Plukrijp Newsletter – 2023 week 37

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Plukrijp.be vzw – Zetel: Trommelstraat 24 – B 2223 Schriek
RPR Mechelen – O.N. 0553.553.660 – www.plukrijp.be

Upside-down the good newsletter

2023 – week 37

Upside down = instead of announcing what we plan to do
(& most often find out we do not need to do), we relate what we really did

This week @ Plukrijp

We did:

We harvested all the pumpkins at Hei and were surprised by their quantity! Pumpkins of different shapes and colors await you to enhance your meals!

We started to harvest the potatoes at Hei and could not wait to taste them. We can already tell you that they are delicious!

We planted kale on the right side of open tunnel 1 and covered them with a special blanket to prevent them from being attacked by insects

We continued to give some water to seedlings waiting for the rain to take over

The destruction of the large mass stove in the workshop is completed. We decided for the moment to not rebuild it. We will replace it by a big wood stove stocked in the hangar and install another wood stove on the first floor for the people sleeping there in the winter

We repaired the bench at the swimming pool. Thanks to Joost for his loving care!

The mother chicken and her little chick could join finally the rest of the pack. They are doing great

We are satisfied with the cleaning carried out this week. An entire van has already been taken to the recycling center

We enjoyed some local ice cream with Wilfried, Hannah and Norah before they left us. We thank them for their loving presence during the last 3 weeks and we wish them the best for the continuation of their project in New Zealand

Plukrijp participated on Saturday in the annual sustainability event organized by the city of Heist op den Berg

A few words from our friend Niels

Investing in People

The second ethic of permaculture is people care. How do we apply this?

Selecting the correct people to invest in is where it starts. Being selective up front will save time and resources later on. Have a testing phase. You need time to see who a person is. You also need to see how they operate under stress. When they make a mistake we should check whether or not they have a growth mindset. In the long run it is also crucial that the values of the person align with the project. There are many people worth investing in, and not all of those will fit with you or your project, so be selective by asserting the values and conditions, communicating the design and protocols and setting the boundaries.

Once selected it’s all about setting the people around you up for success. Investing means dedicating resources, allocating time to training and giving psychological support. There might be some things that the person still needs to learn in order to fulfil a role. This person might need access to up front tools and infrastructure in order to carry out tasks. This person might need several months to get up to speed and to get to know the existing people and culture. The more you set the person up for success, the more likely they are to integrate.

There is a saying in business. You are who you hire. I think that is true for any project. It’s the people and their shared values that end up creating the culture. And whether or not a project invests in people or not will end up determining the willingness of people to stay there and contribute.

There is a trap in people care. The task of taking in anyone and everyone is too much. This would risk spreading ourselves too thin and not realizing true people care for any one person. “Firing” people can be scary if you see only have your own project as the horizon, but it needn’t be. You can help them find the right fit or simply disengage altogether. Do no harm, take no shit. This is because not everyone you meet will be a suitable partner for your project and in fact they might find more success and happiness in another place.

There are toxic personality traits that will continually attract attention and become black holes for time and energy. Most toxic personalities have a way to trick or fool as a survival mechanism. Trust your instincts. It’s better to remove the source swiftly than to try to rearrange everything around the toxic element. You won’t save the broken bird and even if you do it will fly away.

If you find yourself attracting toxic personalities, it might be worth looking into why. As a rule, if you put in the effort and time without seeing improvement, and you are lost with what other feedback you can integrate, then it’s best to let go first and understand later.

So what we are left with is attention for the people we can grow with. Growing with people is also terrifying because it almost forces us to grow a bit ourselves, and this means going into the unknown and being vulnerable. It’s truly a choice that is up to you. I encourage you here, not to be afraid of the commitment and intimacy.

The people of a project in time will reflect the true values, intentions and motivations of the founder or founders. When we invest in people we build them up, they tend to stay and will increase in productivity and value. When they outgrow the project you will leave them with a solid reputation, a brighter future and access to a network that will transcend the project itself. You may even make friends for life. The people that outgrow the project will leave a beautiful and defined place behind that can be easily occupied by someone else. Investing in people is not zero sum, it has no limit because their success can exponentially increase your own potential for success.

So focus on people care. Let your vibe attract your tribe. Tell the world the vision of the future you’d like to grow towards and you’ll find out soon that you’ll never work alone.