You know you're a permie when...

My neighbors just think I'm weird... I saw that one was outside, fluffing a pile of stuff to burn, and noticed there were a bunch of wet leaves in it. I didn't plan for the world to go like it has, was wishing I had gathered a LOT more leaves last fall, so I went over and asked him if I could have them. "They are wet! And mixed with the branches!" That's even better! Can I mess with your pile before you burn it? "Sure, have at it!"  I went through it, got 90% of the leaves sorted out from the branches, dragged them on a tarp to my garden, came back and got 2 more tarploads of a pile that was pure wet leaves. And made sure during it all that I kidnapped all of the worms I saw, they got loaded up and dragged away too!

:D

You read this thread... & repeatedly, excitedly, re-assuredly have that moment of ooooh.. 'I'm not the only one!!' :-)

You know you're a permie when you weave and walk erratically along the forest or park path like a drunk person. Because it's SPRING and there is so much new life to look at and cherish, or even harvest, that you keep forgetting to watch your step and can't walk straight for all the goggling! (Heh.)

When you see a set of hummingbird pollinator bulbs for sale, and ask your daughter if she wants them....mostly so you have another excuse to buy more plants! And, then you gleefully realize that 3/4 species in the bulb mix are edibles!

(The flowers weren't a hard sell for my daughter. She really DOES love flowers. Her big thing right now is to decorate with them. My house is full of dandelion flowers on every surface that she put as decorations, and her garden beds are full of dandelion flowers that she picked and decorated with. She wants more "decorations" (that's what she calls the flowers she picks--she and her brother throw big parties for their toys, all decorated with dandelions, too. And, she loves eating flowers, too. We went on a walk and both kids ate bouquet after bouquet of miners lettuce, bittercress, and salmonberry flowers. She also eats bouquet after bouquet of kale flowers, too!)

You know you're a permie when you wake up in the middle of the night when you hear.... a magical sound! A tiny bit of rain!! and it is a party in the morning when everyone gets up, because everything needed that inch of rain so badly.

Margaret Atwood said "In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."

You know you are a permie when...
At the end of the day I smelled like anaerobic compost! Mmmm....!!  My cat sniffed me and backed away. :D  I have the driest skin in the world (part of my health stuff) and use soap on my body about twice a year, today was one of them.

I also had so much mud on my legs you could see exactly how long my shorts are. I didn't smell the mud to see if I smelled like dirt, and the cat was declining to sniff me at that point. Wise cat. :)

You know you're a permie when...

Your chickens see you with a trowel in your hand, and come running because they know you'll let them eat any bugs you dig up!

I was transplanting a few of my starter plants yesterday, and one hen sat on the other side of the fence and whined at me, because I wouldn't let her help me dig! She got a nice fat worm out of the deal, though.

This is the same hen that pecks at the trowel whenever she sees it, trying to figure out how to turn it on so it dispenses bugs :)

When you actually like picking up fallen limbs in the yard so they can be used in the food forest, to protect young plants and trees, using bigger limbs as borders, and they all break down naturally and help create amazingly fertile soil!

You know you're a permie when this seems an interesting thread...

You know you're a permie when "out of cell tower range" has no meaning...

You know you're a permie when you find the carpenter bees buzzing around the front porch absolutely fascinating...

denny hall wrote:

You know you're a permie when "out of cell tower range" has no meaning...

Or, better yet; brings relief!! Lol!

denny hall wrote:You know you're a permie when you find the carpenter bees buzzing around the front porch absolutely fascinating...

I keep trying to get video of the bumble bees in the wood pile, but they won't cooperate!

When you time that first mow of the year for right after the dandelions go to seed, but before the grass goes to seed. I can't eat grass, but I can (and do!) eat dandelions! My ducks and geese and chickens love dandelions, too!

When you're really excited to have dandelions growing in your potted plants on your patio. And, you sneak out at night to pick some dandelion leaves to add to your nightly tea!

When your 6-year old son squishes grass between bricks and forms a grass brick, and declares he has made a building material, "You can build houses with this!"

And your 3-year old daughter wanders around the property, pretending to harvest various herbs and fruits and veggies to make a healing drink that makes their owies go away. And both of them spend half an hour merrily "harvesting" and "drinking" their herbal remedy!

And your husband happily tries the plantain salve you made, and is totally excited that it made the mosquito bites stop itching!

You know you are a permie when your cat brings you a gift of the freshly killed vole he caught in your garden.  You thank your tiny panther and then toss it into the chicken run so your tiny dinosaurs can convert it into eggs.   The chickens love the small rodents.

....when your pots where you planted daylily seeds are instead sprouting volunteer lamb's quarters, and you think that's just as good =)

. . . When your husband says, "Don't you dare put that on our vegetables!" when he sees you leave the bathroom with a bucket.

When this is what you see when you look down, on a good day that makes you happy! Those are the same pants I was wearing in the hammock pic on my profile, white and gray camo....

you know you're a permie when the sound of rain on a tin roof is music to your ears...

you know you're a permie when you think permies.com is a dating site...

you know you're a permie when you find a fungal discussion with a group of complete strangers normal...

sooo... I was planting beans today and looked over and saw the volunteer dandelion in with the walking onions a bit away had a bunch of black aphids on the stems. No time to deal with it, as I still had a pumpkin to plant elsewhere. "Elsewhere" was my ARK2 bed and as I looked down on one of the supports, there was a *very* sad looking larval-stage Lady bug. So I carefully knocked it into a container I had, carried it all the way back to where the aphid invested dandelion (we're talking 4-500 ft) was and dumped it at the base of the plant. Yeah, I must be a permie...

