What's Really on Your Lawn: Non-Toxic Pest Control, Glyphosate + Healthy Soil with Houston & Hanna Hinson of Carolina Turf
#32 What's Really on Your Lawn: Non-Toxic Pest Control, Glyphosate + Healthy Soil with Houston & Hanna Hinson of Carolina Turf
What's really in the products being sprayed on lawns across America and where does it all end up?
In this episode, Marguerite & Karl sit down with the team from Carolina Turf, Houston & Hanna, for one of the most practical and eye-opening conversations on the show yet. We’re chatting all about non-toxic lawn care & pest control without the chemicals and what conventional lawn treatments are actually doing to your kids, pets and home.
If you've ever walked barefoot in your yard, let your dog run through the grass or watched a lawn care truck spray your neighbor's yard while your kids play outside, this episode is going to connect some dots you didn't know needed connecting.
Conventional lawn chemicals (including glyphosate, 2,4-D, Atrazine) that are linked to cancer, hormone-disrupting & neurotoxic
How herbicides and pesticides travel inside your home and become continuous exposure
Top natural pest control ingredients
Non-toxic vs conventional treatment frequency and maintenance
Rebuilding soil health
Indicators of dead soil underneath a perfect-looking lawn (hint: it has to do with earthworms)
Are pollinators harmed by natural pest control treatments?
The cost difference between natural & conventional lawn care
Greenwashing in lawn care and the questions to ask. Company transparency is non-negotiable.
HOA challenges
Best DIY pest control
Chapters
00:00 Introduction + Meet Houston & Hanna Hinson of Carolina Turf
03:22 What's Really in Conventional Lawn Care Products
04:07 The Shocking Laundry Warning They Teach in Licensing Class
05:27 Kids on Treated Sports Fields + HOA Lawns
06:32 How Glyphosate Travels Into Your Home as Household Dust
07:39 Carolina Turf's Ingredients: Garlic, Citric Acid + Soybean Oil
09:00 Is Garlic Safe for Dogs? The Real Answer
10:31 Pets, Kids + Skin Absorption — Why It Matters
11:54 Does Non-Toxic Lawn Care Actually Work?
13:13 Rebuilding Soil Health + Why Earthworms Are Everything
19:36 Dandelions, Clover + HOA Challenges
23:15 The Chemical Companies Also Selling Cancer Drugs
24:41 How to Spot Greenwashing in Lawn Care Companies
27:08 Golf Courses, Parkinson's Disease + How to Protect Yourself
30:18 The #1 Thing You Can Do for a Healthy Lawn
31:56 Do Natural Treatments Affect Pollinators + Bees?
33:22 Snakes, Copperheads + Natural Repellents That Work
38:04 Rapid Fire Q&A
41:52 Resources, Books + Where to Find Carolina Turf
43:56 The Origin Story: Why They Went 100% Non-Toxic
Mentions
JAMA Study that links Parkinson’s Disease risk with living in close proximity to golf courses
Transcript
Marguerite Buer (00:00) Carolina turf used to have another name. And it started as traditional like mowing mulch, edges, pine straw, just like that. And then we had one customer because I used to do a tiny bit of like conventional spraying, maybe 25, 30 customers and one customer. kept asking if we could do it all organically. And I was like, I don't know what she's talking about, you know, but she was like, you could use any product that you want at her house. It just has to be organic and natural because they had huge bunnies. mean, bunnies like this and tons of dogs and everything. So, she was like, we don't care if you burn up a lawn. We don't care if you do anything. I always take everything as a challenge because Even in lawn care, if they were like, Hey, can you do this? And I would always say yes. And then just try to figure it out. Like I'd go onto YouTube and figure it out. and then that's, that's where it started. Just me just diving deep into, researching different things. And I've burned up corners of her lawn and, and everything, but then all of sudden they're like, this is the best our lawn has ever looked. So from there. a couple other neighbors, did the same thing. And then later on we switched, after I started learning about the dangers of everything that I was applying, we switched all of the, the, the small amount of, of that sector. We switched them all to organically. And then I came back later and said, Hey, this is what we've been doing. and they're like, well, our lawn looks great. So. keep doing what you're doing and it's safer for our kids and That's really cool. So you actually came up with the formulations yourself. Yeah. And just like trying so many different things like, and we're still, we still test a, a bunch of different things. If we hear about a product or if a company sends us something, we'll see, can we financially do it or how does it No, that's really great. Like companies send you. They do. They do. Or if I happen to see someone at a trade show and meet them, they're like, Hey, we're going to send you, this product and we want to see what it does. and then if it works well, we'll add it in. And if it doesn't, we just have a bunch of bunch of products that hang out. Marguerite Buer (01:54) company send you some products that they want you to try Marguerite Buer (02:12) Awesome. Marguerite Buer (02:12) Nice. what is in conventional long care products that people should think about? Marguerite Buer (02:18) Well, there's a lot. obviously glyphosate. Everyone knows about that. there's 2, 4 D, Atresine. mean, there's, there's so bad for you. and especially in Europe, a lot of these have been banned, here they're, you know, you can still use them anywhere. they're cancer causing their hormone disrupting. some of them are like neurotoxins. So yeah, they're, they're not going to be around you. And one of the biggest things that, Marguerite Buer (02:19) Bye. Marguerite Buer (02:43) Of course, we still stay licensed and everything, but in one of our classes, they were just casually saying they were when you go out spraying for the day, you cannot put your clothes that you sprayed in, in with your family's clothes in the washer. they said, well, if you do that in between your clothes and your family's clothes run, I think it was like three cycles before. And my eyes were like this big and I'm like, Marguerite Buer (03:03) Recycling before in Black Ops. Wait, how? Wait, you can do that thing? was like, isn't this stuff that we're trying to do better? You know, you lose that, it's Marguerite Buer (03:09) Wait, wait, you can't do that between and then I was like, what is in the stuff that we're spraying that we have to do that that we can't even, you know, and who said it's three Marguerite Buer (03:23) Or is it 10? You know? So, it's a good one. Marguerite Buer (03:23) or is it four? Is it 10? You know, so especially how you have like, ⁓ glycephate on your, on your clothing and everything and like in your drinks and everything. So I was thinking, something's up. Something's definitely up there. I remember I actually at a college, I did a stint working for a company that sprayed lawns and we had to wear the big boots and like the same with the clothes. Don't mix it in with your clothes when you're washing them and everything else. And I didn't think about it much then I'm glad now I have a different perspective because it's like, Hey, if I have to wear those big boots to protect my feet and I can't wash my clothes and the other clothes and our family's and like It's on my lawn and I'm going outside and walking around in it. My dog's walking around in it someday. My kids would be walking around in it. And that's, kind of scary. the crazy part, you see these companies spraying it. They're not using any protective gear or nothing. They're just spraying it out there and can you imagine what kind of exposure they're getting to? Yeah, exactly. And it's going all over the place. Marguerite Buer (04:23) I was thinking about that because, know, we were talking about sports earlier. So our son, signed him up for soccer shots when he was three and the big, huge field they had like signs saying this was just treated to stay off of it for 24 to 48 hours. I was like, Oh my gosh. kids are playing on these fields every day. Marguerite Buer (04:45) I mean, they'll look immaculate and everyone's like, Oh, I can't wait to sign them up I'm like, these fields. you know, it's like every HOA every like town sprays their sidewalks, parks, dog parks, playgrounds. It's all of them. is wild. