Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

I am getting ready to do a blackberry/mixed berry mead and I happened to read the melomel article in last month's Brew Your Own magazine.  The article was very informative and I am planning on following the listed staged nutrient additions.  The author also mentioned correcting for low pH in the must (honey water), as it can sometimes get low enough to impact yeast health.  He suggested using a pH meter to determine your must pH and then adjusting from there.  Given how expensive pH meters are, I don't want to buy one for my one batch of mead a year.  Does anyone have one I can borrow?

shouldn't it be possible to use ph strips instead?  they are hard to find in the winter, but in the summer they are easy because people use them to maintain their pools.  I don't think they are expensive.