Image from plenitudpr.org
We are thrilled that one of our EcoGather partners, Plenitud PR, a community-based non-profit that has been operating in Puerto Rico since 2008, is visiting Sterling this week. In tandem with co-founder Owen Ingley’s visit, we’re taking an opportunity to highlight how Plenitud’s deeply held ethic of service and commitment to working with and as part of the natural world generate true vitality.
Owen founded Plenitud with Paola Garrido and friends who wanted to try using permaculture as a way to shape change in eastern Puerto Rico. What would happen, they wondered, if they applied the pillars of permaculture to more than just agriculture? The region undoubtedly needed support; imported food landed in droves, often much lower in nutritional value and far from fresh, displacing that which the area’s farmers had typically grown and its people enjoyed. Despite an abundance of rainwater, it seemingly never made its way back into homes where it was needed. Health declined, and chronic illness rates swelled. Elders living in remote areas of the region struggled to get the medication they needed. Biodiversity declined as small farms gave way to industrial monocultures where intensive coffee and orange production left the earth depleted. The population slowly declined as young people, seeing that small-scale agriculture was no longer a viable career path in eastern Puerto Rico, left for the cities – whether in Puerto Rico, the mainland United States, or abroad – in search of work.
Plenitud’s founders were young – they followed where their interests pulled them, they experimented, traveled, studied, and discerned what they wanted for themselves and their world. Mentors showed them the way. Soon, they began to sow seeds. Slowly, their network grew, their farm grew, and so did their impact.
Today, Plenitud’s guiding principles of service, sustainability, and community have given rise to a range of complementary programs over the years, including creating a community center and resilience hub, hosting university students on service-learning trips, teaching bioconstruction workshops, offering trainings about permaculture design and farming, and providing affordable and healthy food to marginalized individuals in our community. With deep roots in their community, Plenitud responded swiftly to meet emergent needs in the face of Hurricane Maria – as well as exacerbated needs that had existed long before the storm.
Plenitud is also well-known in Puerto Rico for publishing a guide to agroecology entirely in Spanish – something that, despite a long history of agroecological wisdom on the island, had only existed in English – titled ¡Siembra Boricua!. The text combines art and wisdom from farmers, academics, and researchers, and breaks barriers in bringing this essential knowledge back to all Puerto Ricans.
As an EcoGather partner, Plenitud is fortunate to already have good friends at Sterling. Over the past year, Plenitud’s staff has collaborated with the EcoGather team to lead the creation two of courses:
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Holistic Health and Nutrition, which highlights Plenitud’s work to reduce cases of diet-related illness and cultivate food sovereignty on the island. The course shares ancient methods of listening to and caring for our whole bodies, including Ayurvedic practices, breathing and meditation, crafting intentional spice blends to support both joy and nutrition, and unpacking structural impacts on our diverse relationships with food.
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Rainwater Harvesting and Management, which leverages their experience in coping with a simultaneous excess of rainwater and lack of water where it’s needed in households, and offers real support to EcoGather communities facing similar challenges. Applying permaculture principles, the course guides us through exercises in analyzing the geography of where we live and work, building passive and active collection systems, and navigating questions of quality and filtration.
They’ve also contributed to a course on Right Livelihood and Enterprise Viability for Agroecological Farmers from our partners at the Puerto Rico Trust for Science and Technology.
But beyond the material they’ve included in actual classes, the humans of Plenitud have also taught the EcoGather team about true service, dedication to values-informed practice, and the joy we may find on the other side of crisis.
To learn more about Plenitud, we encourage you to watch this (very quick) video that shares more about their mission.