#178 Responding to your comments & suggestions

Six years ago we bought this abandoned piece of land in Portugal to try and find another way of living. And so far, we have been... Oh, hey. I'm a new person. My name is Tom, I'm from the video pod, and I'm new here at Project Camp. This is my first full season here at Project Camp, and I just have a lot of questions. Why are they not growing their own food? And why don't they have animals? I am planning to get to the bottom of all of these questions, so let's get started. As you might know, every 10th video we do a challenges video, and it always falls on the 8th. One 58th, one 48th, one 38th, and so forth. But in this challenge video, I also wanted to introduce some new segments. But first, let's dive into the ongoing and new challenges of the project, and then we'll get into the new stuff. One thing that always comes first is the health and safety of our campers. So let's see what Javi has to say about that. Okay, safety and health. So far this year, we didn't have much of a problem with health, but last year, you know, we had some group of people getting sick recurrently for a bit of time, and it took us a while to find the reason for it, and we never actually communicated to you. So now I'm going to take the opportunity to explain you a bit why it was. So we have this tap which has drinkable water, it goes through a filtering system and a UV filter. The problem is that last year, we changed the whole water system. So what happened with that is that this tap was outputting double the flow of water that it used to, and the UV filter simply couldn't hold that much. So by just changing a piece and reducing the pressure, it became the right amount of filtering for the UV filter, so then it was good. So no issues so far. The other one we had with safety and health was about the rats. So we have our lovely compost bins, which were secured in a previous update, and also we had the rat traps, which worked quite well. So far we didn't see any other rats around, and last part of safety we want to talk about is fire safety. This is always an ongoing challenge, and we kind of work hard towards that. So we improve our protocols, we're going to make a fire drill, and definitely the landscaping team is doing a lot of work with the fire breaks. So it was zone 5 at the beginning of the season, and now we are chopping some more other stuff in the Midland that we will show you later, because also we don't want to make a spoiler on that. But maybe to explain also one challenge that we have actually, that is kind of new around fire safety, is fuel management, but Jakob is going to tell you a bit more about it. Okay, so fuel management. A couple of months ago we got this little flyer from the municipality, and they kind of tried to explain what is fuel management, how to deal with it. And fuel management is kind of basically everything on our land that can fuel a fire. So trees, everything, we pile chemicals, fuel for the chainsaws, that all is kind of fuel. So they have kind of guidelines how to manage the plants regarding structures, surrounding structures. We got that information in March, because we attended a thing that the firefighters organized. They already updated the law in January, but we are not constantly looking into the law, what is changing. But now since we know it, we kind of try to adapt it. But then the plan is already set for the season, everyone arriving in March, then we want to cut some fire breaks, which are also really important for fire safety. But now we are a little bit behind on pruning the trees regarding the fire regulations, but we are on it. We are hopefully going to be finishing it soon. But yeah, on top of that, there's the coming and going of the fire regulations, which are already on for like three weeks. So we can only kind of work from May till 11. We're just slow. We can't progress as fast as we like. So that's, I guess, the topic of fuel management. Another challenge we have is the Zone 5 behind me. A lot of you guys are asking about it. What are our plans? What is going on? And the whole thing in general is like a full challenge for us because we wanted it to be cut in March, beginning of Season 5. So they were here in January after Season 5. So before Season 6 started. That was one company that cut it down. And then there's another company that said like, yeah, we're going to pick up the wood and then we get a little money for it. It's nice, cool. So they wanted to come in the beginning of March, Season 6. Now we are end of June, Season 6 and still there's wood to be picked up. So we're still waiting and waiting. So we don't really know what we will be left with. We definitely have it in our mind to plan around it. So maybe we have to do some action with the digger. Maybe we try neighbors with animals. There's infinite possibilities, but this is to be planned. But we're kind of still waiting on other companies to get rid of this. And then we can actually start and know what we are what we are left with. So that's what's coming for this big piece of land behind me. But come to think of it, I think the project was also planning on buying a new piece of land last season. Let's ask Julie what the situation about that is. So here we are in the waterfall with the challenge. Last year, we got offered to buy this place and we thought an easy shot, but it turned a bit more complicated than we thought. Let me explain you. In rural Portugal, there is a lot of land that have been passed down to different generations. As parents used to have several children, the land inherited got divided, transforming one's big properties into small plots and also very scattered, as you might have inherited from an uncle or a grandfather. On top of that, many people just have their property registered in old papers where boundaries are often unclear or areas not properly measured. And then so far, there's only been marking the end and the beginning of lands with metal sticks like this or rocks, which you can imagine it's not very easy to identify that through all these bushes. And sometimes you're also ending up with weird situations like we had the hole in the middle of our land some years ago. Now we fit