Singles: what creation best describes you?

Feeling lonely after a year spent distancing? Hoping to meet that special someone with just the right amount of quirky who also gets you? Did you learn or fine tune a skill this year or create something amazing?  

This thread is for posting a pic of an item or project that you made that you feel best describes who you are to a potential mate.

I'm single, but not particularly looking, for many reasons...
I'll show how a project can show who I am to a potentially interesting person. I  don't find pictures of faces particularly useful when I look for guys, I want a picture of their MINDS. I have a guy I'm interested in who I have never seen his face, but I have seen chunks of his mind, and THAT interests me. So here's pictures of pieces of my mind...

This is how I organize my dried food stock. I'm a dumpster diver, recycler type, incredibly organized, and a system designer. The system I made up for my dried foods is all made of things out of trash, and made to store the food safely, conveniently, and refill easily.  
I use several sizes and types of jars, to keep it versatile, and it's all labeled really clearly.



The sizes are consistent, so they fit together in storage areas, in the next two pictures the jars are in boxes that I cut and reinforced hand holes so they pull like drawers.





I buy in bulk, things like beans go into foil tape sealed cans. The can empties into the gallon jar, the gallon jar is used to refill the small ones in the kitchen that I use daily. Other dried foods and herbs are in similar systems of larger to smaller containers, with the small ones being in the kitchen, larger ones stored elsewhere, for space reasons.

I'm currently in a rental, our home is not built yet, so cardboard boxes are being used, as there is little good usable kitchen space. Our home design has spaces designed for these sizes of containers, as I plan to keep using them.

What this shows of who I am is how I take trash and make it useful, how I can see what I want it to end up like so I can scavenge the parts accordingly, and how incredibly organized my systems are. I have a lot of systems equally well thought out. Any man who would interest me would have to have a mind that is also organized and creative, and can see potential in a lot of things.

Now it's your turn, what have you made that describes who you are to a potential mate?

Since I'm obsessed with growing my own food, and enjoy making things, I think this last year pretty much sums up where I'm at mentally.  I'm not looking for a relationship, but I enjoy reverse psychology.

I've posted most of these pictures in other threads, but I think this is a neat place to show what's been done in exactly a year's time.  (well, I actually made the first raised bed in December of 2019, but close enough)

Just finished my microgreens grow room (that actually takes up half the room in my bedroom).  Well, it's for microgreens, and my seed starting in general.  It's going to be so nice this year starting the seeds with my new setup!  I can't wait!  I really think I could make a little extra money from selling microgreens.....but I have two dogs that shed tons of hair and they basically live in the bedroom with me most of the time.  I just don't think it would be possible to keep their hair out of a product.  I basically live in a tiny house kind of situation, maybe when I move back into my main house, I'll give it a try.  I do enjoy the passive income my house brings though.

I'm a total slob that has to be completely organized when it comes time to get anything done.  I'm not social, and don't enjoy being around people by choice.  I can't imagine making a connection with anyone anymore, and I'm not sure that I've ever "connected" with anyone in the past.  It's a very strange state of mind.  Maybe just crazy.  Probably........

In 2020 I worked on cooking and got creative.
Could not find vegan egg roll wrappers so I used two cookbooks to make gyoza (Japanese Potstickers). It came out good and was fun. I also chopped up a whole jackfruit. Here is the link to it: https://permies.com/t/150272/kitchen/Cutting-Jackfruit-bits I also made tempeh but it was so good I forgot to take pictures. I also harvested winter rye and I found it fun. I got a pound of rye and then replanted it a few months ago. I am hoping to have enough to make bread or something. This was also the first time I made Sauerkraut.  It was great and I still eating it.
Spent the last few months cleaning up from a bad storm. Had hail of two inches see picture below. I am still working on the clean up but I need good weather and time.

Pearls photo reminded me of a particular mess: Exploring how to make oil paints.

Pigment, fine white clay and titanium dioxide in a small glass and then liberal application of an immersion blender that lost its plastic guard.

I love colors, paints, light and photography. [And english orange jam.] I may create the occasional mess.

I'm not sure about "best", but here's one of my latest creations. This is an early-stage prototype, so it's pretty rough. But it is a working prototype.

