A short report on: #focus meets PPauw
On a fresh and sunny afternoon - perfect weather for what we were going to do - we gathered for a walk from the Ede-Wageningen railway station all the way to PPauw, an experimental ecovillage in the woods at the fringe of Wageningen. One of our leading questions for this meeting was: how can we put our ideas on alternative living into practice? PPauw then seemed to be the right place to visit, since they really put their ideas into practice all the time.
In our previous #FOCUS-meeting (in Bodegraven) the subject had been 'this progress', after Tino Sehgal's work. We had our questions raised on the idea of 'progress', and on spending our lives chasing for - for what? During some after-talk we bumped into this subject of ‘systems’ and decided to take this theme for a next #FOCUS-meeting (this one!): It is hard, in this well regulated neoliberal context of which we are part, to find space for experimental living. We have freedom of expression, but to what extent can we be free to live how we want to live? How can we create space for experiment if we have limited financial means?
Walking with a group of people always gives a good opportunity to dwell on specific subjects of interest. That's what we had discovered in Bodegraven before. And as soon as we were in the woods, we found ourselves stopping all the time admiring funghi, trees and dead wood. To be honest: we also felt a bit lost now and then, but it turned out that we walked directly into PPauw - and just before we reached the premises some other people joined us for this meeting.
Erik Groen, the founder of this ecovillage welcomed us. We drank tea and wine in the sunshine in front of PPauw's community building 'the Moddership', meanwhile getting interesting background information of this initiative by Erik. Location of this ecovillage is a squatted terrain of an old hospital. Most of the old building is gone - the remains are happily integrated into the experiments of the residents of PPauw. Now there are vegetable gardens, living units and lots of space for children to play in the woods. And soon there will be all kinds of showers - every inhabitant is inventing his/her own type of DIY shower. That is what they are doing all the time: (re)inventing and experimenting. PPauw tries to reach the stage of being an ecologically self-sustaining community. It happens a lot that things fail to work - but that's the way this process works if you want to explore and come to new inventions. They keep on exchanging ideas also with other experimental communities.
Meanwhile the land is owned by a property developer. PPauw is on good terms with the owner. The way the people of PPauw use the soil and the environment, has to improve its quality. So both parties are served here, explains Erik. PPauw can use the land for now and the developer sees an improvement of his property. At the same time, their interests may diverge. On the long term most probably villa's will be built here and PPauw will have to leave. But before that, a new road will be rolled out in the midst of the ecological gardens.
In the middle of Erik's presentation we were all of a sudden surrounded by gusts of rain and we ran into the Moddership. A good occasion to admire some of the very innovative DIY inventions of Erik (a bicycle powered blender) and his fellow companions.
After the introduction Erik showed us around - we saw a.o. the greenhouse (partly watered by urine, which can contain a lot of healthy substances that make plants grow - it is not so easy to get good quality of urine though, as visitor's pee may contain artificial food-additive or residue from medicine), the tiny-house workshop and a studio in the old parking garage, made with bales of hay.
It was an elaborate introduction into permaculture. I am sure that Erik could have told us much, much more, but for most of us it was time to leave. Unfortunately there was no time left to discuss all the ideas and topics that Erik had raised. That would have been very interesting too. It seems that not all of us will follow the example of Erik, but he surely showed us how you can create a space for experimental living. I found it very inspiring to see how people like Erik put their ideas into practice, and to see that possibilities are vaster than one can imagine even if one stays where one is.
Leonie van der Plas
Tip! Permaculture gathering @PPauw 6 till 8 May 2016
http://www.leonievanderplas.nl/
http://www.groeninnovaties.nl/
(photos made by Nina Glockner, Leonie van der Plas)