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to go rally to the crowd thing. I just did about this weekend. You know, in the crunchy world, not even in the crunchy world, but in the it's what's so mean. I think the last thing want to think about black is the And for those listening who doesn't know what black is, it's around the Marguerite Buer (04:54) It's like. It's wild. It's wild. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted so badly to have an episode about this is because, you know, in the crunchy world, not even in the crunchy world so much anymore because it's become so mainstream in the last few months, thankfully about glyphosate. And for those listening who doesn't know what glyphosate is, it's Roundup. And which is only, like you had mentioned, only one of the chemicals. But, everyone's talking about, food, it's in our drinks. Marguerite Buer (05:22) And it was like you mentioned, but everyone was talking food, it's in our drinks, but it's also in your homes because in America, we walk, she's in our houses and people don't necessarily realize that they're trapped in the third size pest, which is even worse to kind of becomes part of the household dust. So it's continuous exposure. And that's only one of the things I know. Marguerite Buer (05:29) but it's your homes because in America we walk with our shoes on in our houses and people don't necessarily realize that they're tracking in herbicides and pesticides. It's even worse too because it kind of becomes part of the household dust. So it's continuous exposure. And that's only one of the things that you track inside your house. anyway, so yeah, there's so much of a bigger picture here. Marguerite Buer (05:49) Anyway, so there's so much of a bigger. Exactly. So how long does it take to settle when you come out and spray with your product? Is it pretty quick to do it? you need to stay off it for 24 hours? We usually say, just stay off until it dries normally, because if there is soybean oil in there, it's almost like cooking oil. So if you're tracking in into your house, like the cooking oil, all of a you'll see like greasy spots. Marguerite Buer (06:07) Because it's like, if you're tracking in, if you're out, you're in oil, you'll see like greasy spots Marguerite Buer (06:17) And everything so but by the time we will spray the backyard on a day like today where it's 80 degrees. I mean by the time we spray spray the front yard, the backyard is probably already dry. Right. Okay. Yeah, that's great. Just that quick. Yeah. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about Marguerite Buer (06:17) and everything. So, if I was in the mood, I actually want a daily workout for 80 degrees. You mean by the time you're in you're braving it, you're evacuating it. Right, okay. You need some help? Marguerite Buer (06:36) the products you use the Yeah. Yeah. So, well we have 12 different services. So anywhere, they're usually split between. Marguerite Buer (06:39) Yeah, have a lot of different products. So, there usually is of this, we control the services. one of the things that we use for our types of customers, so usually we'll have of know, ticks, firing, and we'll do lot of Marguerite Buer (06:46) weed control and pest services. one of our biggest ingredients that we use for like different types of pests are garlic. So usually when we start up the garlic for like mosquitoes, ticks, fire ants and different things, and we always mix it like different concentrations depending on the pest that we're using, everyone always starts getting hungry, especially about the Marguerite Buer (07:07) uh, every, especially about, Marguerite Buer (07:12) the garlic, like we'll take everyone out for like pizza Marguerite Buer (07:12) know, pizza, Marguerite Buer (07:15) like garlic around that because since all of our products are natural, you started smelling like peppermint Marguerite Buer (07:15) like since all of, natural, pepper mill. Marguerite Buer (07:22) or like castor oil or something like that. And it just makes you hungry all day. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. So does it actually smell like garlic when you're out? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you lean in a little bit closer to me, you could probably see. Yeah. Yeah. There's always like that. ⁓ things. But if you think about it, if like your grandparents told you to take garlic pills growing up or something like that, or eating lots of fresh garlic, mosquitoes won't be on your body and it's kind of like the same thing. That's true. I didn't think about that. Yeah. Very cool. Marguerite Buer (07:55) I didn't either. That's a good question. you know, my sister, she like really loves her dogs a lot. And so she, told her that we were talking to you guys and she wanted me to ask you, she was like, garlic is toxic for dogs, but with treatments, it's kind of like a different type of application, right? So that's what makes it pet Marguerite Buer (08:01) So, please. are like top for dogs, but with treatment, kind of like different type of application, right? that's what makes it better. Marguerite Buer (08:14) Right. Marguerite Buer (08:15) Right. So 99, probably 99.9 % of dogs don't get affected by like just, especially the way it's like diluted. Just like us, drink like the pure garlic, it probably, you know, affect our body in a certain way, but there's only been I think one. customer ever who said that their dog was just didn't like it because they were eating like the trees and the branches that we, that we spray for mosquitoes. but I mean like the dog didn't die or anything like that. They just said it looked like they didn't like it. Yeah. Exactly. So you had to rather smell like garlic than like the chemicals for sure. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We've had so many customers that came to us because their pig had a Caesar or something. Marguerite Buer (08:49) They probably don't like pesticides either. Marguerite Buer (09:02) And they suspected the lawn care that they used to have. yeah, yeah. They're having mouth cancers. like the, the low dogs are the low, short dogs. ⁓ Yeah. Exactly. When they're lower on the ground, they'll, they'll have issues on their stomachs and their paws. And then if you have one of those dogs that always like lick their paws, everything is so much just like a kid who just puts everything in their mouth. Marguerite Buer (09:11) Little dogs, yeah. Little wiener dogs. Marguerite Buer (09:28) Yeah. Marguerite Buer (09:28) Yeah, well, that's something too, like we ground a lot and our kids do too. So it's like the dogs, the kids that's absorbing into their skin. It's our biggest organ. So that's what freaks me out. But I was also curious too, I always think about this and you're, you you to be very careful with things, thinking too deep about things to not stress you out. But something that I do kind of have a little bit of a thing with is Marguerite Buer (09:40) So, that freaks me out, but I was also curious too. I always think about this in the film, know, steady face of whole thing. Thinking too deep about things. But something that I do tell people that they think that it is in the backyard. like, we don't find anything out in garden. And that's actually why we're actually