WEEDS: a new permies . com dispatch on Substack

WEEDS is a new Substack experiment connected to permies.com and the broader idea that if we want permaculture thinking to spread, we need to bring it into the wider internet ecosystem where people are already spending their time.

One of the guiding ideas behind WEEDS is this: People protect what they love. I want a billion brains to find out about permaculture. But I want all one-billion of them to love what it creates.

One thing you will discover if you click the link to go there, is it will ask for an email address. You can click on "no thanks" and it will still let you into WEEDS.

A lot of modern environmental messaging leads with fear, guilt, doom, collapse, outrage, or abstract statistics. But most people are moved to care for the living world through affection first — through beauty, wonder, usefulness, observation, connection, good memories, good meals, birdsong, gardens, shade trees, ponds, trails, pollinators, fireflies, mushrooms, orchards, and the simple feeling that a place is alive like my little permaculture paradise at Willow Acre.

WEEDS is intended to lean into that, as well as be an easily navigable link to our other online resources.

The goal is to be an outpost that directs people to the depth of knowledge and wisdom contained in the forums and threads. My hope is to help more people discover ideas that may eventually lead them here.

A lot of people out there are quietly exhausted, isolated, burned out, tired of processed foods and screen-heavy living. Many of them don’t even know words like “permaculture,” “appropriate technology,” or “soil building.”

But they *do* know they want something more grounded, more beautiful, more human, and more connected to the living world.

WEEDS is meant to be one small bridge toward that.

Some of the content will be exclusive video hosted directly on Substack, though much will still connect back to permies threads.

One thing I personally like about Substack is that it allows slower, longer-form, less algorithmically frantic communication than many mainstream platforms. It feels a little more like sitting down with a cup of coffee and paging through a homesteading journal than doomscrolling social media.

This is still very much an experiment, and we are figuring it out as we go, and Substack is woefully void of any permaculture presence, so we have an opportunity to be pioneers there.

If you’d like to follow along, offer suggestions, or help spread permaculture ideas beyond the usual circles, here’s the link:

https://permies.substack.com

I know next to nothing about substack, I think one or two people on here have it but obviously it needs more more more of what is happening here, I bet we'll see an increase in people here too as a result of cross-platform efforts

I am confident that will happen. We will start finding out soon.

Jim

Riona Abhainn wrote:I know next to nothing about substack, I think one or two people on here have it but obviously it needs more more more of what is happening here, I bet we'll see an increase in people here too as a result of cross-platform efforts

I subscribed!
did not do a profile though...

I read a couple substack political pages a day....this will give me some better balance.

thanks for starting this!

Thanks for the first few early adopters becoming trailblazers.

Jim

I hope you'll sign up and contribute to the efforts!  Thanks for the encouragement.

Jim

Riona Abhainn wrote:I know next to nothing about substack, I think one or two people on here have it but obviously it needs more more more of what is happening here, I bet we'll see an increase in people here too as a result of cross-platform efforts

Riona Abhainn wrote:I know next to nothing about substack, I think one or two people on here have it...

Surely there are more. I discovered Substack in its first year and have found it an excellent way to a broader and deeper understanding of a variety of topics. I'm sure it has some dubious content, but what I've subscribed to is is informed, thoughtful observations, research, and analysis. (There's some humour too, such as Dave Barry.) Permies is a worthy addition.

Love Substack - this is a great idea - I don't post on here a lot, but I love the information that comes to my inbox each day...now I can enjoy content on Substack!

I just don’t know what substack is!  Or reddit.  I don’t live a tech rich life, and truly fear getting exposed to getting hacked and phishing and “cybercrime” and the “not nice” I hear so much about, but I am very curious!

Thanks for making it easy for me to try something new!

helloooo and thank you for the initiative.
I read a few substack threads when having a break.

Weeds. yum.

And of course the old chestnut, I weed in my garden..........

Lovely sundays and sundaes to all with sprinkled blessings
MH