Today we’d like to introduce you to Benito Olamendi.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Benito. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
MPF sprouted from the climate crisis. I grew up surfing, diving and underwater hunting all over the coast, from Northern California to Southern Baja. My friends and I became obsessed with hunting swells and chasing fish. These amazing experiences I had interacting with different ecosystems from 1999 – present gave me a front row seat to the effects of increasing ocean temperatures, habitat destruction and the endangerment of vulnerable species. The quest for solutions to these ocean problems lead me up stream, into the watershed and eventually back to our homes. Basically, a lot of these issues can be mitigated by each of us implementing a few lifestyle changes. At 23, I began taking permaculture design courses, studying regenerative food production, building materials, water systems, waste management and reading all of the related materials. I am still pursuing more education in permaculture design, my next course will be in October ’19 at Desert Bloom Farm in Anza, where they are doing incredible work regenerating very harsh terrain for organic food production. MPF started with setting up backyard gardens, getting people to grow food at home. As clients ran into first time gardening errors I began to offer maintenance programs, which I pitched to a few schools, of which blossomed the School Garden Curriculum. Most permaculturalists will tell you that growing your own food is a catalyst for implementing more sustainable practices around the home. As more interest sprouted in composting, rainwater catchment, climate appropriate landscaping I began providing clients with conceptual Sustainable Living Designs. These designs lay out all of the previously discussed sustainable systems on your own property with guides for implementation and use. Every design is customized to each client’s lifestyle and sustainability goals. The next step is scaling these designs up to service schools. The best way to normalize these sustainable practices is to get schools on board with rain water catchment, organic waste management and climate appropriate landscaping. I want to help all the schools reach their water wise, zero waste and net zero carbon goals.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Previous generations had the luxury of relating to the Holocene extinction as a futuristic dystopian concept. They chose convenience, and pushed the consequences onto the next generation. I feel fortunate to see sustainability mainstreaming, and to be a part of the generation that is actively making the shift needed to address this period of abrupt climate breakdown. These pressing economic, environmental and social issues compound and manifest in the form of a looming anxiety or depression, which has become a trait of growing up millennial and generation z. This urgent desire to be a part of the solution changed my course from a bachelor’s degree from Cal State San Marcos to pursue a less conventional career in permaculture design and sustainability. Business success does not happen overnight and I had to deal with housing insecurity. Even working multiple jobs, I needed help to cross that economic threshold into stability. Today, I am creating more employment opportunities for my community in an environmentally regenerative industry. Although housing and mental health are quite revealing and personal topics to discuss, these are the types of discussions need to reach our economic, environmental and social sustainability goals as a society.
Please tell us about My Private Farmer.
My Private Farmer is an edible landscaping company that specializes in sustainable living designs. We are most known for setting up vegetable gardens and perennial food systems (aka Food Forests) in homes and schools. Aside from establishing the gardens we also provide maintenance services. Imagine having organic food grown for you on your own property. At schools, we visit bimonthly to tend the gardens with students and instruct them through a gardening curriculum. The vegetable garden is just the first step into sustainability for our clients. We start with veggies and a fruit trees, and the next season clients are asking about composting, rainwater catchment and a climate appropriate/pollinator friendly front yard! Our background in permaculture design in suburban Southern California sets us apart from other landscapers. Our sustainable living designs are roadmaps to implementing different sustainable systems around your home to ultimately live in harmoniously with your ecosystem. We are very proud to lead our clients through minor lifestyle changes to achieve their zero waste and “water wise” goals but we are most proud of normalizing these practices in schools. Breathing life into the fire of the future stewards of these lands.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I could go back in time to start over, I would speak with more urgency when discussing lifestyle changes for the sake of the planet. It’s not just about the price of making these changes, it’s also the cost of not taking these actions. Investing in rainwater catchment or to re-landscape for a climate appropriate front yard is a relatively low price to pay compared to the cost of an unhealthy, contaminated or dead watershed leading to the ocean. The price of your reusable products does not reflect the cost on the environment when we continue to use single use plastic. Spending money towards sustainability is an investment not an expense. Today I speak urgently and clearly about the cost of not taking action but also the positive impact we make and the long-term benefits we receive after making these changes.
Pricing:
- Garden consultations are free
- Sustainable Living Designs: $1,200-$5,000 based on the size of the property.
Contact Info:
- Website: MyPrivateFarmer.org
- Phone: 9496830995
- Email: myprivatefarmer@gmail.com
- Instagram: @https://www.instagram.com/myprivatefarmer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myprivatefarmer/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/my-private-farmer-huntington-beach
Image Credit:
Benito Olamendi
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