house guests at the permie homestead

It can be baffling for non-permies to be a house guest in a permie house or homestead.

You recycle?
You pee outside?!

You get what I mean.

And even without that disparity, some house guests are just clueless about guest etiquette (maybe this is passé now?), or ignore house rules, etc.

Whenever I've been a house guest, I try to contribute something - flowers, wine, tea, chocolate, or food - plus I try to not only be a very light impact, but also clean and offer to help however I can.

Edited to add this awesome cartoon from The Art of Manliness:



What makes it better for you when you host a house guest?
What are your common hurdles or sticking points?

When people are visiting the cabin, I tell them that there's lots of bears around. Nothing to worry about, but you might want to make sure all the food is put away at night. Tends to make for a spotless cabin come the morning.

Kyle Neath wrote:When people are visiting the cabin, I tell them that there's lots of bears around. Nothing to worry about, but you might want to make sure all the food is put away at night. Tends to make for a spotless cabin come the morning.

Oh, what a clever strategy - I like it!!

Hm, around here I'm the bear who will clear surfaces to keep them available for community use! Ha.

Our rule is visitors GET to experience emptying the compost toilet and returning their refuse to nature if it is full. I'm the only one who has ever emptied it.

This thread has been great for a good laugh!  Unfortunately I don't have any witty advice to add. I actually have the opposite problem; I can't get people to come visit me!
All my friends and family fall into two groups - local, so when they visit its only for an hour or two then they head home to feed the animals, or hundreds of miles away, so they rarely if ever come visit and if they do they only stay a day and a night then leave because they are introverts and homebodies and one day is more than enough one-on-one visit time.

Maybe that's they key? Only invite introverted, homebodies to visit you?? Just kidding.

My spouse used to like to host foreign students, but then thought that they'd magically understand that this is a working farm on a septic tank and a well! I started to insist that we would only accept students if the host company asked for student volunteers that *wanted* a farm experience. It seemed that that was enough to suggest to the students that they were going to be in a very different situation than city life and were game to give it a try. It was still pretty funny seeing the look on their faces when I picked up a chicken and handed it to them! I can't say that they were ever much help, but at least their attitude was in the right place, and that made a huge difference from my perspective.