It's a bean-shelling machine. It was inspired by one of Carol Deppe's blog posts, in which she described shelling large quantities of beans by driving on them. I have too many beans to shell by hand, but driving on them seems like a bad solution for a number of reasons. So, I took the principle and went a different direction with it. The wheels in the photo are rubber, not hard plastic, so when braced against the sides of the bucket they should have the same effect. There's a circle of 1/2" mesh inside the bucket, held off the bottom by a wooden block. When the shaft spins, the wheels squeeze the beans against either the mesh or the side of the bucket, forcing the pods open. The beans and broken pods fall through the mesh, out of the way.

(Ignore the string. It's only there because I needed to get it out of the way without it tangling, so I wrapped it around the bucket and forgot about it.)

Eventually, I'll make a version that is flow-through, and can be used in conjunction with the single-row harvester I'm working on. But for now, this is working.

Well, this may seem silly, but maybe 5 years ago it hit me... I grow and cook my own food, change my own oil/work on my truck, do my own plumbing, make my own wine and beer, herbal medicine, etc.... why do I keep paying hard earned money for a lousy haircut? I tried for 20 years to find someone who would cut my hair as I specified, showing them photos and everything - no luck... no one would give me a regular, pre-1950s men's cut. So, I started cutting my own hair. Surprisingly, it was a step for me toward self sufficiency. It changed my mindset. It also saves me a couple hundred bucks a year! That said, I don't do it often. I usually only trim my hair and beard every 2-3 months... I have no one to impress or reason to care much about my appearance. Well, it has become a personal tradition to do so on New Year's Day and just before Easter, etc... it seems to be a psychological sign of marking dates that entail moving into a new phase. So, it is a simple thing but it is something uniquely mine, like the guitar style I've come up with and my writing, etc.

Gluten free, plant based whole foods are what I eat to care for myself.  I don't cook every day because I usually eat simply (batch cooking!) but I like to cook when it matters. And when I cook, I like to feed people I care about with healthy and tasty food.  

Earlier this year, I decided to make a cherry pie for a good friend's birthday. He hadn't had one since his mom made them many years ago. I hadn't made pie in years because I used to make them with my mom and after she died, it hurt too much. But he was worth it to me.

I had to find recipes. I was rusty. The crust recipe is difficult and frustrating and it wasn't perfectly beautiful. But it looked good enough and it tasted amazing. So I did it again for another friend. Every time is a little easier and a little prettier. And they're always appreciated.

This is a wfpb/gf/oil free lunch I made to share with friends - soup, biscuits and cherry pie.

I cook from scratch, often without a recipe. I collect data and experiment.  When I need to choose, I value function over form. I work to achieve a goal. I treasure the people I love.

Now, time for a huge supper of pork, mustard greens, black eyed peas onions, hot sauce and pickled peppers! That is a Southern Tradition - the peas and greens are supposed to symbolize money hoped for in the new year. Me, I'm just glad to grab some cornbread and dig in!!!

Judson Carroll wrote:Now, time for a huge supper of pork, mustard greens, black eyed peas onions, hot sauce and pickled peppers! That is a Southern Tradition - the peas and greens are supposed to symbolize money hoped for in the new year. Me, I'm just glad to grab some cornbread and dig in!!!

Minus, the pork, sounds tasty.

Good for you for cutting your own hair. I went through a similar experience. Got tired of having to fix what I just paid someone $60 for...  even better, I can cut it when I want and not wait a week or more for them to fit me in their schedule.

Sonja Draven wrote:

Judson Carroll wrote:Now, time for a huge supper of pork, mustard greens, black eyed peas onions, hot sauce and pickled peppers! That is a Southern Tradition - the peas and greens are supposed to symbolize money hoped for in the new year. Me, I'm just glad to grab some cornbread and dig in!!!

Minus, the pork, sounds tasty.

Good for you for cutting your own hair. I went through a similar experience. Got tired of having to fix what I just paid someone $60 for...  even better, I can cut it when I want and not wait a week or more for them to fit me in their schedule.

... if you are what you eat I'm probably half pig... I follow the diet of my great grandfathers who all lived to be around 100 and were masters of charcuterie and pork butchery!  But, those greens will be a treat - I LOVE mustard, collards, turnips, etc.  As for the hair, it seems most things are that way these days - no one can or will do a good job at most anything, so you are better off doing it yourself.  Wow, $60 though... glad to live in the rural south where a barber would never dare charge more than $20!

Wowwwww - beautiful!! I LOVE colour and art and artists!

