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You know you're a permie when...

 
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
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...when cleaning under the kitchen table, to get rid of the pantry moth infestation, you find.... Ah damn.  About 200 walking onions, happily growing in a bunch of small baggies. They were supposed to get given away. It's midwinter, I have snow and ice on the ground. Now what?  I don't have house plant space... Hmm....
You have heard the expression "first world problem" I'd classify this a "permie abundance problem."
:D
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
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And an equally permie temporary solution: I dropped them into my big pressure canner, and covered them for shade with a chunk of cheesecloth I cooked a plum pudding in :D
They need to hold their little oniony horses till spring.
 
gardener
Posts: 525
Location: The North
256
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I'm sat in a work training session darning my socks.

Hey if it's socially acceptable for granny to knit pretty much anywhere, then is ok for a mid 30's guy to be extending the life of his socks.
 
Posts: 45
Location: Southwestern US
18
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You bribe the HOA with tomatoes and other produce so they overlook your "messy" lawn
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
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When you are driving on the highway and see smoke or steam pouring off a house and you say out loud as you drive “if that’s your fireplace you need to learn about Rocket Mass Heaters!”
 
pollinator
Posts: 92
Location: New Hampshire
55
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Your friends talk about travel to far and exotic places, but you start day dreaming about yourself vacationing in your garden.
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
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When you are getting dressed to go out and shovel snow, got boots on, snow pants, need just the top coat... and the canner says PINK!  as it depressurizes... So you go and unload the canner onto the cooling area, and THEN go shovel snow.
(Actually, I leaf blowered a lot of the snow, nice dry powder!)
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
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When you realize you neglected produce in the fridge for WAY too long, but then you get excited!
This cabbage was sliced straight across, last time I used it, probably in December. It's growing new shoots from the inside!
Makes me wonder if I ignore it for another month or so, will it grow into a whole new cabbage? Is this a perpetual cabbage, just add neglect?
Thinks to think about, as I neglect my produce....
cabbage-5472.JPG
purple cabbage, running amok
purple cabbage, running amok
 
master pollinator
Posts: 5381
Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b
1468
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... when you buy a banana at a grocery store (on a long urban walk while your vehicle is serviced) and you can't bear the thought of discarding the peel in the garbage ... so you bring it home so you can compost it!
 
gardener & hugelmaster
Posts: 3761
Location: Texas
2027
cattle hugelkultur cat dog trees hunting chicken bee woodworking homestead ungarbage
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When you buy a bag of 15 bean soup then throw the spice pack out because there's more than just spices in there. Put them in a pot of water to soak before tomorrow's hike. A few rainy days coming up. Guerilla gardening season starts tomorrow with a bag of assorted soup beans!!! Plus some flowers & whatever else I set aside a few weeks ago.
 
Posts: 101
Location: Southern Tier NY; and NJ
42
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You know you might be turning into a permie when .... on a cold night you say "Sure, I'll watch a movie with you", but you sneak your phone, a pad, & a pen onto your lap and play with planning your spring planting, while only listening to enough of the movie to laugh at the right time now & then.
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
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...when you attempt to deny your inherent redneckiness by claiming this is an artistic photo, staged just for the effect that I wanted to photograph, yeah, that's it!!



Ok, maybe I'm a permie and I'm taking advantage of the warm weather to wash my flannel sheets....  :D  And drying them on the cattle panel arch arbor that grows beans and squash...
Function stacking! Solar energy!! Artwork! That's it!!



or maybe it's just laundry.

:D


 
pollinator
Posts: 1061
Location: East of England/ Northeast Bulgaria
401
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All of that, Pearl!
 
pollinator
Posts: 520
Location: south-central ME, USA - zone 5a/4b
221
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Pearl Sutton wrote:...when you attempt to deny your inherent redneckiness by claiming this is an artistic photo, staged just for the effect that I wanted to photograph, yeah, that's it!!

