Retired soldier Mark Valencia is well known to many gardeners for his hugely popular gardening videos under the name Self Sufficient Me (@Selfsufficientme ), where his knowledge and sense of adventure seem boundless. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
But his path to reaching this point is even more fascinating.
He and his wife Nina, also a serving soldier, moved to a 3-acre property about an hour’s drive from Brisbane with the dream of one day leaving the military and leading a quieter life.
With two young children and both highly busy careers, something had to give, so Mark decided to give full-time parenting a go.
He says the first five or six years were really hard, surviving on one wage, so he set to growing as much food as he could. Most of the block was cleared lawn with an acre of scrub, so his first task was setting up a chicken coop and putting in garden beds and fruit trees. Now those trees are mature and he’s learnt a lot about growing food, so it’s much easier.
As well as suffering a badly broken arm in an army parachuting accident, both he and Nina suffer from PDST from their time in the military. Now he has learnt to appreciate every moment in the day, and he credits much of his mental health recovery from being in the garden and the satisfaction of growing his own food.
Nina said she got sick of hearing him telling the same garden stories again and again, and said he should record his advice online, so he started a YouTube channel.
“My first 100 videos were awful – I was being too much of an army instructor and not myself,” he reflects. The turning point came when he just talked off the cuff about his favourite lemon tree. The number of viewers quickly shot up and his YouTube channel took off from there: he now has about 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 million on Facebook. “I have to pinch myself,” he says.
Filmed on Kabi Kabi Country in Bellmere, Qld
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[Music] handsome looking guy good day I’m Mark Valencia retired Soldier founder of self-sufficient me the YouTube channel and also website I’m into sustainability self-sufficiency upcycling recycling anything to do with nature let’s get get into [Music] it well I’m a Garder from belmir belir is near kulture it’s about an hour’s drive from Brisbane nah and my wife we moved out here in 2006 the whole premise of it was to one day uh leave the military and live a quieter life we both had very busy jobs so we’ve been talking about how this is affecting us and affecting more our children so we would get up at dark drop the children off at child care and then picked them up at dark and it wasn’t much of a life at all I looked at N I said one of us is going to have to stay at home and she looked at me and she went it’s not going to be me and I went oh all right well I’ll give it a go and she said right so I put my discharge in and and decided to make a fist of it here it wasn’t easy we went on the one wage thing and we R Peter to pay Paul for a good five or six years it was really tough and we knew that one of our biggest bills was the groceries so I just went to work trying to grow as much produce as I could in the backyard to cover the costs of of living really even though we had stuff or money ironically we were still happier we got three acres when we first got here it was just this big vacant lot in the Middle with one stump down the last acre was just scrub and we cleaned all that up we got the chickens settled down there and in the meantime we started putting in garden beds and putting in fruit trees now that we’ve got all these mature fruit trees and a veggie garden and I’ve learned all this Horticultural stuff on how to grow it comes easy to me now when I was in the military we were required to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft and as I went to jump out the guy in front of me barked at the door and I almost fell over the top of him but then he went but as I fell the static line wrapped around my wrist and there’s this burn mark here I got sucked out of the plane at that point and my arm was was connected basically to the aircraft and it smashed me back and I think I hit the side of the door or the side of the plane and it basically spiral fractured my forearm both those bones that was only the start because the actual breaking of the arm freed me from the plane and then I was out in the air trying to get to the ground I ended up hitting the landing which is probably the hardest part you could ever pick out so I did a lot of damage but luckily I did survive I almost did lose the arm a couple of times it was a real Turning Point N and I both suffered from PTSD on account of a military service good morning ladies near-death experience really does make you appreciate every day and I like to try to to stop every day and think be in the moment this is the moment live it now it could be just walking through the garden looking at a bee it’s amazing I I don’t know I’d probably put it at number one the mental health aspects of a garden it doesn’t have to be a food Garden but for me food gardening gives me even more it’s just that satisfaction of having to go grow something and then Harvest it and then you’re eating it it helps me more with my mental health than anything people would come over for a Barbie and they would ask how did you make this preserve how did you grow this and so I’d be telling this same story over and over and one day after everyone had gone Nina sat me down she said look Mark I love your stories but honey they are really driving me crazy I’m hearing the same thing over and over do me a favor get a website use your computer and then just direct people to it and then you don’t have to go through this long thing of explaining it I went yeah it’s a great idea and then I thought well there’s this thing called YouTube perhaps I could also make a YouTube channel at the same time and do some instructional videos yeah I’ve got these Tomatoes here you can hopefully see along this Farrow got about 15 tomato plants my first I’d say 100 videos were just awful thanks for watching bye for now I almost gave up because I wasn’t getting much traction I was too rigid and awkward too much of an army instructor and not just myself it wasn’t paying any bills I had this lemon tree I loved this tree and uh I just stood in front of it I had the camera and uh I thought you know what I’m just going to tell people how it is I just was myself tip number one position this is one of the most important things you can do when you’re sighting and planting a lemon tree and about 3 months later my phone just went crazy and I looked at it and there was all these messages saying congratulations you got your first thousand likes on a video and then were ding-ding congratulations an hour later was your first 10,000 likes on a video congratulations and before knew it I had 100,000 subscribers and that’s where my YouTube career just took off good day I’m Mark from self-sufficient me and I love to bury things in the garden from then on um yeah I’ve just been overwhelmed with the support that I’ve got to uh now the channel I think is is over 2.2 million subscribers and on Facebook 1.2 million subscribers so yeah over 3 million all up you got to pinch yourself and I still find it surreal and I will never ever take it for granted I realized I’m on to something bigger than just cost savings here the mental health benefits and the physical benefits of getting out getting into it getting into the garden really do help people especially if you have a few troubles which most of do in life gardening even if it’s a balcony Garden can help a lot let’s get into [Music] it
33 Comments
i love your work mate, but your wife sucks. Lucky your kids have you.