talking about the blue six. Marguerite Buer (09:55) In the backyard, I'm like, we haven't sprayed anything on our yard. And that's actually why we reached out to you guys, because with the ticks and stuff, we want to get some natural spray. I always wonder, we have like a little dip. it goes, even though we have a fence in our backyard, it goes like the neighbor stuff. I'm like, ⁓ Marguerite Buer (10:07) So all the neighbors like in that area are coming through and you could see it in some of our customers lawns Just like you if you said you've never sprayed anything and then I'll point that out and if you see the dip or like the runoff that goes all Marguerite Buer (10:15) Yes. Marguerite Buer (10:26) And it's just like the front yard because you could see your neighbor down here spraying maybe three houses in a row. you see everything like kind of like migrate down. Yeah. Yeah. I just gotta do the best you can. Yeah. Right. Marguerite Buer (10:32) Yeah, that hurts my heart to think about that because our kids are always we all are but the kids and the dogs are always barefoot and I'm like we don't even spray in our yard Yeah, Marguerite Buer (10:50) What would you say to someone who isn't so familiar and says, Oh, that can't be as effective as chemicals. I spray roundup and weeds die overnight. Right. Right. Well, I would say try it. I would say just try it out. Don't just don't think like, because if you're eating a shiny polished apple, that may have chemicals all over it, which one would taste better? Marguerite Buer (11:00) Let's say you try it. Let's say you try it out. Just don't think Because if you're eating a shiny, polished that may have chemicals all over it, which one would taste Marguerite Buer (11:15) So when we were in, a wife from Finland, Marguerite Buer (11:16) The one we're ones we're eating. Marguerite Buer (11:18) And when I tried the strawberries and the blueberries over in Finland, it made my mouth almost, Marguerite Buer (11:19) And when I try the strawberries and the blueberries over and over again, it gives my mouth a little... Marguerite Buer (11:28) I've never tasted something so sweet in my life fruit wise. then when we come back over here, if you think about it, the strawberries don't taste like anything. Yeah. I know you, you guys probably have done a podcast on fruits, like the top, what is it? Marguerite Buer (11:28) I've never talked about this so soon in my You may come back from it. If you think about it, a pretty good thing. Yeah, I know it's a podcast. It's like the top 10. Marguerite Buer (11:43) And if you think about it, if you've Marguerite Buer (11:44) Dirty Dozen? Yeah, does have great content. If you think about it, it's Marguerite Buer (11:50) never tried a fruit in another country that has no pesticides on it, not just like your local farmer's market or something, because it could be cross contamination. But if, you've tried something like that, I would say just try the strawberry as in AKA the products, the Marguerite Buer (11:55) that has this little pesticide on it. Not just the whole campaign, because it could be cross-damage, but like that, say, just try this, as in the product, the different methods. Yeah. Sorry. Marguerite Buer (12:10) different things. that's funny. yeah, you're probably gonna say the same thing as me. But just recently, we went to like a no spray, pick your own strawberry place, those best you can get around here. And you can see the strawberries are redder throughout. They are good. Once you buy the store, they're kind of white on the inside. They don't taste like anything. These were so much up, we're used to, my mother would add sugar to strawberries, you know, it would like break it down and you can make like a strawberry shortcake. And after tasting the strawberries in Finland, I was like, why do we add sugar to it? Because it didn't taste like anything. You know, so you would never have to do that in the countries that don't use the pesticides and their soil is so rich with nutrients. Marguerite Buer (12:52) Yes, and I have a question to you. What do you guys think about that type of thing when it comes to the rising rates of Marguerite Buer (13:00) think that's completely from the chemicals that we've been putting in. It's messing with your gut. It messes with your detox pathways. So you can't detoxify as well as you can. So all the other chemicals that you're taking into your body can't leave your body. So it's completely messing up here. Cause everyone says when they go to Italy and eat pasta there, they're completely Marguerite Buer (13:10) and she can't leave it. So it's going to be a very long time. I'll still have her. Marguerite Buer (13:18) everyone, but yeah, a lot of people. Marguerite Buer (13:20) her always curious of that because he has celiac. One of my closest friends randomly like lived her whole life able to eat gluten and then all of a sudden, he late on set, celiac. And I know that it's rising all over the country. So it's just really crazy to me. Marguerite Buer (13:38) Yeah, definitely. found out just recently, so it's gotta be from some kind of exposure or something, right? Right. And I want to see those posts on Instagram where it would say like, our Gatorade used to only have four ingredients. Now it has like 30. And then I bought the same thing because Marguerite Buer (13:53) Yes. Marguerite Buer (13:58) when we're younger, we can just eat anything all day, every day and stay like super thin. And now we're trying to watch everything and then can't even control weight because it's. Yeah. We say that all the time on the show. It's like just going back to basics or how it was 40 years ago, even, right? Just simplifying things like, Oh, I ate that when I was a kid and I was fine. I was like, well, look at the ingredients then versus now. And it'd be the same in lawn care. You know, people use more natural approaches to take care of. Marguerite Buer (14:07) Yep. Marguerite Buer (14:24) weeds and pests and everything else and now we're just in a lab trying to figure things out and it's not good for anyone. Marguerite Buer (14:30) It's not only good for people, but it's also bad for the environment too. Cause even like the chemical, I always say glyphosate, but it's several chemicals. They're getting washed into our waterways too. I don't think that a whole lot of people understand how serious this is. So hopefully, as the word keeps coming out, we vote with our money and we start, getting sprayed by non-toxic lawn care companies that will at least help. Marguerite Buer (14:39) They're getting washed into a don't think that whole article is how serious this is. So Marguerite Buer (14:56) Within our control at least there are some things that are in our control a little bit I know it's in our air water and food, but Marguerite Buer (14:56) little bit. Yeah, but that's I love what you guys are doing, you know, advocating for a non-toxic life. It's wonderful. And I don't think enough people think about the outside of their house or how that impacts everything. So it's It's really cool. And it sounds like you can take care of everything, right? Just the same as any other company would. Right. And probably one of the hardest things that we have are like a pushback that we would have would be if you use a synthetic fertilizer on the neighbor and then all of sudden they water it in and it's green like that. And then I say, that's not what we do, but they're like, look at my neighbor's lawn. But I'm like, wait, does it use, compost or natural products on this lawn because what we're trying to do is take something that's dead almost like that strawberry that's dead and then grow it from the inside out. So we're trying to change the soil health and actually if you see a lawn that looks perfect, if you dig down into it, there wouldn't