it together, but before it was a bit of a random hectare there. So since the last month, we have spent quite a lot of time with the neighbors. And this is because of researching through all the papers, looking at their lands, looking at their registrations, and also searching for these pots and pans. And bit by bit, we are puzzling and puzzling and more puzzling. And we realize the land is not one hectare, but actually two. That's quite funny because they didn't know about this either. And seeing this all together, it's a bigger job and maybe also a bigger decision than we thought. Okay, so we have been talking quite a bit about this decision. And the end conclusion is we go for it. We take the challenge, even though this means that you will need to do two times the amount of maintenance work and two times the amount of finances to be covering actually the price of the land. And last year, we started to do some sponsorships for this to be able to buy bit by bit the first hectare. And this year, we tried to do the same with the second one. So luckily, we have very friendly neighbors and they are up to save the land for us until we actually got the finances. And that also helps them to not have any scattered land of square meter around. Funny situation with this waterfall challenge. Now we're going to go for double the size of the land, but also double the price. So let's get some sponsors. See you next challenge. So another ongoing challenge that we have this season is the growth of the YouTube channel. As you might know, the views are a little bit declining over the years, but so far the views are similar to season five from what we've seen, which to us feels good. And I'm here with Felipe, my co-video manager. So the reason why we have two video managers this season is I focus a little bit more on the future strategies to see what we can improve on the video part. And it kind of takes a while to implement those strategies sometimes. And for example, there's always new media, always new things to implement in the videos. But we also need to stop for a while and think about what we're implementing, because everything we implement in these videos, for example, will be there for the long run. That's kind of what I'm involved in. And Felipe is more working on the stories and making sure that there's good videos being put out every single week for you guys. So yeah, what are some challenges that you run into as the video manager? Yeah, I think when we started, when we did the plan for season six, we already talked about telling a bit more different stories that we won't have the same amount of building videos this year. Even though we are the video pod, we are kind of just doing what you call post-production and we cannot just invent stories of what is happening in camp. We're still following the style that Project Camp has while we're starting to experiment with new ways, like I said. But I think you will see a few cool things or might already have seen a few cool things of what we've been trying with new stuff. The pizza oven challenge, I guess, and another one I think a lot of people really like was the gardening episode. And I think it's these stories that can have a little bit more of this highlight this season compared to only like building videos. And from what I've seen in the comments, a lot of you guys seem to like it so far. So I think that's good. One more important part of the new stories is also the computer workers, the knowledge workers, the people that design websites, that do animations, that edit videos, that come up with different ideas to get them on camera and to tell these stories for people that are actually interested in this sustainable community that is camp. It's also something that we're going to take on this year and we hope to find very engaging and interesting ways to do that. So while we talked with Philippa about shedding a light on some people here at camp that you don't normally see, I was thinking maybe let's check with all the campers here at camp to see what their personal challenges are and shed a light on that. Blokke, what do you struggle with? Sometimes I can struggle with a nice balance between my own personal time and the activities we do at camp here. And especially in the evening, I sometimes need some time for myself. It's tough living in a tent for seven months. It's only month three. I got four more to go. Hey, landscaping team. Wow. Hello. Got any personal challenges? Live with other people. Cutting mimosa tops the whole day with a dull saw blade. Slowly turning into the Hulk. I hope it washes off, but maybe a new person. You know what I mean. It's hard to live with people like this. Like for example, there's certain things that are essential for the running of camp or at least make things way more convenient, like getting a proper spray bottle or buying a thermometer. And sometimes those things just aren't available without shipping from halfway around the world or without buying something cheap. And it's nice to find secondhand things, but there aren't secondhand things of everything. So before you come here, you have a life somewhere and a job and a house, friends, something like this. And then you come here, it's nice, maybe you come again and again. And suddenly you end up with this double life. One here, one there. How do you sustain both? Do you sustain both? How to deal with this? In the moment I have some responsibilities I have to take care of outside of camp. And it's sometimes not so easy to fit everything under one head and be sure that everything works out. You see many people coming and going with a lot of input, new experiences, new energy. Everything is really cool. In the beginning you get to know each other, then you enjoy each other. So everything is fun, but then that's it, it stops, it's a short time relation. So relations don't grow to really build trust or to have really a solid relation with other people here. Every year when I come back, all the people, they're different. And the place is completely the same, but it feels sometimes very strange and unfriendly and a bit like a stranger in your own home. That's my problem with the strangers. Who are you guys? I don't have a car here, so