Michael Landry

Michael Landry was born in Hollywood, California in August 1957, a 5th generation Californian on his mother's side and on his father's of French Canadian and native American (Mic Mac) origin. He grew up spending the winters in Ventura County and the summers in the Sierra Nevada on Sonora Pass near Pinecrest Lake. Living in the great outdoors was an integral part of his upbringing. From an early age he was exposed to native American culture due to his father's involvement in an aid program that provided food and clothing for various indigenous groups. As a result, Indians frequently visited their home.

Already as a child, Michael felt a strong aversion to city life. He developed a passion for fishing, hunting and hiking, pursuing these activities whenever he was not in school. He took a special interest in native American hunting techniques and by the age of 15 was a proficient arrowhead chipper. He acquired the material from an obsidian quarry on his grand aunts walnut farm in Clear Lake, California. The quarry had served the native people for arrow heads, knife blades, etc.

During his youth he enjoyed spending his time backpacking – mainly survival backpacking - in the Los Padres Forest in Central California, the Sierra Nevada, Grand Canyon and the White Mountains, Zyon, Bryce Canyon and the Mojave Desert.

He studied anthropology at Ventura College, UC Santa Barbara and Sonoma State University but dropped out after two years, deciding his studies were unlikely to result in rewarding employment and he preferred to gather hands-on experience outside the classroom.

During the following three years he worked as an organic gardener at Sisar and Matilija Creeks in Ventura County, saving up his money and buying a farm on the back side of the Jimenez mountains (Coyote) in New Mexico together with his brother Chris. He became a lama herder but also did some extensive travelling during the next years in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guatemala.

In 1987 he bought his 70 acre farm in the hills behind Pavones in southern Costa Rica where he began a permaculture reforestation project and still lives off the land to this day.