Regenerate Garden Company is a Dayton-based landscaper that focuses on regenerative practices.
It will use a unique way to get to the yards it maintains this summer: on bicycles.
The owner of Regenerate Garden Co., Jonny Thomas, said this service will be focused on maintenance of existing plots and landscaping.
“Think of it more like weeding, pruning soil care, organic pest management, things like that,” he said.
One of Thomas' staff members is an avid cyclist and inspired the move to create the program. Thomas said this cyclist's story inspired him and the team all agreed to pursue this alternative method of travel for their work.
"He got rid of his car about six months ago so he just rides his bike now," he said. "So it was somewhat hatched through that experience, being a very tight knit group."
Starting in early March, Regenerate Garden Co will use a fully custom bicycle-trailer rig equipped with all the necessary tools.
"Conventional landscaping has this huge, massive carbon footprint, essentially. And it's problematic in so many ways, so we're always brainstorming on how to improve upon our mission and how we can actually execute that," he said.
The garden maintenance program, he said, is a way for the business and clients to collectively lower their carbon footprint.
It will serve urban and suburban neighborhoods like The Oregon District, South Park and St. Anne’s Hill.
“It's really just inefficient to be running a truck in those neighborhoods," he said. "So it just clicked and made sense to activate a bicycle gardening maintenance service for a number of reasons there.”
The company's overall service area includes much of Southwest Ohio, including the Cincinnati area.
They also offer alternatives to conventional landscaping, including gardens that focus on pollinators, organic food or medicinal plants.
"We have two primary pillars that we were working from. One is the ecological pillar and one is the self-sufficiency pillar," Thomas said. "So the ecological side of things is promoting biodiversity, wildlife habitat, pollinator gardens, water filtration, things like that. The self-sufficiency pillar is essentially empowering folks to learn more about growing their own food and medicine. And then where those overlap is in the environmental stewardship of those two things."
Thomas said it is important to work towards more sustainable landscaping to preserve local ecosystems and become more self-sufficient.
"I'm not saying everyone wants to go off-grid to live and start a farm and whatnot. But I think it's very important to have everyone grow their own knowledge around that stuff and understand our food and medicine systems a bit better on a deeper level and make some some sort of efforts to implement that in some way into their lifestyle," he said. "I think it's hugely beneficial for yourself and your family, but also for the community to take that leap."
The company is currently hiring to create a full team of seven or eight staff.