Ok, maybe I'm a permie and I'm taking advantage of the warm weather to wash my flannel sheets....  :D  And drying them on the cattle panel arch arbor that grows beans and squash...
Function stacking! Solar energy!! Artwork! That's it!!

or maybe it's just laundry.

:D




That, my dear, is called stacking functions :D

Nothing more permie than what you do!

 
gardener
Posts: 452
Location: Southern Manitoba...bald(ish) prairie, zone 3ish
216
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Stacking functions comes before folding and stacking laundry...at least in this case.
 
master pollinator
Posts: 5139
Location: Due to winter mortality, I stubbornly state, zone 7a Tennessee
2173
6
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...the tomato corer breaks at work. Oh no! Then you remember Nicole said holly was used for tools handles. Guess what's in the landscaping?

20250315_150844.jpg
a holly branch used as the handle of a tomato corer
 
Douglas Alpenstock
master pollinator
Posts: 5381
Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b
1468
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Pearl Sutton wrote:Ok, maybe I'm a permie and I'm taking advantage of the warm weather to wash my flannel sheets....  :D  And drying them on the cattle panel arch arbor that grows beans and squash...
Function stacking! Solar energy!! Artwork! That's it!!


Love it. If you were also shielding tender seedlings from the noonday sun, wow, you could just hear the cosmic tumblers of awesomeness clicking into place.
 
Steward of piddlers
Posts: 5302
Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall
2399
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... your friend's family brings all of their rabbit bedding/manure and add it to your compost pile regularly. Always happy to accept the donation!
 
Mike Barkley
gardener & hugelmaster
Posts: 3761
Location: Texas
2027
cattle hugelkultur cat dog trees hunting chicken bee woodworking homestead ungarbage
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... when you think see a bunch of tiny ants roaming around on your kitchen counter. Only to realize that they are turnip seeds. Bag had a hole in it.
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
2
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Mike Barkley wrote:... when you think see a bunch of tiny ants roaming around on your kitchen counter. Only to realize that they are turnip seeds. Bag had a hole in it.


A variant on that I have done is when you sneak carefully to the counter, and beat a watermelon seed to death with a flyswatter.
 
Tristan Vitali
pollinator
Posts: 520
Location: south-central ME, USA - zone 5a/4b
221
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Pearl Sutton wrote:

Mike Barkley wrote:... when you think see a bunch of tiny ants roaming around on your kitchen counter. Only to realize that they are turnip seeds. Bag had a hole in it.


A variant on that I have done is when you sneak carefully to the counter, and beat a watermelon seed to death with a flyswatter.



Some bright white melon seeds fell behind the chicken scraps container on the counter - had a nice moment of panic when I thought we had a maggot infestation!

Those melon seeds are from the second year in starting the "central maine short wet season on cold heavy clay" landrace. Only gagged a little before I realized what they were  

The next "you know you're a permie when" connected to this little event is that I realized we're perennializing the beds so much I wont have enough open space / sun for these melons in a couple more years. It's definitely time to start planning more hugles (melons LOVE south slopes of hugles, btw!)
 
steward
Posts: 13243
Location: Pacific Wet Coast
7705
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...the forecast is all HEAVY RAIN WARNING, and my thoughts are - dang, how can I slow and spread all that water so it soaks in instead of running off?

(the ducks and geese are happy, some of the chickens - not so much!)
 
master steward
Posts: 7387
Location: southern Illinois, USA
2682
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When every muscle and joint in your body hurts …you gulp down the Turmeric, slather on the liniment,, and head outside to finish the new chicken run.
 
Mike Barkley
gardener & hugelmaster
Posts: 3761
Location: Texas
2027
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... when the last bit of weedy mess lawn has been turned into garden space. No more lawn to mow. Just enough space remains now to walk through. Today's crop was peanuts. They grow well in poor soil with no care needed. Perfect. Less lawn more food has been my plan for 30+ years & it continues today.

