You know you're a permie when a sunny, breezy day comes and your first thought is, "YES! Perfect day to do laundry!"
You know you're a permie when you're really excited about an edible plant that wants to take over your property.
You know you're a permie when nursery and seed websites and catalogs are some of your favorite things to look and dream over. It's even better if they're full of unheard of edible perennials!
You know you're a permie when your idea of garden art is herb spirals, legume trellises, and hugelculture.
If your family member excitedly tells you " I took the grass from where I put the new flower garden, and used it to patch the bare spots in the lawn!", you might be a permie . . . .
you run and hide the pee bucket so the bathroom will look 'normal' when someone comes to visit who just wouldn't get it...and you don't want to spend time explaining...
you're hungry and you grab the scissors, not because there are coupons from Burger King and Kroger to be clipped, but there is stuff growing right outside the back door.
. . . when people look at your garden and say, "Oh, you got lucky -- you have good soil --- my soil is terrible", when you know that you had the worst soil in the neighborhood when you bought your place.
. . . when you visit Starbucks 50 times without purchasing anything, but the trunk of your car smells strongly of spent coffee grounds.
When you know everyone with non-sprayed lawns and maple trees, and allow them to dump in your compost piles. And you will walk over to see who's in your yard with a pickup load.
You put signs on the compost pile du-jour so your friends can gift the correct one.
When you will come vacuum/mow someone's yard in the fall to get the maple leaves.
When all four of the local lawn services will bring you goodies.
You can be calm long enough to identify the spider type on sight before taking action. No matter how big or how close it is. You can catch a big nasty one in a baby food jar if you have to.
When the utility companies have you on speed dial because you'll take junk elm wood chips so their contractors don't have to leave town with them and/or pay to have the chips hauled for disposal.
You visit neighbor and ask if you can weed, and carry some of the largess away with you (all those good edibles they're ignoring)
One of your besties works at the 24 hr truck stop and saves you pails of coffee grounds. You pay them back with 100% totally righteous tomatoes when they come in.
You are being successful with your pee bales out by the shop, and everybody takes your explanation that the active one is a future compost pile.
You clothes are admired because you are mending up what you have in creative ways. You don't say that the appliques are covering over the grease stains that won't come out...
You never have enough canning jars.
You talked the church lady groups into saving you good glass gallon jars with good lids. You pay them back with baked good donations.
You have a standing with the neighbors that go to auctions that you will pay with three years of spring tilling for one good shape Red Wing Crock over 20 gallons, two years for a 10-20. (just for scoring one, we still have to pay them for it)
You make your own soap, from bar to laundry to dish...
When you look at a 'weed' and wonder what it is trying to tell you about the conditions.
When your house is a tip because you're too busy setting up the permie garden.
This was such a fabulous topic. I love it and it keeps making me giggle.
You know your a permie when you realize you just spent 3 hrs watching videos on scythes and were planning to watch more still but dragged yourself away, though might sneak back to watch more tomorrow
...When the compost pile is inside the chicken coop.
...When you pick feathers from the ground in the coop and stick them in your hair for safekeeping.
...You upgrade the hen house so the girls can have better ventilation.
...The rabbit's litter box goes into the henhouse so they can reuse it.
...You see a bug and bring it straight to the chickens.
...The chickens follow you to the clothesline, just in case you drop something edible.
...The dog hides in the hen house during thunderstorms.
You think one of the uses of certain trees are as a potential water source...when you visit other people, you are constantly zoning their areas and redesigning spaces in your head..as you drive, you contemplate the soil or topography you see instead of the billboards.
For instance, I am always on the lookout for places under natural succession and want to know the nitrogen sources and how they got there...
...when you find a pile of scat in the woods and decide to plant a chestnut there
...when you find yourself asking the neighbors if they've noticed "changes in the hydrology of their site" since you moved to town
...when you suddenly realize you have over 150 duck eggs in the shed, but all you can think about is getting more ducks for fertilizer and slug control
...when you name 20 or more "nutrient accumulators" to try planting to some poor soul at the grocery store when they mentioned they didn't have much luck growing tomatoes last year
Judith Browning wrote:you run and hide the pee bucket so the bathroom will look 'normal' when someone comes to visit who just wouldn't get it...and you don't want to spend time explaining...
haha, Tristan...we're in town now and have folks just stop by...I'm getting quicker.
another that only a permie would understand...
...you and your husband/partner/friend talk about how to perfect composting toilets through dinner
Just myself and my retired mother out here now - the way she puts it is "it may be 'our business', but that's entirely *your business*"
along that line of thought - you know you're a permie when the term "poop beast" immediately brings to mind images of majestic weeping willows and the sweet scent of roses!
...when you collect "weeds" to transplant INTO your garden.
...when you rescue toads from the WalMart parking lot.
...when you step inside the shed to pee in the watering can.
...when you end your day feeling like you made a difference.
Jennifer Meyer wrote:Why label them? You can see what's inside. Anybody who can't figure it out shouldn't be in there.
When you have a celiac and a non living together it's important to know wheat/rye/barley apart from other flours... I solved that by separate pantries.
You might be a Permie when you eat lunch then go outside to pick dessert (blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries, so good).
Jennifer Meyer wrote:I have celiac, too. I simply don't let anything in the house that has gluten, dextrose, maltodextrin, or MSG.
I am a medical vegan, celiac, and a few other things. My spouse can have anything and eat anything. He eats healthier these days but I don't begrudge him what he can have and what I can't. I have the right to wash or clean anything I feel like at any time to prevent contamination. If he does dishes he leaves them out for me to inspect and I will put them away. Have not had an issue in ages.
You might be a permie if your high point of the day was scoring 18 bales that are grey but perfect for pee-bales... (try not to do the happy dance in front of the uninitiated)
Deb, I get what you say. My spouse can and does eat whatever he wants--when he isn't in my kitchen. I'm really sensitive to gluten, so my eating options are limited to home ,home, and home. I've been sick often enough from supposedly "safe" foods that hubby is happier not nursing me than eating cheap cookies and bread.
...You might be a permie if you can't find an engineer to approve your building plans because they are so unusual.
Jennifer Meyer wrote: Deb, I get what you say. My spouse can and does eat whatever he wants--when he isn't in my kitchen. I'm really sensitive to gluten, so my eating options are limited to home ,home, and home. I've been sick often enough from supposedly "safe" foods that hubby is happier not nursing me than eating cheap cookies and bread.
On that note, how many permies are into natural medicine, such as homeopathy? Or is that worthy of a new topic?
Jennifer Meyer wrote: Deb, I get what you say. My spouse can and does eat whatever he wants--when he isn't in my kitchen. I'm really sensitive to gluten, so my eating options are limited to home ,home, and home. I've been sick often enough from supposedly "safe" foods that hubby is happier not nursing me than eating cheap cookies and bread.
On that note, how many permies are into natural medicine, such as homeopathy? Or is that worthy of a new topic?
That should be a new topic, and after the Great Randi put up $1 million and won over a doubleblind homeopathic clinical lab study, I don't subscribe to homeopathy. Eating local food yes, eating landrace, definitely, and if you're not allergic, eating local honey to help your seasonal allergies, yes.
You might be a Permie if you use a solar cooker you made from cardboard, aluminum foil, and a piece of window glass even if you are on the grid. (I make the world's best bean soup that way)
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Deb, I get what you say. My spouse can and does eat whatever he wants--when he isn't in my kitchen. I'm really sensitive to gluten, so my eating options are limited to home ,home, and home. I've been sick often enough from supposedly "safe" foods that hubby is happier not nursing me than eating cheap cookies and bread.
