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Growing Mondays: focus on the bottom of the iceberg
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems
Jo Hunter Adams
August 25, 2025
Hi! I'm Jo, writing from Heart & Soil homestead, a 1-acre homestead in the Far South of Cape Town, South Africa. Every week I share inspiration and education for your growing journey. Thanks so much for reading!
Welcome to Growing Mondays, where I talk about growing- vegetables, fruits, animals and, well, people. This week I wanted to talk about the habits and systems that keep us moving forward, and how to keep building on those.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems
Knowing that I have abundant seedlings helps jumpstart spring for me.
Happy Monday friends! The city’s plan to displace our community has been weighing heavily on us this week, and in the midst of it, it’s SPRING!
So the concept of systems seemed timely. Because our farm still needs to run, even when we’re worried or distracted.
In difficult times, the work we’ve put into building systems stabilises our progress and keeps us building. It’s not what we can do on a great and easy day, it’s what we can keep doing on hard and busy days. And always, the building is not about a fun hobby or building something perfect for our family. It’s about the whole community, and ultimately about contributing in a small way to a better world. That’s what gives it traction in hard times.
Having a relationship with a nursery and knowing how to get trees makes spring full of potential.
What you see when you’re on our homestead is the tip of the iceburg. Or, to give another analogy, when you see mushrooms, there’s an entire mycelial network underground that gave energy and sustains the small thing above the surface. We shouldn’t focus on the tip of the iceberg, or the mushrooms. We have to cultivate what’s unseen.
Some growing habits worth thinking about for this growing year.
A plan for watering when things get busy.
A plan for compost (starting now, for 3 months from now)
A plan for seedlings- both for growing them, and a backup plan if growing them doesn’t work out.
A plan for improvement and growth- what structure can you put in place now that will make growing better in future years?
A plan for responding if plants aren’t thriving.
A plan for growing something that you’ve never grown before.
A plan for eating something you’ve never enjoyed before.
A plan for food waste.
A plan for your back. Yes, you need a plan to sustain a healthy back. (and legs, arms, etc.)
The science says that if we’re able to plan then imagine and walk through different scenarios in our minds (and ideally also in our bodies), gradually our brains wire to be able to instinctively manage a broader variety of challenges. As an aside, don’t do the reverse of imagining in graphic detail all the bad things that can happen. This similarly seems to have the effect of making our brains think we actually experienced those bad things.
When it comes to growing, plans and systems make all the difference in building the land we’re stewarding, the life we’re cultivating, and the food we’re hoping to eat.
Here’s to a lovely week of growing, and looking forward to spring with you all.
Workshops
6 Sep 9-10:30 Veg growing workshop I’m slowing down a little on topic-related workshops for this year, as we plan our NPO and how to share our learning and systems more broadly. If you have a company group or a group of family or friends that you’d like to learn composting, growing, chicken rearing, sourdough baking, cheesemaking or some other topic, let me know. It could be a fun way to connect with colleagues, friends and family. |
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