you get kind of locked in at camp on the weekends, like you might want to go somewhere. Another challenge was that I broke my glasses, but I managed to repair them with a bit of glue and wire. So you have to get a bit resourceful here sometimes. I have too many personal projects that I want to do, and I thought I would have more time for my tiny things, so yeah, I need to balance that. One thing that's challenging is people that own bikes and people that don't own bikes. It's very handy to have one, of course, because if you don't have one, you have to keep asking people to borrow theirs, and besides that, thorns and everything, they really mess up your inner tires, and most of them are either empty or there's something wrong with the gears, stuff like that. My personal challenge is that we live on a big piece of land, but we use a small piece of land, and that everything is combined, so the place where I work is the place where I relax, it's the place where I live, it's the place where I socialize. So it's difficult to separate things sometimes, and especially I mean work. If I go to the kitchen to make a snack, I am immediately in my workspace with my colleagues as well, which are also my friends. It's all very tangled up, and sometimes that can be challenging. What is your personal challenge? My personal challenge is not being able to see all my friends' newborns. Oh, that's sad. Yeah, it's a sad one. I'm trying to be more time out of camp, but my challenge is to say no and to let go tasks, and actually I find myself busy again with lots of tasks for camp, while I have other stuff to do. Hey Felipe, what is your personal challenge? Being a manager and an editor at the same time. The manager is very structured and makes meetings and sets a date to talk to everyone, and the editor is super focused and just forgets all those meetings, so that's the challenge I have. Hey man, what's your personal challenge? Got a problem? Or talk about it? No, my personal challenge is that there's only two per person. I would like to have four per person. Hey Ross, what is your personal challenge? My personal challenge is not having an intro. And whose fault is that? I think that might be the guy behind the camera. Sorry. No, it's okay. Next season, eh? Next season. Hey Tommy, what's your personal challenge? For me, it's that I've been alone in the kitchen a lot lately, and that's very draining. A challenge we have at the moment in the kitchen is that, because of something unexpected, we are understaffed. So normally we have two cooks, at the moment we only have one. That's doable for a short time. People from other pods have been kindly helping us with groceries and shopping, but that's not really something that's sustainable for the long term. Also because people that have been helping us don't necessarily have the right skillset. So everything falls on the shoulders of Tommy, and I also have to jump in more in the kitchen. So, if you are a cook, and you really want to come to Project Camp, go to support.projectcamp.com and maybe you'll become the hero of season 6 and help us at this moment. So I still have a lot of questions, and I think a lot of these questions already have been asked by a lot of people in the comments. And I also do think that they might have also been answered by people here at camp. But since the Q&A is now only available for people on Patreon, sign up, I think it's nice that we make a video where we have all of these questions in one place. So if anyone ever asks this question, we can just refer to them in the comments of this video. So let's go around and see if I can get some answers to my questions from people that know more than me. There's at least one question that I can answer, and that is... Who am I? Hello, I am Tom. I'm 30 years old and I'm from the Netherlands. I love to design, draw and make music. What interests me is sharing knowledge on these topics. I used to have a YouTube channel on my own, where I shared graphic design techniques and tips for freelancers. At some point, I realized that although I liked sharing my knowledge through my YouTube channel, doing it living in the city was not for me. It was time for a new chapter. So I made the choice to build a van together with my girlfriend Lopke to come to Project Camp, where I can help out with my expertise in running a YouTube channel. So far, it's been a really inspiring experience. What interests me most about the project is how they share their research in an open source model. I hope that one day I'll be able to build my own place, in which I can teach and inspire other people the way I get inspired by things. But for now, I'd like to take things slower at Camp, learning and absorbing knowledge and sunlight. And of course, keep working on videos. Let's get back to it. Hey Cameron, why do we not grow our own food? So growing our own food on the land would require a lot of dedication, like people here all year round and lots of manpower, when we can dedicate that to other projects. And thanks to the donations and the money that we receive for the project, we can use our buying power, our purchasing power, for local organic farmers. And that supports them in the region. And otherwise, we are happy to continue the way we're doing. And we do have some fruit trees with some fruit coming through. But no plans in the near future for food. Hey Adrian, how do we finance the project? So we finance basically from three different sources. One is YouTube, one is donations, and the main one at the moment is Patreon. So we have a big amount of people that support us monthly, and that's our best and most steady income at the moment. Hey Cameron, why do we use gas? Isn't that really unsustainable? So there's two types of gas that we use on the land. One is the propane, it comes from underground. It's not very sustainable, fossil fuels. And the other is the biogas, which we produce from our food scraps. And we do use this in small amounts for cooking. But with our current solar setup and the amount that produces, we're not able to meet all of our demands. So for hot showers, for cooking large amounts of food for 20 people, we do have to resort to this. And it's just a bit of a compromise, because