Today we’d like to introduce you to Benjamin Hirschfeld.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Before I got into Urban farming, I actually spent almost ten years working in the outdoor industry. I worked retail at a backpacking store called Adventure16, did corporate merchandising for Nike, sold high-end skies at a historic ski shop in Santa Monica called Doc’s Ski and Sport and even was a sales rep for several outdoor specific brands. At the end of my ten years, I knew one thing to be true, I wanted to create a deeper connection to nature and the land around me, I wanted to sell something of true value that would better the world and I wanted to bring people together to create a richer sense of community. At that point, I decided to make the transition from my current path to something more rooted in the soil, Urban Farming.
I began this new journey by working for a company called Home Grown Gardens that I connected with through the Mar Vista Farmers Market. That brand taught me a lot about the importance of strong intention in design and how to build a successful edible story in the urban jungle. After about a year of working for that company, I was absolutely hooked and began the adventure that has led me to where I am today.
At the time of my departure from HGG, I was living in a home in Mar Vista where a bunch of roommates and myself designed and built out a fully edible landscape in the front and backyard. We had planted over 40 fruit trees, dozens of herbs and California natives and a LOT of seasonal vegetables. At one point, we had more than we knew what to do with so I decided to fill up a wheelbarrow and walk it down to a restaurant I loved called Status Kuo which is now called Little Fatty and convinced the owner David to buy it. The next day he came to tour the farm and that is how the partnership with LF was born.
Shortly after that, I officially started my company 3R Garden Design and the true road began. I knew I needed to level up my knowledge of this industry, hands on experience couldn’t be the only way to propel myself so I decided to enroll in a Sustainability Certificate Program through UCLA Extension. Once in this program, I connected with a woman Nicole who was involved in a Non Profit called Community Healing Gardens. We immediately connected and after many amazing conversations she invited me on to be the Garden Director for the organization. There were two amazing projects they were doing that I got to support in the growth of, Rehabbing an old garden footprint at the only LAUSD middle school in Watts and managing 80 raised garden boxes on the parkways in the neighborhood of Venice. Both projects were wonderful to be a part of and working with that organization led me to connecting with my current business partner Kyle who has been a huge asset in getting 3R to where it is today.
Currently 3R is working on some amazing projects that have been beneficial in telling our story and empowering the idea of growing your own and not relying so heavily on the industrial model of food production. We are working with the City of Los Angeles to manage several compost stations and info centers at different parks throughout LA, we are developing a robust Food forest garden at the Archer School For Girls along with education for over 150 of their students, and we have even developed a garden partnership with a homeowner and a local restaurant here in Los Angeles and from that partnership LittleCityFarmLA was born. Currently, the 3R team is also managing several maintenance accounts along with developing and installing several edible landscapes throughout Los Angeles.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Haha, the road of being a small business is never smooth for me at least. The first five years were super slow, maybe only doing a few installs a year and most of them were small projects. The biggest challenge in the beginning was finding clients, we didn’t have any investors and were not really advertising at all. We had few tools and were just trying to find our place in the market. After a few years of struggle, we were able to grow by saving and being super tight with incoming funds which ultimately led to better security of growth, better equipment and happier staff. I definitely think the road is smoother now but there was quite a bit of struggle in the beginning. But it’s worth it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I own an Edible Landscaping Company called 3R Garden Design LLC. We design, install and maintain urban edible landscapes in residential and commercial properties. We specialize in connected our clients to where their food comes from and empowering them to be more thoughtful in how they connect with the world around them.
We are known for the relationships we build with our clients. It’s important to us to be more than just someone they hire to do a task but eventually become part of the family. Our garden installs blossom into deep relationships that the clients have with their surrounding community. Growing food in the front yard is a great way to build community through sharing and conversing with our neighbors.
I think I am most proud of how these finished gardens make the clients feel. You can literally see it on their face once the garden has established and filled in, their sense of wonder and excitement over the abundance. It’s quite empowering!
Passion, I think is one of my biggest assets, and I know my clients can see it every time I talk about urban farming. I believe that in the end, you just need to love what you do!
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Knocking down the fences that divide us and popping the bubble of division to build one big community, one big family, one big garden and one sense of true self. My option is that the world we currently live in is a world of division and the one thing that can bring us all together is food, and not just consuming it but growing it and sharing that adventure with our fellow neighbors. I think if we all started to rely on each other rather than an outside source, we could begin to have real conversations about a better world for the next generation.
And that’s what matters most to me!!
Contact Info:
- Email: info@3rgardendesign.com
- Website: www.3rgardendesign.com
- Instagram: 3rgardendesign
