“Many People Do Care”: Q&A with Our Land Organics’ Founder John Hemmerle (Pt. 1)
Twelve years ago, John Hemmerle founded Our Land Organics.
In the years since, both the company and the landscaping industry have grown and evolved in positive and sometimes surprising ways.
Here, John reflects on the early days of Our Land Organics, the company’s transformation over time, the value of ecological landscaping, and what he loves about working with Our Land Organics’ clients.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where John will share some of his favorite lessons about ecological landscape design!
Our Land Organics Founder & Managing Director, John Hemmerle
What inspired you to start Our Land Organics? What was your original vision for the company?
The first inklings of the idea for Our Land started when I was managing the market garden at Gorman Heritage Farm. I was steeped in learning the craft of organic agriculture, but I was also learning a lot about landscape design outside of the work I was doing.
I began noticing that in the landscaping trade, there wasn’t nearly the same attention being paid to organic practices in our own home gardens and yards as there was in our agricultural fields.
Originally, I was very interested in edible landscaping, but I quickly began to understand the value of our full native plant palette and the wide-ranging potential it has in Cincinnati landscapes.
I saw an opportunity to combine my interest in organic practices with my love of landscape design. The vision became creating residential landscapes that are beautiful and practical for the people who live there, while also being genuinely good for the environment. That blend of thoughtful design and responsible land care is really what we set out to offer homeowners.
John in an Our Land Organics landscape design in Over the Rhine
What is your background as it relates to landscape design and native plants? How long have you been doing this work, and how have you evolved your skill set?
My background includes landscape architecture, urban planning, and organic agriculture. Over time, I’ve been heavily influenced by writers and practitioners like Rick Darke, Doug Tallamy, Claudia West, Thomas Rainer, and others who helped me see how plant choices can shape not just the look of a place, but its ecological health.
That combination is what drew me in, and it still drives me today: creating landscapes that are not only beautiful, but also give back to the environment around them. I’ve been on this journey for about 18 years.
One of the beautiful and challenging aspects of this work is that there is a never-ending combination of site conditions and challenges. Every property is different. Over the years, you build up a body of experience that helps you read a site, understand what it needs to thrive, and figure out how to achieve the goals for that particular landscape. You also begin to keep a running list of plant combinations that work well in certain scenarios.
Today’s Our Land Organics team
How has the company evolved since its founding?
I started off on my own, doing consultations, designs, and installations. Friends would join me on some of the early jobs, and my dad even worked alongside me for a few years. Now we’ve evolved into a team of 12 full-time employees.
Along the way, the scope of our work has evolved too. What began with a strong interest in edible landscaping expanded as I learned more about native plants and the incredible range of ecological and aesthetic possibilities they offer.
What began as me wearing every hat has become a group effort, grounded in many of the same values we started with.
“If you’re fortunate enough to own a piece of property, it’s one of the places where you have a tremendous amount of autonomy. You have this opportunity to shape your own little slice of the world.”
What has surprised you most about the company’s evolution—or the industry’s evolution—in the time that you’ve been running OLO?
When I started, I really wasn’t sure how much demand there would be or how many people would care about doing landscaping differently. I just knew I cared, and I had a feeling others did too. I know now that’s probably not the best way to start a business. Ha.
One of the biggest surprises has been seeing just how many people do care. Over the past decade, there has been a national increase in awareness around the importance of this type of landscaping, from the number of excellent, widely read books on the subject to a broader cultural awareness that now extends to municipalities and other institutions.
If you’re fortunate enough to own a piece of property, it’s one of the places where you have a tremendous amount of autonomy. You have this opportunity to shape your own little slice of the world.
We’re seeing more and more people who don’t just want a nice-looking landscape. They want that landscape to work with nature and acknowledge the ecosystem it’s a part of. They want to create their own little slice of paradise that’s also in harmony with the natural world.
A recent Our Land Organics ecological landscape design & installation
What’s something you’re most proud of when it comes to OLO?
I’m proud that we’re still here and that we’re growing. Running a business is tough, and I’ve had to learn not just how to design and build ecological landscapes, but how to build a company that can sustain that work well.
We’re still on that learning curve of continuous improvement, and I think we always will be. But we’ve built a team that believes in the mission, and we continue working toward becoming a better company and a better place to work.
I’m also in awe of the landscapes we’ve installed over the years. I don’t mean that in an egoic way, like, “Yeah, look how awesome we are.”
It’s more an awe of what these landscapes can become and how much they can mature, in many cases in just a few years, especially when you remember that many of them started with challenging existing conditions.
We can design, build, and manage landscapes that are both beautiful and a net positive for the people who use them and the environment around them. Seeing those landscapes mature is a standing reminder of why we show up and do this work every day.
“We can design, build, and manage landscapes that are both beautiful and a net positive for the people who use them and the environment around them.”
What is one of your favorite things about running OLO?
There are really two sides to it.
I love getting the message out and helping people understand what’s possible with thoughtful, site-driven ecological design. There’s a lot of potential in our everyday landscapes, and I enjoy that Our Land can be a source of learning around that.
The other side is internal: building a team and a company that keeps getting better. We’re constantly looking at our processes, how we work, and what kind of company we want to become.
Sharing the mission externally while continuing to grow the people and organization behind it is what energizes me.