be any life underneath it. No worms, no aphids or anything inside. And if you remember probably growing up, just digging down, you'd have like rich soil, you would see worms and everything. So that's what we try to create is like actually an active lawn, and then the more active it is deeper down, the better your soil health is. And that's not overnight. Of course you could put something, a basket overnight, but once you get down to the soil, that's what we're trying to do. Marguerite Buer (16:20) would the more accurate it is, deeper down, the better it is. And that's where running. Of course, can do something massive once you get down to the circle. That's what we're trying to Marguerite Buer (16:36) Absolutely. Marguerite Buer (16:36) Absolutely, I was actually going to ask you that too, because I earthworms are an ultimate indicator of good soil health. And I would imagine that that probably kind of affects a lot of things in the food chain too, when you're just killing it. And also the mycorrhizal network, you know, where all the roots for the trees and the plants are underground are probably being affected too. Marguerite Buer (16:55) Right, like if you happen to go, go for a walk after a rain, when you see all like some of the earthworms out, they're actually getting burned out of the ground from the synthetics, the synthetic fertilizers. Yeah. you see them there, they're, they get pushed to the top and burned out. No kidding. So how, how do you rebuild a lawn without the synthetic inputs? what would be, what's, what's the process for doing that? Well, here in our area, there's a lot of clay, which gets hard and compacted. starting off with an aeration. So aeration is poking the little holes that looks like goose poop everywhere. So you want to get down further to the. Marguerite Buer (17:18) the Marguerite Buer (17:35) the roots of your grass and then just start putting more organic material down. So it could be anywhere from compost to all natural products, just to build it up from, from the ground up, not just putting everything on surface level. That's great. Yeah. So it depends on Marguerite Buer (17:51) ⁓ And so how long does it usually take? It takes a lot of time. Marguerite Buer (17:58) what neighborhood we're in, because some you'll see when they're building a neighborhood, you just see tons of rocks and some will bring in more like topsoil. So some houses could go anywhere from a couple months. Some may take like a full season to do that. And a lot of customers who are like on the fence will just say, give us a full season and see the difference. And then sometimes we'll send them like a before and after picture. Marguerite Buer (18:03) So, some of stuff that do, work. Marguerite Buer (18:25) And then they're like, you guys told us to be patient with our lawn. And then they're like, look at it now. You know, so that's amazing. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (18:33) so what do you guys think about dandelions? Dandelions? Yeah. As in? Yeah, or. Well, because people think that they're weeds, but they're actually so beneficial for our health. What are your thoughts on that? Marguerite Buer (18:34) Dandelions? As in, as a food? Mm-hmm. so business wise, most, most people won't like dandelions. I know, I know just like clover lawns. So like, yeah. Yeah. So I remember I was at a house and, their backyard was just covered and I know we had been treating this lawn and I apologize to them. said, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's going on. I'm going to schedule you for respray. We, should knock out these clover. Marguerite Buer (18:52) So, business class was to help. Yes, I was going to ask. Yeah. So, I was at the I was covering. Marguerite Buer (19:18) And then she was like, Oh no, I planted those. I was like, Oh, thank goodness. Because I thought we weren't doing our job. And then we run into that more and more of people who will say Hey, don't go into our backyard because we want to have more clover but clover dandelion, most, business wise, don't want those in their lawn, and that's one of probably the easier weeds that we could, Marguerite Buer (19:25) Right. Marguerite Buer (19:40) that we could get rid of, but you know, you know, I know we've got a lot of dandelions in the yard. We some clover too. I did put down some. You just keep mowing over it and you know, they'll, they'll spread and create, you know, dandelion lawn. So you could be the first to have like a complete dandelion lawn, completely. We're getting close. It feels like in the backyard anyway. We haven't sprayed anything in years. So I just keep cutting it short, you know, and just try to maintain it that way. Marguerite Buer (19:41) Yeah. Thanks for your support. I planted them. Right, right, yeah. I love it. Yeah. ⁓ Marguerite Buer (20:09) It's fine. I don't think it looks terrible, but I mean, like you said earlier, this is sort of a new development. So it was all clay and rocks. And then they just threw like builder grade sod down on top of it. And I think everybody's struggling to create anything beautiful out of it. Yeah. Personally, some HOAs are really strict about what you can have on your lawn and they'll get a letter if there's one weed there. So, yeah, it depends on the neighborhood too. That's the hardest thing also is converting, in HOA. Marguerite Buer (20:33) Yeah, that's not how you do it. Marguerite Buer (20:37) because of course they want everyone's property values to, to stay and look great. But also usually kind of just like organic food. The price may be a little bit higher. So our prices may be a little bit higher and then HOAs, they're a business. So they try to find whoever can do exact work for cheaper. And then since ours are a little bit more expensive, we get less bids complete it, Right. Yeah. I think we would be so keep spreading this message. Marguerite Buer (21:07) Right, right. It's kind of important. Marguerite Buer (21:12) We can all band together and force our HOA's to do the right thing here. And we try to, we try not to just go for like pure profit. Yes, we are a business though. You have to operate on. Marguerite Buer (21:16) Yeah. ⁓ Marguerite Buer (21:24) profit, but we try to keep our prices down so low to where more people could just participate instead of something that you see, let's say like a cancer causing drug and I mean a cancer curing drug. Yes. is, you know, a million dollars a bottle, like everyone can participate, but if you bring the price all the way down, more people can participate for like, Marguerite Buer (21:49) Well, it's like what we always say too. It's like you're either gonna pay a little bit extra for organic food, in this case organic, because you guys have organic ingredients too, Organic and clean natural ingredients. Or, hopefully not, but you could be, entertaining the risk of Marguerite Buer (22:00) natural. Marguerite Buer (22:05) having to pay for cancer treatments, which is way more expensive and you know everything else that comes with that so. Marguerite Buer (22:11) And the funny thing, the chemical companies who create these long chemicals are the ones who are then selling the cancer drugs. Exactly. Let's get you up here. Marguerite Buer (22:18) Exactly. And that goes with food too. It's so, it's just like a circle and it's just like, come on everybody just don't be divided, stand together, come on. What are your lists? I know that you mentioned some of the chemicals, but what are the lists of chemicals that you guys like absolutely Marguerite Buer (22:31) What are your lists? I know you mentioned... ⁓ Marguerite Buer (22:37) will not use in your treatments? Basically anything other than natural treatments, I guess. Marguerite Buer (22:38) in your treatments, basically anything other treatments. It's pretty much all Like our weed control main ingredients, citric acid, soybean oil and soap. So that's your ingredients. be too. Different varieties of Marguerite Buer (22:52) Yeah. I love that. ⁓ Marguerite Buer (22:57) salt, I mean, we usually put some type of salt in our like roundup equivalent. but it could help out different types of weeds, know, something like. ⁓ Weed will really really struggle with is crabgrass like everyone hates crabgrass. They even hate that name but if you do something like a baking soda mixture That helps out like crabgrass and that's one thing that we're testing right now to come out with that and have it being sprayable everything so different types of different types of salt Marguerite Buer (23:23) inhabit swath of everything. Different types salt Marguerite Buer (23:28) you throw some type of food out the window and then all of a sudden if it, if all the grass is there and then the weeds are gone, you're like, maybe I have Marguerite Buer (23:29) for some kind of real, find a way to solve this if all the risks are going to be solved. Like, if you to have Marguerite Buer (23:37) But Marguerite Buer (23:37) solution. