Green Dreams

At the southern end of the Douglass Loop is a new store with a familiar name, catering to a style of living both ancient and fashionable. What was once Spangler’s Mowers is now Naturally Horton’s, owned by Larry Horton, proprietor of the nearby hardware shop that also bears his name. The sign declares Naturally Horton’s “Your loco eco store” – a rhyming slogan with a somewhat unflattering connotation, at least in Spanish. Horton is the first to admit that his store may be a bit, well, crazy. “It’s kind of a quirky store,” he says. “There’s nothing else like it.”

 

The mission of Naturally Horton’s is to provide environmentally friendly home and outdoor products while significantly reducing the carbon imprint – even before the products get to the store. Customers can save green, too. The left side of the store features a dozen bulk containers dispensing liquid cleaners. “You can buy [the container] with the sprayer or pump the first time for $5.99, then come back and refill it for $3.99,” says Horton. “You can’t buy a quart of any cleaner for $3.99. Yes, it’s more expensive the first time, but when you just buy the contents, it comes out a little cheaper.”

 

This savings is as good for the environment is it is for the wallet. Purchasing a container once and refilling it as needed, Horton says, saves both landfill space and mileage. Whereas a similar, mass-produced product requires 1,200 to 1,700 miles of travel, “we’ve been able to do it under 400 miles. That’s everything – bottles, labeling, contents.” The bulk of the mileage comes from the bottles, which he sources from Chicago, but practically everything else is local. The labels come from a printer three miles from the store; the Soap Makery produces the soap in nearby Bardstown, Ky.; implements come from Better Garden Tools in Prospect – to name a few ways Naturally Horton’s keeps it local. Besides gardening wares and home cleaning products, the shop also stocks lotions, candles and, soon, local produce. “We’re still looking for new products,” adds Horton.

 

And then there’s the outdoor section, where shoppers can find organic weed and grass killer, electric trimmers, blowers, edge trimmers, chain saws, worm factories (to make your own compost), compost bins, heirloom seeds and worm castings. “Worm poop,” Horton says flatly. “Excellent fertilizer.” Electric-powered and push mowers are outside. 

 

Come spring, the store will stock native Kentucky plants and fresh produce, courtesy of a local CSA (community supported agriculture) project comprised of international refugees getting their bearings in their new home. Horton notes that the CSA is not intended as a replacement for the Bardstown Road Farmers’ Market, but a supplement. Wherever it comes from, though, nothing edible will go to waste: Naturally Horton’s has a compost bin and worm farm on the premises. “There’s always a certain amount of waste, but it won’t leave the premises in a wastebasket.”

 

The throwback to local production isn’t very far removed from life two or three or even more generations back. The building that houses the main Horton’s Hardware store dates from 1840 and had been a stagecoach repair shop, a bar, a midwife’s lodging and a feed store before becoming a hardware store in 1936. (Horton took over the enterprise fifteen years ago.) “It’s stayed the same for a long time; it’s an old-time hardware store,” he says. 

 

Still, the need for sensible practice combined with tradition remained, and Horton dreamed of expanding the shop to provide for this. Lacking space, Horton and Spangler’s struck a deal a little over a year ago. “We sat down and had an agreement in ten minutes, then it took me eight-een months to get it.” Despite Horton’s long history in the same location, the shoestring operation of a mom-and-pop hardware store worked against him; ultimately, he invested funds from his retirement account to bankroll the new enterprise.

 

For those about to undertake their own gardening or landscaping project, Horton advises taking a soil sample to the Kentucky Agricultural Extension office on Barret Avenue for an assessment of what your particular lawn’s soil may be lacking. And be sure to compost. 

 

Aside from demonstrations of those he sells, Horton hasn’t run a lawn mower in three years: His front yard is all native Kentucky plants, and “the backyard is all dogs.” (Three-legged English pointer Nikki comes to work with Horton, while two other dogs and four cats stay at home.) He and his partner, Susan Adams, a financial adviser, try to practice what they preach in their free time. “You’re not cutting grass, but you’re pulling weeds,” he says. “It’s quiet; you can listen to music and not hear a mower roaring.” 

 

Naturally Horton’s is located at 2228 Dundee Road. The phone number is (502) 451-1548. The store is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with longer hours projected with the lengthening of the days.