30 per year for it, including water use.
The fact that the public garden has a waiting list for plots shows the level of demand for home-grown vegetables.
Pensioners in the south of the state are similarly hard-hit by rocketing prices.
Dodges Ferry retiree Lorraine Parsell said she is nearly self-sufficient in the vegetables she most regularly eats.
She has been building her backyard garden for a number of years.
"I've heard about the prices, in the supermarket it is really bad - and I am a pensioner who can afford it. There are others out there that can't," she said.
In her backyard plot, she grows tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, silverbeet, carrots and other vegetables.
She has built a small shed with plastic coverings as a makeshift greenhouse, and she has continuous supplies of some of her vegetables.
She estimated that, including the recent price rises, she saves roughly $70 per month as a result.
"I have not bought a tomato since June last year," she said.
"I'm proud to be doing something against this horrible thing that is happening to us."
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