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (23:37) yeah. Marguerite Buer (23:38) okay, so if someone is looking for a lawn care company, a natural lawn care company, I don't know if there's like green washing that goes into that. Like what are some of the things or questions that they can ask to know that like it's legit and it's not just someone trying to. use the buzzwords. Marguerite Buer (23:53) be really careful when you're choosing a company. Like I've looked at some of these that claim that they have organic products or whatever. Most of the time it's either they don't do any weed control. They just do fertilizer, which is fine. Or sometimes they'll say, we'll do less of the weed control, which they're still using the same toxic. products, they're just doing less of it. So just be careful and ask them what ingredients are using and get to the bottom of it. So most most of the website actually do post exactly what they're doing. So just do your Marguerite Buer (24:11) to a lesser less, about that. All right. Right, right. Is there any regulation that goes for that either in long hair companies or even for products? because I know like a lot of things in food and things you can say or skincare especially you can say like natural but that's not really a regulated term. Marguerite Buer (24:31) I know it's like in I don't think there is no I don't think there is yeah Yeah, I love that you guys have the ingredients listed on your website, it's perfect so you can really understand Marguerite Buer (24:41) So you just, okay, yeah, so I think the way is just to really dig deep and ask questions about the ingredients. Yeah. always say too, like obviously there's going to be some proprietary things with whatever the product is, but outside of that, if a company is not being transparent, like I don't think they deserve business. Like you're investing your own money. Marguerite Buer (24:55) Yeah. We'll usually send out our, our labels of products that we're using. And, if someone is like really sensitive to one thing and we cannot take it out or have one special ingredient for one household, we usually, we'll, we'll, just say we. Marguerite Buer (25:15) official. Marguerite Buer (25:21) We can't do it. You know, like, like we're sorry, but we can't do this. Like if there's someone in the family who may be allergic to one ingredient, Marguerite Buer (25:22) Right. ⁓ Marguerite Buer (25:31) And so how, so right now snakes, mosquitoes and ticks, everybody's talking about ticks. So your products are pretty effective against those three. Yes. Yeah. Are there any pests that it, did you struggle with? well, so we do have a home pest control. we just had a client say that there's had some flies, but I think it's more of a moisture issue that I'd have to get rid of to get rid of those. But, yeah, we haven't had one pass that now sugar answer sometimes tough ones. Yeah. Yeah. They're everywhere. don't think anybody can stop them. Yeah. Golf courses. Marguerite Buer (26:05) I hate, we have a problem. mean, I know it's like just from leaving the door open, but we get a lot of flies in the house in the summer. I hate it. ⁓ okay. So golf courses, we all know, cause it's been in the mainstream media now that they are, treated with tons of pesticides and studies have shown that people who live within one to three miles, their risk of Parkinson's goes up 126%. So obviously not everybody can just like get up and move their house. Marguerite Buer (26:28) So everybody. Marguerite Buer (26:32) Is there any types of precautions that they can take that could at least minimize their risks if they do live by a course? Marguerite Buer (26:32) Is there any precautions that used in the mid-mine? think one of the main things is that the groundwater gets affected. So if you are getting a water source from tap water, definitely get a home filtration system to help with that. And then, of course, try to figure out the days that they're spraying and try to stay inside or keep your windows closed on those days so you're not getting exposed as much as possible. Marguerite Buer (26:59) Great tips. so DIYers, do you guys have, we talked about greenwashing for a minute. Do you guys have any brands that you would recommend that's like in Home Depot or something like that, that are legit? Marguerite Buer (27:11) I'm guess no. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (27:11) What about like, what about the Sundays brand? Marguerite Buer (27:15) Let's see. I like them. Sundaes and the other one that does pests. Pesty. Yeah, pesty. Those are good brands also, especially for DIY. We're working on something. have wheat control though? I thought it's just fertilizer. They do. It's like something with kelp. I want to say. I don't know exactly. think another one, let's say in Home Depot, there's a small organic section. So is Earthy Tone? I want to say we use some of their products now with our company just because they don't have the volume that we need. They had some good products on some smaller things that we did around their house. And they have... You have to search for it, but in between like this roundup and this roundup, they may have neem oil right there. And that's another thing that you could apply to your plants at home. They'll have it in smaller quantities. They'll have all natural fertilizers there, maybe like a malorganite or lime pellets. They don't have corn gluten there, but in between all the other fertilizers, you could look if you know what you're looking for, or you could just ask an associate at one of the Marguerite Buer (28:25) or you just have the associated preferences. Marguerite Buer (28:28) Yeah. Marguerite Buer (28:28) Yeah, just for any better options. One of my friends asked me, she was like, my husband loves my grass, like so many men do, love their yards. And she has fescue. And she was like, well, what is the best not toxic fertilizer? Because she has a little sun that's outside playing barefoot all the time. So what would your recommendations be for fescue and for Bermuda? So it's an almost common. Marguerite Buer (28:42) I would say is a popular option. We use that and then also lime because here where the clay changes the pH of everything so it's always deficient. So if you add a ton of lime to it, it brings up the pH and it makes your lung a lot healthier. Marguerite Buer (29:15) Nice, awesome. would be the first most biggest impact spot that you'd recommend for just like healthy lawn? Marguerite Buer (29:17) first, most biggest improvement were just like lawn. Healthy lawn, would say fertilizers that we just talked about, natural fertilizers, compost, if you could have put like a