I've been working on my first raised garden bed. I live in Mexico and I've grown things in pots before but now...I'm laying out a mandala vegetable garden...hoping that the beauty of it will keep me focused and disciplined enough to look after it!

Hard to see in the snow but this year's creations were two new terraces,  one with blueberries and the other with thornless blackberry,  raspberry and aronia berry plants, and the awesome wind generator.  Life up here is on the diagonal so terrace building is what best describes me lol

My first tiny house burned down at the end of November last year. I lost everything I owned. (Around 15,000$ at the time)
I rebuilt on the ashes of the old. I refined my sacred geometry orchard designs, and brought them from the page into reality. We harvested around 100 cherries 3 months after planting our sapling trees!
I successfully launches my 2nd and 3rd successful businesses this year, I got my passport, and created a trust to manage all assets I steward, and on the 13 of this month, I am scheduled to pay off the Sanctuary and close with Escrow.
I built this life and home from homelessness and extreme poverty living out of a 1996 ford explorer that barely ran.
Happy New Year

I've become less of a city slicker and more of a badass.

I knew I had it in me and I'm slowly coming back to life.

I built a 3 bin hot compost system myself. Pretty proud of that.

I have participated in hunting, field dressing, skinning, butchering, and hide tanning.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this process.

I grabbed brains and made a brain milkshake for the hide tanning. Not much grosses me out anymore. It's just an awesome process and makes you feel connected and grateful for nature and all creations.

I roasted a duck for the first time and it was fucking delicious.

I'm learning new shit and I dig it.

I'm constantly learning and each day my homestead dreams become more and more realistic.  

I closed a business of 7 years. Ready for a new chapter.

I can't post pictures because flip phone w/o internet, but a word is worth 1/1000 of a picture, so I'll just describe with some words. I cloned one of my spoons, using a few power tools and a few hand tools and an ember from the fire for the hollow part. I learned to sew all my old stuff that was ripping at the seams, which allowed me to wear a pair of pants which had been languishing for years, for want of a single button! I gave my chickens a ship's copper porthole window for a breeze over their perch in the coop, using a jigsaw and a power drill. It looks real purty. I made soap for the first time with lye, distilled water and coconut oil. I got published for the first time with a fantasy story about composting. When the mean lady at Great Clips told me to pull my mask up over my nose, I went home and cut my own hair for the first time. It looked real good. I got ramps from the auto parts store and changed the oil on my convertible for the first time. I was still nervous in that tight space... I grew corn and thought it was a waste of space and water (next year I'll just do trashcan potatoes). I did an herb garden for the first time, and this year I'll prune and dry my herbs to the hilt, so that I can enjoy them all winter long. Got new handles for all my broken tools. Now I know where the real money is at. It's in tool handles.  

I don't think that this will find me a new girlfriend, but I do love the idea!
The things you people showed here are so lovely and impressive...
My newest creation came to be when the garden was still frozen, and I felt confined to a tiny space. The place doesn't get direct sunlight, so I had trouble growing plants and decided to build a terrarium. Then I added a small aquarium inside, and another, a little bigger (but still small) next to it. I try to keep it low-tech, but without hiding any equipment which I do use, because I don't want things to look fake or pretend anything.
While I do apply the principles of permaculture in these two tiny "worlds", I expressed my artistic self a little more here.
It currently contains 10 aquatic plants, 8 soil plants and 6 species of animals (seventh is on the way, I just haven't decided which, yet). Many of these are edible and they provide something for each other. It does use some electricity, but much less than most other electric things at home.

Sonja Draven wrote: Did you learn or fine tune a skill this year or create something amazing?

Definitely! I now feel much more confident about creating a small pond in my garden, in the summer. I could observe some small critters and plants closely, which wasn't so easy outside.

Pearl Sutton wrote: what have you made that describes who you are to a potential mate?

I guess I can make things look pretty. I like designs that are not only functional but also aesthetic. I like tasks that are challenging and require patience and precision.
In the summer, I had a project for which I made drawings of my garden, and of gardens of my friends - and now I created a tiny "garden" that will become the subject matter for some future artworks.

Another single but not really looking to change that.

Here's a recent project that has a few parallels with me.

It's made up of used stuff; some that others have discarded, some that others have sold and some that had a previous existance in my care.
It solves a problem but doesn't quite work perfectly.
It's not very pretty, kinda unique, kinda messy but never finished.

My combined bike lift and stand!