Green Gardening

Tell me if this sounds familiar: It's Monday morning and you don't have to be awake for another hour, your alarm clock says so. Yet, you are awake. Why? It's not that you weren't sleeping cozily and comfortably in your bed. It's that *cough-cough-splutter-rrrRRRROOOAAARR* the gas lawn mower in your neighbor's yard is ruining a perfectly good, sound sleep!

Brenna Johnstone, Founder and Head Gardener of The Quiet Gardener, had met with similar problems, morning after morning after morning, but instead of rolling over and stuffing a pillow to her ears, she had an idea. Moving beyond noise issues, she began to wonder when gardening stopped being clean and natural and became another gas-guzzling, pollutant-emitting fact of modern life.

The EPA estimates that gas spills alone from lawn equipment equate to around 17 million gallons a year. Johnstone thought that surely, there is a better way.

Starting with friends and family, she offered her quieter, earth friendly gardening services. Using a combination of electric, battery and shear muscle, she's bringing gardening back to its roots (pun always intended).

One of her customers, Jamie Willis of Redmond, noted that she's "so quiet my husband did not know she was here!" and that meanwhile her neighbor's gardener "blows up a storm." Brenna prefers a broom.

Quietly zipping around town in her tool-packed, hybrid car, she's taking the small steps needed for a cleaner, quieter, healthier world.

Brenna's services include lawn and garden maintenance, weeding, trimming, landscaping, and soil improvement (using all organic amendments). For more information, visit her online.