compost top dressing, aeration and compost top dressing, because you're adding in a lot of micronutrients. So that would be the best. Marguerite Buer (29:38) Okay. Awesome. Marguerite Buer (29:43) That's great. I got another question about pests, right? So I know we can take care of the ones we don't want, but with the natural ingredients, does that, so two questions, I guess, does that attract any new insects and does it impact pollinators like bees or anything like that? You still get the butterflies, the birds come by. That's a good because that's a really popular question for customers because course, same thing when you see like the worms on the ground, you walk around and you see the pollinators on the ground also bumblebees just dead everywhere. So our products don't affect any of the butterflies or the pollinators or anything. actually, while we're spraying, we actually hired a guy from another company and he was like, wait, this is a flowering bush. Are you sure you could spray this? And I was like, yeah, definitely. And he said in the other company, you weren't allowed to spray it because of the pollinators and they just didn't want all the bees to die. And then he was blown away with that. And we could just go away and go around and spray all the pollinators and whatever you like. Yeah. It's more of a repellent. So they might leave for a second, but it does, it's not going to kill them. Okay. No, that's great. I understand. Marguerite Buer (30:53) how often a non-toxic long need to be treated compared to conventional and is it more work? So it's about the same. I would say usually people are very obviously people with a little bit a need for that. Marguerite Buer (30:57) and is it more? so it's about the same. I would say so usually conventional is every five to six weeks because different weeds come at different intervals throughout the year. So every five to six weeks we run on the same cycle. I would say depending on your lawn, depending on the weeds, Marguerite Buer (31:11) throughout the year, so we've on this. would say, depending on the age, we could treat it like four, we could treat it like five, you know, thousand people on the getting more and of that. Marguerite Buer (31:20) we could treat it like four and a half weeks. We treat it at five weeks, we're not just, you know, dousing your lawn and more more things that you don't need. Marguerite Buer (31:34) do have a question too. A personal question kind of. We have like a little patch of wildflowers. That wouldn't have any effect on that either, right? Because they're just Marguerite Buer (31:30) that? And then for pests, that's usually three to four weeks. stay away from gardens, like six feet away from like gardens or flowers. Yeah. Edible gardens or anything. We just say six feet away from that. then wildflowers, unless you wanted them there specifically, we would put notes in our, to let our spray techs know, stay away from this area right here in the back left corner. Do not touch any of the wildflowers there. Gotcha. I guess my thoughts are regarding. Marguerite Buer (32:05) Gotcha. But I guess my thought process too is about gardens in the wildflower. Sometimes I get nervous about the kids in the wildflower patch because I'm like what if there's a snake there or sometimes I've heard this one story about when someone was picking sage and like a snake bit them. So that's kind of that's really good though that you spray six feet because it kind of protects the garden from that kind of stuff too. Marguerite Buer (32:19) ⁓ yeah, we do have a snake repellent. like I had my garden was like overgrown. think the first year I did it. yeah. And he put snake repellent on there and I saw immediately a black snake like left. Yeah, I'm in there like with my hands all in there. So yeah, yeah. We have a lot of Marguerite Buer (32:41) Yeah, we have a lot of copperheads near us because the river is the Marguerite Buer (32:46) ⁓ yeah. ⁓ Marguerite Buer (32:46) behind us. So we just actually saw a baby copperhead yesterday. Marguerite Buer (32:49) those are the worst. We had one of our customers who, ⁓ somewhere in Raleigh, they were infested with copperheads. said they would see 20, like over 20 a year. And I was like, wow. So when they started using our product, they said they never saw a copperhead. when they told me that it had actually had been a year, but then Marguerite Buer (32:56) They were they started using our product, they said they never saw much property complicated. When they pulled that in, it a huge impact. Marguerite Buer (33:14) It had been there with us over six years at this point, and they hadn't seen like one copperhead. That's awesome. Yeah. And I was like, wow. Marguerite Buer (33:14) I've been through this over six years at this point. they had a lot of property. That's awesome. Yeah. That's good. Wow. Marguerite Buer (33:22) I was like, can I use that as a testimony? Yeah, you should. Marguerite Buer (33:24) Yeah, really? Because we always do and we get really nervous because we like our kids are bigger now so we're like they're playing out in the back and we're not like, you know, hovering over them at this point. And we always find every year at least one or two snake skin like shedded. We don't see the snakes but shedded snake skin and I'm just like, my gosh, so, you know, our son or daughter was over there playing and how do we know if there's not a snake right there unless we go on? Marguerite Buer (33:34) And we always find, every year, at least one or two snakes. We don't see the snakes, but we see them. And I'm just like, my So, know, our daughter is like, how do we know if there's Right. We're watching her. Right. I'm not a big fan of snakes either, so. Right. snakes are usually apparently okay, like they keep the copperheads away. They'll eat copperheads and everything, but... Marguerite Buer (33:51) every second. that's great. Yeah ⁓ Marguerite Buer (34:03) There's still snakes. There's still snakes. They're creepy. We'll see that like on the community website. You know, there's somebody puts a big picture of a huge black snake. That's good. It's keeping the copperheads away. Let that guy live. Let's keep them around. Marguerite Buer (34:09) I knew they kept rodents away. didn't know copperheads. That's good to know. also speaking of kids playing too. you know, it's, we've always kind of known that like that kids are playing in diverse soil. They have stronger immune systems, less chance of getting allergies, asthma, eczema. So I think that's really something for people to keep in mind too, when they're Marguerite Buer (34:18) Yeah. ⁓ So I think that's something for people who might feel like they're going to spray a ton of toxic products. There's a lot Marguerite Buer (34:37) going to spray chemicals on their lawn because there's a lot Marguerite Buer (34:40) cases of that now. I Marguerite Buer (34:40) cases of allergies, even autoimmune disease too I read, which is crazy. Marguerite Buer (34:46) it would be safe to say with your approach, non-toxic approach, just think of it as any other company that we've historically worked with, a chemical-based company. You come and spray the same, same routine, same results. But you're taking out all the risk of those chemicals and all that danger, of us putting our feet in it and the dogs running around in it, kids running around in it, water, everything. Yeah, exactly. It's perfect. Exactly. Marguerite Buer (35:09) Where do you guys see the future of lawn care? Do you think that we're going to shift more to a non-toxic way in the next 10 Marguerite Buer (35:17) I've seen a huge increase this year in people reaching out to us. like, we've always had an approach of let those people that are looking for organic come to us and they do. And then there's been a huge jump this year, I think just politically what's going on in DC. And there's just, I don't know, it's just more in the news right now. So yeah, I love it. People are paying more attention. