40 years of building homes, community, and hope. 🏡
This year, we are celebrating four decades of impact made possible by the community. From the first home built to the hundreds of families served since, every milestone reflects the power of us coming together.
And we are just getting started!
Join us on May 16th at Hearts & Hammers as we celebrate 40 years of impact and look ahead to the future of affordable housing in Ventura County. We'll be sharing our FULL feature film at the event and you can still secure your tickets to see it all by visiting the link in our bio.
đź“˝: @liampickhardt
#HabitatVentura #HFHVC #VenturaCounty #AffordableHousing #Community #HeartsAndHammers
For some, farming has always been more than labor - it’s a purpose, a calling. It’s true that farming comes with challenges:
long hours, uncertain income, and high barriers to entry. And yet, a new generation of young farmers is finding ways to overcome these hurdles, guided by their commitment to nurture the land and their communities.
Red Tail Farms is led by Matt and Gabrielle, both in their 20s, who, despite the challenges, have chosen to step into this work. While the average American farmer is now 58 years old (up from 50 in 1982), Matt and Gabrielle represent a new generation of farmers, rooted in a guiding purpose: to grow nutrient-rich food and to nourish the very community and land that shaped them.
Their story is one of courage and commitment and serves as a reminder that regeneration is carried forward by those willing to plant seeds for a healthier tomorrow.
Read the full story on our new website, link in bio 🌱
Story written and captured by @liampickhardt 📸
Chasing @americolt around Bend a couple months back. I’ve been hiking around this zone since high school! And I’ve been dreaming of putting together a little shoot here since I first picked up a camera. The clouds rolled in hot, blocking the epic light I had in mind. But still a really fun morning gaining elevation!
Thanks for the fun times, @americolt . So fun to watch you send some shitty rocky sections over and over! Ha!
Massive thank you to @liampickhardt for the impromptu photo shoot in my studio at @mudlakestudios a couple months back! This olive oil cruet is a form I’ve been making for the past 15 years ever since I got the inspiration from my mentor, Joel Magen of Dark Horse Pottery. His olive oil cruet was much rounder and with a handle yet his sake bottle was very similar to this and I always loved the shape and balance to it. Anyhow, thanks for capturing this @liampickhardt and great talking story! Liam and I have heaps of random connections and share lots of common interests and passions. Go check out his work and give him a follow!
More pottery photos just for fun. This time with @pacificstonepottery . Thanks for letting me chase you around the studio for an hour. Watching artists make art is one of my favorite things in the world!
Making photos just for fun with @oliveafloat at @mudlakestudios . I was in Bend for another project and was able to spend a couple hours roaming around here, watching Liv make some pottery art. Such a joy. And the story of how we got connected is a fun one. My mom, a now-avid Facebook Marketplace user, met Liv on one of her buying/selling endeavors. They got to chatting and decided Liv’s art could be a fun backdrop for a mini photoshoot. The joys of facebook marketplace!
A quick weekend mission with @dh_cunningham to tackle this prominent peak we have both stared at for years. It’s not the tallest peak, but it prominently stands out in the mountains between Ojai and Carp. A fun bushwhacking scramble through our home backcountry and we made it! From the top we could clearly see from the Santa Barbara airport all the way to Point Mugu.
These photos were all shot on my little @leica_camera d-lux pocket camera.
The last few years of my life have been extremely work-focused. It is easy to do as a self employed person that LOVES work. I mean, I get to make art for a living. But this year, as I continue to gain confidence as a freelancer (I still say that with reservation), I have been trying to make more time for personal endeavors. And I have been looking for more ways to remind myself why I fell in love with the art of photography in the first place — documenting my friends, adventures and daily happenings. It’s easy to lose that love with a bulky camera and lots of gear. So at the beginning of this year, I bought a little Leica d-lux pocket camera to carry with me all of the time. The images aren’t perfect; they lack the depth of a “real” camera. But it has brought so much joy back to making photos of life between the work trips.
A series of photos and portraits from a recent project with @farmhandfoundation documenting various farmers and their relationship with their local farmlands. I love getting to work close to home!
I am very behind on posting work projects/life on Instagram — the game of catchup from the past several months begins!
From Mad Agriculture and filmmaker Liam Pickhardt, The Space Between the Lines follows Rincon Farms and farmer Sean Bettles as he steps into leadership of his family’s multigenerational orchard in Carpinteria. Alongside the film, we are also sharing the essay A Game of Mind Versus Heart by Sean Bettles and Tanner Starbard, a written reflection that deepens the themes of stewardship, friendship, and generational transition.
Set just inland from Rincon Point, where the Bettles family surfs, the film is grounded in a region shaped as much by ocean currents as by soil health. Here, what happens on the farm does not stop at the fence line. Water moves downhill. What happens on land makes its way to the sea. Agriculture and ocean ecology are inseparable.
At a time when global agriculture is under immense pressure, from climate instability to market consolidation to rising input costs, this story offers a quieter, more intimate lens. It explores what it actually looks like to transition from conventional to organic farming while holding an entire ecosystem in mind. Not just yields or certifications, but waterways, reefs, surf breaks, and the people stewarding agriculture.
Through moments of daily work, reflection, and Sean’s growing family, The Space Between the Lines asks what it means to step into leadership. It is a meditation on patience, restraint, and the long view required to steward land in a way that honors both history and what lies downstream.
This is a film about agriculture as living memory. About the unseen spaces where continuity is made. And about listening closely to what both land and ocean ask next.
Watch the full film and read the essay in Mad Agriculture’s bio.
Last week at The Steward Hotel in Santa Barbara, California, we gathered to celebrate the debut of our latest film, The Space Between the Lines, by filmmaker @liampickhardt , alongside the release of Mad Agriculture Journal Issue 14, coalescing around the deep ties between coast, farm, and community.
From Rincon Point to Rincon Farms, the evening brought together surfers, farmers, artists, and friends to share seasonal food, Tractor Beverage tastings, film, and conversation. We honored the Bettles family of Rincon Farms and reflected on how waves, wind, soil, and seasonality shape the landscapes we love and the lives we build around them.
We are so grateful to The Steward Hotel, Rincon Farms, Tractor Beverage Company, and everyone who showed up with curiosity and care. These are the moments that remind us storytelling is not just something we read, but something we gather around.
Order your copy of Issue 14 in the @madagriculture bio link
photos by @tobias.creed@drinktractor@rinconfarms@thestewardsb@liampickhardt
