Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Potts and Cameron Birdwell.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Austin and Cameron. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I will say that I am who I am today, because of a little decision I made years ago to begin to better myself. For a lot of my life, I was walking down a road of self-isolation, unhealthy habits, and complete physical unawareness. I had “checked out” from feeling my own body, and trotted through my gloomy world, believing in negativity and fear. My cycle of bad choices had me stuck in a loop of absolutely not enjoying life, and my body was in pain from neglect.
One small thing at a time, I changed my life. I began with making little changes, my first goal was to consciously stay hydrated. I was amazed at how much different I felt, in a good way, simply from drinking a lot more water throughout my day! My interest peaked, and the little changes became easier. I learned to cook, and started to enjoy learning about food and nutrition, eventually adopting a vegetarian diet. Once I felt such amazing results in my body from my nutritional changes, I was able to quit smoking. Those were my first steps in reclaiming my will in my own life.
8 Years have passed now since I made my decision to change my path, and my life has changed drastically, one small thing at time. I can say that healthy eating, regular exercise (I favor yoga and hiking particularly), and building my own emotional self-awareness transformed my life into something that I absolutely do enjoy. I also picked up gardening, and grow some of my own food. I had some chickens for a while, and have a beehive too! It’s definitely a commitment to make sure my plants make it to maturity and are able to provide me with the best yield, but so worth the effort for the experience of feeling a deeper connection to my food!
One key to having a lush, productive garden is soil fertility. So, in my plot to produce the biggest baddest plants, I began to compost me and my family’s food waste, and allowed a friend of mine named Charlotte to add to our piles occasionally with scraps that she collected through her compost pick up program called Camp Logan. I am interested in composting, and Charlotte is a good friend, so I agreed to help her out with her weekly route. Eventually, she had to move forward in her life to something different, so I took over her route, and continue to build it as my own! My friend Cameron and I now run the route, and it’s our dream to build our vision of Karma Pharma to be something beautiful.
On my way into my healthier reality, through self-education, and realizing the effect that my actions have on my own body, I have become very aware of the impact that our collective actions have upon our world, and the influence that our practices have had upon our ecosystems. Composting is one way to have a positive ecological effect by keeping food scraps out of trash bags in compressed landfills and sending our food right back where it came from, the Earth!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My road has had its very high highs, and some very low lows, quite bumpy. I will have to say that my toughest struggles have been overcoming my own doubts and self-loathing enough to believe that I am worth achieving my highest visions.
Karma Pharma – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our business is waste renewal. We collect compostable waste from individuals and businesses, and transform it into a fertile soil additive, which is then used at local gardens and by the people who are members of our composting community! Right now, our company is still a baby, and still learning to support his or her posture and walk for the first time, but boy do we feel anxious to stand up right and get moving! I desire to create more than just a compostable waste pick up service, I wish to build a community of like-minded people who can come together in taking some action that will better our world, and making steps towards a greater awareness of our relationship with nature!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
A few weeks ago, when I dropped off a bucket to a new member for the first time, she told me that what I’m doing is important. I’ve never been told that at any other job, or felt it for that matter!
Pricing:
- Standard residential bucket rental with weekly pick up/drop of clean bucket – $30.00 monthly
- Self Drop residential bucket rental – ( you drop when your’e ready/ we have clean bucket waiting for you ) – $10.00 monthly
- Commercial Barrel Rental – Contact me for information
Contact Info:
- Website: karmapharmatx.com
- Email: austindoescompost@gmail.com
- Instagram: karmapharmatx
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