we're then able to keep people comfortable enough to fulfill other projects on the land. And in the meantime, we are thinking for future solutions when we have the community center. Hey Julie, why do we not have goats or sheep? Would be nice, but for now there is a lot of things to take care of. And if we are here now during winter, who is then going to take care of all these goats and sheep? So who knows, maybe in the future as well. Hey Javi, do people get paid at Project Camp? Well, there are some people that do get a little money, I would say like pocket money, monthly. Especially the ones that are longer term here and got more commitment, so long term people, managers mostly. We wouldn't consider this like a salary or that you get paid, but more like a support for people to be able to keep doing stuff at camp, because still people need to pay for their insurance. Also, some people work, have side jobs, but you cannot really work full time on that. So it's always good if we can give a little income to these people, but again, it's not really much and we cannot really call it payment. Hey Adrian, why are there no babies in camp? So there are no babies in camp because at the moment we don't have conditions for it, so it's still hard to live here, we live off grid, we sometimes don't have electricity, we just have one shower outside, which is not ideal to clean a baby. So in general, an all year round place for a baby needs to be a bit more controlled, and here's not the case yet. Hey Colleen, where's Rita? Rita is out there in the world being a mother, which is not really aligning with the project camp. So we see her from time to time, but otherwise she's out there with a little cute baby being a mother, which is very intense. Hey Javi, why do you always repeat video topics? So certainly when we started it was super exciting to set up base camp and explore the land, but over time the tasks that we need to do become a bit repetitive, like chopping mimosas, rebuilding things, setting camp into winter mode, so all these things happen every year and that's actually what life is, because what we need to do is what we kind of show. Always we try to give it a little twist, a little wiggle here to make it a bit different, have a different flavor, but in the end there's always going to be a clash between the newness that YouTube is always asking for and what actually a routine life is, and that's what we try to do. Hey Julie, can people just visit project camp? No, unfortunately we don't have the capacity to host way more people than we already have here, and everyone is quite busy, so maybe in the future? Hey Kato, why do we eat vegan? Because we chose vegan because it's the most sustainable if done in a good way, if you source the food locally, and it's also inclusive, so if anyone comes here that eats vegan they can just join, and we don't have to make a separate dish, and it's also very easy in the kitchen, because if you work with meat, then cleaning becomes a whole more difficult thing, and with just veggies it's more easy. Hey Adrian, where is the land? So the land is owned by an association, so it's an NGO in Portugal, so actually nobody really owns the land and nobody can sell it. So we finally got a camp cat. Not really, this is Goody. So similar as with goats, we are not getting an animal to have for the project, because it would mean that somebody would need to care for the animal, but still some of the campers bring their pets, and in this case we got Goody, which is a very cosy cat, and so far it's doing well, catch some mice, no birds, no lizards so far, so we think it's safe for nature. Not rats so far, because we didn't see more, but yeah, let's see what he finds. So far a temporary cat, not a camp cat, but we like him. So this was nice, I hope it was also useful to you, and if people have any questions in the future, you can direct them to this video. As you might know and realize, we have a lot of eyes on us through YouTube, and a lot of people can also have criticism on the things that we do, especially in building projects for example, and it's always good to have criticism, because we can learn from it, but some comments can just be straight up rude, and it's very easy to get hung up on those negative comments, and it's also not really something that we want to highlight too much, but something that we want to highlight, is that there's actually a lot of nice things happening in the comments, and I thought this might be a cool element that we can now use in the challenges videos moving forward. So the first one is a donation by the YouTube name of Kasukasek4479, sorry I had to peek there, but this person donated 10 euros to our neighbor George to get some beer or some cigarettes or some fuel for his tractor, so let's go to George and see what he thinks of this. Ok, so we got George here, so we're going to tell him the comment. So, that's the question, do you want the gift? No, it's for you. No, but instead of me receiving it, I'm offering it to you, so that you can live together. No, but... Yes, no, no. Sure. More or less a beer? Yes, then I'll put the rest and we'll all drink a beer. Everyone is here. No, no, no, don't worry, because it's going to be more complicated like this, right? Yes. So, for you... Yes, a beer. A beer or less? Yes, thank you. But it can be 5. Yes, thank you. It can be 5, the 2 euros are for 5 beers from here. Yes, but then we'll decide. Ok, ok. Thank you. You're welcome. So, ok. Thank you, my friend. His name is Kazukazuek, it's an internet name, Kazukazuek. They're from Vegas, USA. So, we're sending you a hug and a tip. Thank you. So, George was thankful, but he'd also like to give us the beers. It was a little bit hard to convince him to keep the money, so we might just treat him to the beers in the future. All right, that's it for this update video. I hope you enjoyed, and please do let us know what you think of these new segments in the Challenges videos. If you want to support the project, go do that on Patreon, where you can get the videos in 4K without ads, two weeks ahead. If not, you can also subscribe to the YouTube channel, and then we'll see you in the same time, same place. See you next week.