... when an empty toilet paper tube is ripped up & given to your worm farm.
 
pollinator
Posts: 138
71
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you know you're a permie when in the winter, for the nonmigrating Hummer, you take in the feeder at night and carefully track time-of dawn to put it back out. Because a belly full of cold nectar can't be good . And yes, he knocks at the patio door when I'm late
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
2
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...when you get your first flush of wine cap mushrooms and you:
A: Make a post on permies asking if you need to cut them all before a freeze
and
B: take the tops off the ones you harvested and put them on parchment paper to spore print them and see what size caps to harvest spores from so you can spread them around!!  :D

oh, and
C: change your lunch cooking plans. Mushrooms are ON the menu now!!

YAY! I have fungus!  (only on permies will you hear that line!)
The fungus is among us, finally!! I was hoping they'd first flush last fall.
 
steward & manure connoisseur
Posts: 4310
Location: South of Capricorn
2331
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....when someone says "you know i'm watching videos about planting in containers and I want to add organic matter to the dirt" and you're like, honey, you're going to need to get a cup of tea and sit down because I'M ABOUT TO START LECTURING ON HUGELCONTAINERS!!! wooooooooheee!
 
gardener
Posts: 706
Location: VT, zone 5a
319
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…when your local garlic mustard population is under pressure from your enthusiastic harvest.
 
James Alun
gardener
Posts: 525
Location: The North
256
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Another few days of meetings, another few socks darned. I need to get better at preventative darning.
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
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...when you walk out in the morning to see what the weather looks like, and on your step is a pile of empty nursery pots. Oh yay! The neighbor is putting in some nice annuals this year I guess, not 6 cell light pots but 6 inch heavy duty ones.  

I can't get her to stop wasting things, but I have managed to get her to at least stop throwing them away. She's a tosser, I'm absolutely not. Her garbage can is full to the top every week, I put mine out once a month although it doesn't need it. Mostly if my can gets put out it's the girl across the street who has two little kids and is also a tosser, she puts her excess in my can, puts my can out when she does hers, and returns it to it's space when empty. Function stacking of a sort I guess, my trash gets out, it's good relations with the neighbors, and it makes her life a lot easier, and she needs that badly right now.
 
gardener
Posts: 529
Location: Grow zone 10b. Southern California,close to the Mexican border
388
3
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You know you are a permie, when you try to start a movement to reclassify Gophers from garden pest to garden necessity. It’s one of my apparent pet projects. Everyone wants to eliminate them, when they are essential to preventing California from becoming a desert. Once you learn how to handle them, in your growing space, they are fantastic helpers and allies in changing desert dirt to dark nutrient rich soil.
 
Posts: 469
Location: Indiana
61
5
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You know you're a Permie when either the Deer or Coons take your specific nice luscious plants for their dinner the same day you put them in the ground - and you turn right around and order the same type replacement plants for pollination purposes. And then you go out and surround the new plants with chippings of Irish Spring soap to deter the animals.
 
Posts: 14
Location: Outside Barstow, California in Mojave Desert
5
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These are my people! I've done so many of these. I have the worst, barren, salty, native Mojave Desert hardpan soil. But people want to buy my transformed garden soil!
 
steward and tree herder
Posts: 9890
Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year
4720
4
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When you take lots of pictures of your new seedlings for your permies project threads.

being environmentally friendly is fun
Fibre flax seedlings - Whee!
 
Pearl Sutton
steward & bricolagier
Posts: 15180
Location: SW Missouri
10843
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...when you catch yourself thinking as you work on the truck:
I need vaseline for these battery terminals. Huh. Can't find it where I expected it. Wonder if I have anything else that would work.... Bag Balm?  
I doubt most "normal" people working on the truck happen to have a 5 pound tub of Bag Balm handy!  :D
 
Ulla Bisgaard
gardener
Posts: 529
Location: Grow zone 10b. Southern California,close to the Mexican border
388
3
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You know you are a permie, when you buy too many trees and/or plants, and think “maybe I can find room, if I build a hugel.
 
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