Jay Angler's story of bug rearranging makes me think of years ago, I saw a baby preying mantis in a place where there were no bugs that annoyed me, so I was going to put him in my garden area, by the roses. He was about an inch tall, cute. I went to pick him up and he went kung fu psycho hostile insect at me. I have never seen a more determined not to be messed with bug in my life! He basically put up his fists and said "Come on if you think you are hard enough!!" I was backed down by a one inch tall bug.
I ended up using a cup to move him, I have never had to use a cup to move a mantis, that one was a survivor, no WAY a bird was going to eat him. Live long and prosper, bug!

When your kid sees you making images for the new Wofati Greenhouse kickstarter and decide they want to use them as coloring sheets....

You know you're a permaculture chicken when you see the featherless two-leg bringing these slimy squishy treats (AKA slugs) to the Noisy Quacky birds you live with, so you figure you'd better learn how to eat them too!
Yes, she's figured out how to eat the small ones without making a slimy mess of her mouth! She hasn't tackled the big ones yet, but she'd have to be quick, as the ducks nab them really, really fast! Now if I could just get my garden properly fenced, the ducks could harvest them without my assistance!

And now they're working on the exterior. They color a lot faster than I do!

(I still have to finish the inside-the-greenhouse picture!)

Finally got the first picture colored. My kid's coloring sure is a lot faster than mine!

... you realise that going 100% barefoot all summer is a realistic alternative to replacing the leather sandals the puppy ate last summer.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Your neighbor thinks that yard waste pickup day is Wednesday and regular trash is Thursday.

Do you mean as a permie, there is no yard waste pickup? No regular trash either?

(Cause I've been picking up their yard waste a day early for so long they now get fonfused...)

When your husband dumpster dives presents for you because he knows you're always happy to have free things but will complain when he spends money at the store

Pearl Sutton wrote:Jay Angler's story of bug rearranging makes me think of years ago, I saw a baby preying mantis in a place where there were no bugs that annoyed me, so I was going to put him in my garden area, by the roses. He was about an inch tall, cute. I went to pick him up and he went kung fu psycho hostile insect at me. I have never seen a more determined not to be messed with bug in my life! He basically put up his fists and said "Come on if you think you are hard enough!!" I was backed down by a one inch tall bug.
I ended up using a cup to move him, I have never had to use a cup to move a mantis, that one was a survivor, no WAY a bird was going to eat him. Live long and prosper, bug!

I had to rescue an adult mantis from terrible boys who thought it funny as all get out to force buggie into such a display.  Took awhile to calm the little guy and get him put in a safe hunting ground inside my yard. Stayed the rest of the summer!

Nicole Alderman wrote:When your husband dumpster dives presents for you because he knows you're always happy to have free things but will complain when he spends money at the store

One of my exes and I would call going out to dumpster dive "going on a date." I'm in a mood, let's go on a date! OK!! And we'd make sure we had the hooky sticks and tie downs and go "shopping" at our favorite stores (well, at their trash cans...)

Some of my husband and my first "dates" were just hanging out at old thrift stores and laughing at wigs and looking at knick-knacks. Sadly, most thrift stores now are more like Dollar Stores with clothing, but every so often we run across a good thrift store, and we still have fun going and exploring them!

Our favorite one nearby just opened back up, and everything was 1/4 the cost because they had way too much stuff. We got something like 20 VHS, 6 DVD movies, 8 articles of kids clothes (almost all cotton!), some toys, AND a big beautiful hutch. All for $80! (The solid pine hutch cost $50)

My kids still love playing on the rocking horse we hauled out of a dumpster one Easter morning. My favorite spatula came from a box my husband yanked out of the metal recycling at the dump, and he's gotten me a bunch of fencing from the dump, too. OH! And also almost all of our kids bikes came from dumpsters.  

If this is inappropriate I will understand it being removed....but it seemed to fit this thread pretty well!......

You know you are a silly or snarky permie when you love the deer in the headlights look the neighbors give you when you tell them you are adding endomycorrhizal fungi to the garden. I love being able to pronounce it casually! :D

Pearl Sutton wrote:You know you are a silly or snarky permie when you love the deer in the headlights look the neighbors give you when you tell them you are adding endomycorrhizal fungi to the garden. I love being able to pronounce it casually! :D

I am a user of bigger words myself and know exactly the look and the glee. Tee hee hee! (Insert the bugs bunny witch here, cackling and leaving behind hairpin-shaped hairs when she exits, stage left or right!)

Pearl Sutton wrote:You know you are a silly or snarky permie when you love the deer in the headlights look the neighbors give you when you tell them you are adding endomycorrhizal fungi to the garden. I love being able to pronounce it casually! :D

Hmmm.... that's the same look I get when I tell people I transplant dandelions! (sometimes they grow where I just want something else, so I move them - we do that with other plants!)

When this is your driveway right now (one pile was a birthday present, and the other I scored when the neighbour's tree came down!)