The Northern Neck can be a tougher area because things can be so different from the front yard to the back. That’s why we customize each yard.
As the owner of Organic Green Lawn Care with his wife, Lisa, Brandan sees every client they take on as a fresh opportunity to prove their commitment to putting in the time and effort to create beautiful, green lawns. “It doesn’t matter what the customer’s reason is. It could be their neighbor’s lawn looks better, or they need overall erosion control, or they want to reduce weeds,” he says. “Our goal is to create a lawn for each individual customer based solely on their needs.”
Sara Harris, courtesy of The Scout Guide Williamsburg & The Chesapeake Bay
Brandan and Lisa Minor, owners of Organic Green Lawn Care in Topping, Virginia.
Brandan knows what he’s talking about, having started with Organic Green Lawn Care in 2004, while he was still in high school. Organic Green’s founder, Chris Denton, brought him on, and Brandan quickly became enamored with the business, particularly its daily challenges. With overtime, he was earning enough money to buy a house in 2007, a rarity for a guy right out of high school. “I found a real passion for what I was learning and doing,” he recalls. “I just never knew people paid for this service.”
By 2009, Brandan had stepped up to helping run the business as operations manager, taking the time to research, learn from his suppliers and grow the company’s programs. But it was Denton’s heart attack in 2010 that really accelerated Brandan’s role in the company. While Denton continued to work while awaiting a heart transplant, Brandan became his right-hand man, learning all aspects of the business.
Although Denton finally got his transplant in 2017, he passed away a year later, knowing that the business he’d nurtured from an idea into a success was being left in the best possible hands. “Chris and his wife, Kelly, started the business, and Lisa and I are continuing that legacy,” Brandan says. “We wouldn’t be here without their hard work and believing in us.”
When it comes to producing a healthy green lawn that doesn’t hurt the environment, patience is a virtue. The process begins with a site visit to take soil samples to determine how the soil needs to be amended to enrich it. Whether or not to save the existing grass must be determined. And the benefits? “A 4,000-square-foot yard provides enough oxygen for a family of four,” Brandan says.
Then there’s the matter of what grass seed will be planted, based on how much light the property gets and what the weed situation is like. Turns out there’s a lot to consider when creating a handsome lawn. “Before we do a fall seeding, we’re going to be honest with our customers about what will work for their lawn,” Brandan says. “The Northern Neck can be a tougher area because things can be so different from the front yard to the back. That’s why we customize each yard.”
Organic Green is also ensuring they cause no harm to the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. They voluntarily participate in the Green & Clean initiative, an effort to help meet water quality standards set forth by the federal Clean Water Act and the state.
Doing so helps protect the environment and improve degraded areas without creating a need for new regulations. “We love boating and water life, so we’re committed to the Bay and the environment,” Lisa says. “As a company we choose to report every product we use to Green & Clean to make sure we don’t cause runoff. It’s the opposite of just putting a bag of Scott’s down with no regard for its contents.”
This year marks 25 years in business for Organic Green Lawn Care and its people-driven focus. In the past decade alone, the number of customers has doubled as has the company’s
workforce. Lisa admits it’s a wonderful problem to have. “It’s been about finding the right people to help us grow, so we look for people who can find their passion in doing this and enjoy it. We couldn’t do this without our dedicated employees following our plan,” Brandan says. “When I see my guys succeeding—buying a new car, putting a down payment on a house—it tells me that as business owners, we’re providing for other families as well.”
Word of mouth has been Organic Green’s best advertising. Since 2018, they’ve had a waiting list of people eager to sign on to improve their landscape. Every February, Lisa reaches out to the people on the list to begin scheduling those who are still interested, a number that hovers around 75%. “Sometimes when they choose not to wait, they call back in a year and say they should have waited,” she says.
Site visits and estimates take up March through May. Brandan is careful to remind potential customers that it generally takes 2 to 3 years to establish a lawn with the balanced soil to support it. “We’re 100% honest about what they face. Then I measure the property manually so we can draw a map for every property,” Brandan says. “If I used Google Maps, how would I know where the trees are or the soil differences around the property? Doing it our way means when my guys come out, they have a plan.”
By mid-to-late May, a new waiting list is begun for next year as the focus shifts from new to existing clients. After a quarter of a century in business creating relationships one lawn at a time, Organic Green’s customers feel like extended family to the Minors. As a small-town business owner, Chris taught Brandan that it’s not a numbers game. “We communicate with our customers and not just about grass,” Brandan says. “I learned from Chris never to fall down on the service we provide. It’s always about quality over quantity.”
In five years, coincidentally when their son graduates high school, Brandan hopes to find a person—or two—who can learn the business the way he did with Chris, starting at the bottom and finding their passion in environmentally friendly lawn care. That way, he and Lisa would have the ability to step away, at least somewhat. “It would be great for us to eventually be able to take some time for ourselves,” Lisa says. “But we’re workers, and it’s hard to leave and not feel guilty about not being here. That’s just who we are.”
Organic Green Lawn Care | 36 Campbell Drive, Topping | 804-758-4585 I organicgreenlawn.com