You are absolutely right, the mental issue working on a garden can be amazing. I am 68 years old, I wish I have started working on my garden years ago but is ok. When I am in the garden I dream of everything I want to do, I work on it, sit in a chair and look at it and enjoy nature and I get excited when I see a flower in my strawberries, or any other plant and more excited when I can pick the fruit of my labor. I have much to learn but is exciting and I love it. Thank you for the videos and keep them coming.
I have always loved gardening landscaper by trade always love watching your videos hes definitely been a inspiration to me with gardening
So glad to see you get this coverage Mark! Keep inspiring the world to be more self sufficient!
My favourite gardening youtuber! And thanks for sharing your story, so inspirational.
Thank God for army como
I love mark
I’ve learnt so much from him, if I need to know anything i head straight to marks channel,
I now have a great garden and being self sufficient like mark 😉
Thanks so much mark for all you do,
They just couldn’t have featured a nicer guy!
Oh man, you've really made it. Much love from a plotless American.
Great story, a good lesson to be learnt here.
Congratulations such a great thing to do in Life 🙌🕺
He has really good content. He should appear severally on the show.
I love this guy. I watch his videos regularly.
❤❤❤❤❤
He is incredibly funny just being himself and real so refreshing
I love self sufficient me! I've been a fan for a long time and always love your informative but also entertaining videos. I'm always surprised when i find something that works for me in my blustery winter/overwhelmingly hot summer new England back yard. But even if I didn't learn anything just your voice and manner are so calming
Good on ya mate! Absolute aussie legend!
We love Mark, a legend and great teacher. 🌻
Thanks Mark, I am like you, I find absolute peace when in the garden, I don't claim to be a gardener. My partner Sue is the brains behind the garden, I am the hose holder, beetle squasher, and general bragger. But spending an hour or two each day keeping an eye on the garden & chooks keeps me sane. I also was a soldier. Cheers PS, I follow you as well
Love your channel! I live in Hawaii and most of your information is appropriate for here. I love your down to earth honest approach to gardening. (And your knowledge of course !) It always brightens the day when I’ve watched a new Self sufficient me video. Thank you, or as we say here – mahalo !😁
I was hooked a year ago because of his great sense of humour
From a fellow garden lover in the subtropics of Queensland, "Thank you" for continuing to inspire and educate".
My wife and I love your videos. Incredible story. I'm glad I never jumped out of perfectly good airplanes.
Mark is amazing ❤
Been a fan of Self Sufficient Me for years! Interesting to hear Mark's story! Gardening is the BEST therapy!❤
Awesome video and thanks for a heartfelt message, you were one of the first fellas I watched about gardening and raised beds
I found this channel when covid started in march 2020. It gave me so much joy and motivation, it probably kept me sane during that time!!! i will always remember that and be forever grateful!
I watch your show almost everyday…. It's actually nice to learn about your previous life and a little more about you…. I too am a gardener and disabled military veteran. My garden is my paradise and it's the best place I can think of to spend my time. Thanks for such a good channel…. @selfsufficientme
Just saw Mark on Sunrise. Good on you mate and many happy years to you and your family
My favourite gardener ♥️😊
Our climate is totally different here in Canada but anything raised garden Mark is my go to man. Knowledgeable is an understatement, because of him we have ventured into something we had no clue. with his help We have had great success and I'm sure many others are doing pretty darn good with his videos. From the prairies A big thank you Mark
I love your videos Mark, “let’s get into it “.❤
Great to see.
One of my favourite you tube channels as I’m a raised bed gardener as well, well done Mark/Self Sufficient Me….