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (35:36) Awareness. think it's kind of hard to turn a blind eye to something like that once you know. think a lot of people, the whole reason we wanted to do this podcast is to hopefully reach people that may not know. Because a lot of it is just, you just don't know. You grow up and this is your life and you think anything in the store, any products or services you're buying are safe. And unfortunately, it's not that way. Marguerite Buer (35:46) reach people. Because a lot of it is just don't know you grow up in this, I think it's a door or any product that raises the price of things and unfortunately, it's not going to Yeah, that's a good time right now. mean, it's just like food that kind of started everything, but the ingredients matter more than the marketing. And people are starting to look for it, which is great. I mean, we do in basically every part of our life. Like what's the most non-toxic version we can find if there is something. Marguerite Buer (36:16) Do you think a lot of these bigger long hair companies like the national long hair companies, do you think that they're going to voluntarily start to shift their ingredients or you think they're going to wait? Marguerite Buer (36:24) shift their ingredients? Well, they're at least they're adding like organic programs because they're seeing the demand for it. We had a lot of people reaching out to us to buy our company because they're looking for organic. Yeah. Yeah. Do you own the formulations? Like, is it proprietary information? Marguerite Buer (36:35) That's so good to know. That's so good to know. So good to hear. Marguerite Buer (36:43) Some, but some not because just had like the volume that we have to mix. Like we used to, we used to mix our own sprayable fertilizers and everything, but now you could purchase it from different companies who actually that's what they do. Okay. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So basically, it's where she's going to put you on the spot. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (37:01) let's do a rapid fire. This is always really fun. So basically just first instinct answer. They're fun. They're really fun for social media Weeds are bare spots. Which one's harder to fix organically? Marguerite Buer (37:12) Weeds or bare spot? bare spots. Marguerite Buer (37:16) Biggest lawn care myth, one sentence. Marguerite Buer (37:18) That cannot change your Marguerite Buer (37:26) That's a good one. Dandelions, enemy or misunderstood? Marguerite Buer (37:33) Water it Marguerite Buer (37:33) Best thing you can do for your lawn that costs absolutely nothing? Clover, weed or benefit? Marguerite Buer (37:39) clover, weederhead. Weed. had to say that. ⁓ Marguerite Buer (37:45) Well, you know what, I love Clover and we do have some Clover in our yard but I always think it's a good way for like ticks to hide in there, snakes, so just depends. All right, the neighbor with the perfectly green chemically treated lawn. What do you know that they don't? Marguerite Buer (37:49) Yeah. I would not walk on it. Marguerite Buer (38:02) Best DIY for t- I was literally thinking that! Our kids go to a nature preschool and there's tons of chickens around so I'm like oh I guess we only have to really worry about ticks at home because preschool there's like 20 of them and I'm like apparently they eat up to like 2,000 ticks so it's really great for people who have chickens but not for people like us who have chickens. You do? That's so awesome. Marguerite Buer (38:06) A chicken. I feel like you should really worry about taking them home because there's like 20 of them and apparently they eat up to like 2006. So it's really great for people to put chicken in. We have 10 of Do you? Yeah, we do. That's awesome. The chickens, also stole our daughter's pizza the other day when they're eating lunch. really? I love it. Those stories are the best though. Marguerite Buer (38:34) What about fire ants? What's the best? Marguerite Buer (38:47) It hurts really bad. Oh, he's actually allergic to them too. he picked this career. Yeah. Right. That bees like, you know, But yeah, we have a fire ant product. Marguerite Buer (38:48) The person was like, ⁓ Right, that, he, like, How about for mosquitoes? Marguerite Buer (39:02) I'd get those dunks at like a tractor supply or I think Home Depot and put them in water. There's, we just posted this story about it. Yeah. Just to keep them away and then keep all water, like any standing water out of your yard. Yeah. neighbor just tried that too. He said it's working great. Yeah. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (39:09) Okay, I was about to say, I sent it to you, Cassie. Okay, that, I wanted to try that. I don't know if you had a chance. Marguerite Buer (39:23) I mosquitoes, would you just treat it like anybody would like you spray around and then try to go to the source? guess? Yeah, exactly. Okay. I always spray around. Like you said, and then you're always looking for, like she said, standing water. And then you know, when you collect a bunch of sticks and debris and everything, they love Pile of leaves. Right. Oh, yeah. I got a pile of leaves in the backyard. It's probably my fault. Marguerite Buer (39:46) or anyone who has small children that have mud kitchens something to think about most satisfying thing about what you do Marguerite Buer (39:46) or anyone who... Yeah. Cool. For me is doing something with a purpose, like coming from a corporate America and now doing something that's actually helping people and I love that. Yeah, that's great. Marguerite Buer (40:04) Totally. Marguerite Buer (40:07) I love seeing a changed lawn, like completely like a before and after. love renovation restoration. I love seeing that, like even when we used to mow and then redo a property, but seeing where they started and then. Two answers are that and when we show up when customers thank us for coming out, and kids have thanked us like, hey, thank you for doing what you do and coming Oh, I love that. I'm sure that's a sad story. Yeah. They're like, we didn't want anything else. We just wanted to thank you. We're like, whoa. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Marguerite Buer (40:36) I love that. ⁓ I'm sure that's so satisfying. Yeah, that's cool. Thank you much. So, okay, are there any resources that you'd recommend for someone who wants to learn more about this? Or books? Marguerite Buer (40:48) So. Our We have a lot of blogs on our website, carolina turf.com. moms across America is a great resource for all of this stuff. the glyphosate girl, there's beyond pesticides. have a lot of information on the website, especially like, going after HOAs and trying to get them to change their ways. I just recently read the Monsanto papers. which is about the first trial that they won against Bayer. That was a great book. Yeah. And it's actually they're making a movie this year, I think. So yeah. I know that one. Marguerite Buer (41:26) wow, okay, I didn't know that, that's awesome. Marguerite Buer (41:28) I took a few Marguerite Buer (41:28) did just see what Marguerite Buer (41:30) I think this was last Marguerite Buer (41:30) I think it was this, or last week Marguerite Buer (41:31) New Flaunt is Across America 2 in culture and public care, there was a girl that went up to the sea and was trying to get through that loophole in jungle. Marguerite Buer (41:31) with Moms Across America 2, culture apothecary, the glyphosate girl that went up to DC and was trying to get through that loophole with a farm bill, that was really great, a good victory. Marguerite Buer (41:40) great