Prices for black oil sunflower seed, the common and successful seed for bird feeding, are all over the place, as usual.

I checked on-line and by phone with six Minneapolis and suburban retail stores, plus one rural source. Highest price I found was $1.35 per pound.

Several stores are charging about $1 per pound, give or take a penny. In at least one case, a customer membership will cut prices by 15 percent

However: You can buy buy black oil sunflower for 37 cents per pound at Gerten's Greenhouse and Garden Center in Inver Grove Heights. You'll pay 38 cents a pound at the UFC Ace Hardware stores in Maple Plain and Waconia. And, an hour's drive (give or take) down I-35 to Hope, Minnesota, will drop the price another penny, 36 cents per pound. That's what Krause Feeds in Hope is charging. Krause almost always has the lowest price.

Fifty pounds of seed at $1.35 per pound costs you $64.47. A dollar a pound is $50. The same amount of seed for 37 cents a pound costs you $18.50. That's a savings of $46 because at that price you are buying a 50-pound bag. Bags weighing 20 or 30 pounds cost more per pound. The higher prices come with a lifting convenience if getting the seed out of your trunk is an issue.

I have a friend in Golden Valley who was so pleased with the price at UFC in Maple Plain that he bought 250 pounds of sunflower seed. Hey, he saved $230 (compared to $1.35 per pound), and is set for the winter.

An aside on butter

Hope is 61 miles south of Apple Valley. Down there you're saving at least 64 cents a pound on sunflower seed, AND, Krause sells the incredibly good Hope butter from the Hope creamery for $5.29 a pound, way, way better than the $7.99 Lund's is charging today. (Why is a farm-supply store selling butter? Who cares?) The friendly folks at Krause (Jane or Jim) will sell you a case of butter, 32 pounds fresh from the creamery just down the street, for $159.95. That brings the price to $5 per pound, $2.99 under Lund's. Team up with friends and family, take orders, then a short road trip. Freeze what you can't use right away. Well wrapped, it will keep for nine months. That butter for five bucks is worth the drive. We love it. It's the secret ingredient for for almost anything you bake, as well as great chocolate frosting.