Does your family support your permie nature?

I was thrilled last night when my sister asked me to make a ginger carrot ferment.  

Slowly, I am seeing her choices shift toward permie options.  

Three examples stand out:

1. Ginger Carrots:
Sauerkraut is on my list of BB to do so when my sister was cutting cabbage for stirfry but cut it into strips instead of squares, I offered to make kraut and sliced the rest of the cabbage.
While reviewing the recipe booklet that came with my kit my sister was intrigued by the ginger carrots and asked me to make a pint.

2. H2O2 and Baking Soda cleaners
Recently I did the clean the exterior of your stove Nest.Alice BB and used Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda.  I discovered what an amazing cleaning combo this is and this past week, I made a paste to clean the glass top of the stove for her to use.  She was surprised at the lack of elbow grease required to clean the burn mark and has used it again.  A rewarding experience for me.  

3. Organic purchases
My sister is 7 years older than me and had never sought out organic items to purchase until last fall when I decided to make Fire Cider and she agreed that using organics to make medicine was a prudent choice.  Since then she has (without prompting) purchased more ingredients and asked me to make more.  We are using our fourth batch right now and have two more fermenting with a different vinegar for three experiments (apple cider, champagne, white wine).  

Please share milestones in your family's transition or conversion.

My family has had nothing to do with me for many years.  They have decided I am a woods hippie. ....not that they have ever seen the home I live in.

John F Dean wrote:My family has had nothing to do with me for many years.  They have decided I am a woods hippie. ....not that they have ever seen the home I live in.

My family (mostly my mom) hasn't gone so far as to disown me, but they do think I'm off the proverbial deep end. They think we're "tied" to our house because of our animals and gardening, and it's bizarre to them that we don't travel or even go to the mall for fun. Or that we don't eat out. Like, ever...okay, we did eat out once last May.

My sister's kids sent me invitations to their high school graduations with a note attached: "We know you can't come, but here's an invitation anyway."

My mom visited our house once. Just once. She likes the idea of growing her own food, but the actual work to grow it? Mmm, not so much. She did go with me to the nursery to buy another persimmon tree though, does that count? (sarcasm...)

My dad won't even eat homemade bread. Or home grown anything. And I'm not exaggerating, either. There's something about home grown food he thinks is dangerous. Like store bought food is safe?!

Okay... my blood pressure is up now...Y'all are supposed to be my "safe place," LOL!

My sister back in Sydney is definitely permie. We grew up on my grandfather's farmlet, where much of the family food was grown, and for both of us that's an ideal we'd love to recreate in our own lives. She now lives with our elderly parents to help them, and since moving in has started a veggie patch and a chook run. The healthier food plus having something interesting to do and to watch has helped Mum and Dad a lot.
My hubby, though, is about as non-permie-friendly as it's possible to get. He tolerated me planting a hedge/food forest around our small yard to stop kids riding their bikes across it as a short-cut, but constanly defeats my attempts to get understory plants growing by weeding it back to bare earth. He rakes up mulch because it looks untidy. He won't eat home grown food and rarely will eat my home cooked food. Probably because he's on the autistic spectrum, he prefers beige food that comes wrapped in plastic. He sent me an article suggesting regularly consuming kefir may have some protective effects against viruses, but won't even taste my fermented foods and drinks.
I love him dearly, but... sigh!

I got pretty lucky. Both of my grandparents had gardens and knew hard times and both of my parents are frugal. Growing up, we had a small garden and a little woods on the back of our 1 acre plot. My sister-in-law is from Russia, and her grandmother had/has a dacha garden, so she grew up growing a lot of food can caring for geese in the summer. We encourage each other in food growing and make-do and mending (she makes really nice wool pants for our kids out of old sweaters and makes her own slippers--she grew up conserving and making do).

I'm the most "permie" of the people in my family, but they support and understand me. Within two weeks of meeting my husband, we were talking about how we wished we could live in a cabin in the woods, and we made it happen (well, sort of...it's a manufactured home in the woods). He gripes about the work a lot of the things require, but he also works full time at the hospital, so I understand. When I ask about buying plants, he says, "Of course! It's grocery money. Buy all the food!" He's glad to live out here, especially during these chaotic times, and he helps with the stuff I can't do alone...albeit with a little grumbling as he does it, especially if it's raining .

I grew up gardening and my parents used to have goats, bees and chickens. So parts of this life was what I grew up with. We always grew a large part of our veggies each year. My siblings all support this sort life though they live it in different ways. My oldest brother does a lot to improve his land down in Arizona though not a lot of food production. My other brother has experimented with rabbits, chickens and now is focusing on growing food in gardens and he wants to plant a food forest on his property. My sister is more focused on supporting local organic farms and eating a very healthy diet--she follows a vegan diet and is very careful about what sorts of food she eats in regards to how it was grown/produced. Her kids also went to a nature based school for several years.

My wife is very supportive of a permies lifestyle and her parents/siblings all think this is cool though it's not how they choose to live. But they love our place and fully support what we do.

We really are very lucky to have such a supportive family while on this journey. I think my wife and I have gone further than anyone else in our family but they're all supportive. Though as we shift to a composting toilet and some other larger changes we will see But they all love our food growing and how beautiful and "natural" our place is becoming.

This year? Yes. My family not only supported my self-sufficient tendencies, they even joined in with the gardening and the canning. Mom has already asked me to plant a bigger patch of a particular potato variety that she liked.

Most years? No. My family pretty much mocks anything I do. I'm the idiot child who exists only so they have someone to look down at.

I don't expect that to change. Their response to the widespread food shortages made for a nice reprieve, but I'm not getting my hopes up.