Marguerite Buer (41:42) All right. then, okay, so this is just a kind of a fun question I wanted to ask you guys. Is there something your family thought you were crazy for when you first started this that they now do themselves? Marguerite Buer (41:50) They always think I'm crazy. I say probably just like us, right? Like family and friends, they think we're nuts. And then they realize, you know, after they see it for themselves, that this, the ingredients and most of the stuff around us is just harmful. Marguerite Buer (41:52) In the feeling. Marguerite Buer (42:05) would think maybe they didn't think we were crazy, but then coming around like years later, like, Hey, Do you still do this? Because we have a child now and we want to protect our child. So do you still do like the safe stuff? And then they'll come on as a customer. That's probably been the biggest thing, like friends and family, just being quiet about it. And then they're like, hey, well, we had this health scare or this. pet or a child or something like that. And then they'll call us up and we're like, yeah, we'll be right up next That makes total sense. It's, it's like kind of unfortunate that it takes a big life event or something, having a kid or health scare to trigger to think about that when you should be thinking about that for yourself all the time. Marguerite Buer (42:41) That makes total sense. Marguerite Buer (42:53) And that's what actually made our company change was because when I said we used to be a traditional company other than the few that we used to treat organically when our son was born. So he always asks, he was like, hey, when did you change from, here to like organic? And I'm like, well, how old are you? And he's like, well, I'm 11. And I was like, 11 years ago we changed because seeing him like crawl out on the lawn, just like your kids, you know, I remember getting this like feeling like, now I know what. the other customers who asked us to do organic. Now I know what they were feeling. I was like, ⁓ I don't know. I know what I apply like on my own lawn. I don't know. I don't know. so I just had that for a while and then every that's when everything started like shifting. Yeah. And then when, when we met, it really shifted because she was already everything organic food and Marguerite Buer (43:47) Yeah. then when we met, it really shifted because she was already here to organize these and stuff. Marguerite Buer (43:56) Yeah. All right. Marguerite Buer (43:56) I'm probably like, what the heck is this country doing? Marguerite Buer (43:58) Yeah, very. And this was such a small part of our entire business. was maybe. 10%, maybe even less. when, since she said she was in marketing and like big corporate America, she was like, that's it right there. She was like, I don't know why anyone would ever use anything else other than this part right here. Like, why don't you focus on that? And then, it's 5 % of them business, but now it's a hundred percent of what we do, you know, so just that quickly. Yeah. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (44:30) one thing that I've learned too, because I'm very like an action person. I, that's just how I've always been. So if I learned something that could be bad for me, I'm going to, pivot I've been like this for a really long time, like, and then just kind of gradually like different areas of my life, depending on what stage in life I am. Marguerite Buer (44:36) I learned something that I could be back I'm a little bit I've been like this for a long time. I'm And I really like to be pivot. always Marguerite Buer (44:47) So it's always been so perplexing to me when I will be like, yo, this is like super bad for you and this is why. And so many people are just like, whatever. And I'm just like, my God, like, how can you not care about this? And I just started realizing like, it's just Marguerite Buer (44:48) been a pleasure being in a pivot. It's super bad for you. This is why so many people are just like, my God, I may not care about this. And I just started loving it. Marguerite Buer (45:01) all about perspective. mean, if you don't have kids, you're not thinking about that yet. I wasn't thinking about stuff like that before I had Marguerite Buer (45:01) Yeah Marguerite Buer (45:07) baby things and stuff like that, or pets, or even health scare, or even maybe now that it's starting to become more mainstream, now more people are realizing it. But it's just like, it's such a constant reminder to me that like, it's just our perspectives are all like so unique. I used to be like a little bit of judgy about it, cause I'm like, what is wrong with you? Hello? And now I'm just like, ⁓ it's just, everybody's different. Marguerite Buer (45:25) Right. Yeah. I think too, you mentioned when you have kids that kind of changes things quite a bit. And I think that's, it really like jumpstarted me into really paying a lot more attention. And she was a great teacher. but one, one way I think about it is like go in the garage. If I had roundup out there or a fire ant killer, it's like, no way would I let the kids get close to that. Like I got to put that up high and I don't want them touching it. But then I'll go put it out all over the yard and let them roll around in it. makes no sense. Right. And it just changes that it clicks. Marguerite Buer (45:57) It doesn't make any sense. guess it's because we shouldn't have to worry about that. We should be able to just live. I mean, that's another thing too about perspectives. I just, I don't know why. I just have always been really passionate about this, but that doesn't mean that everybody else is like they have their own passions. And so you shouldn't have to be thinking about, what am I getting from the store that is literally sitting on a store shelf that should be safe? Marguerite Buer (46:18) Oh, what am I getting? Marguerite Buer (46:23) or anything, any service or whatever. it's makes me so sad that we even have to have that thought in our minds. Yes. Marguerite Buer (46:28) It's hard not to get overwhelmed. Like once you start learning more, like everything gets more more scary, but yeah, you just got to do the best. Do the best you can think longterm too. And like right now. Marguerite Buer (46:37) does. Marguerite Buer (46:41) It's, you know, springtime is beautiful out. There's trucks all over the place. I just want to see Carolina turf everywhere. Nobody else. Like the big blue truck coming, to your house and, Marguerite Buer (46:46) Yes. You know, your Marguerite Buer (46:51) and, one thing that we did, I won't say the, the town, but we were kind of doing a spray off years ago and they were so curious about switching their entire town to what we do. Marguerite Buer (46:53) in the town of, kind doing it where we all years ago. And they were switching their town to what Marguerite Buer (47:06) Yeah. So we picked like a undisclosed location and we Marguerite Buer (47:06) we picked up. Marguerite Buer (47:10) had one side of the street and they had the other side of the street. we were testing roundup verses, what we use and they were, they were blown away. we would come back every couple of days, to see, and they were like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? You know? Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. So we were, ⁓ A deal didn't happen, but we were, they were like, okay, now we're exposed to exactly what you guys do and everything. So hopefully later on we can, we can come and do that. So that was, I was even impressed myself. I was like, look at this. I think we posted a little bit about it on our like social media, you know, but it was, it was really cool. I love to see that. Right. Right. Just try it. Yeah. Marguerite Buer (47:35) I love to see that. people just have to see things for their own eyes. Okay, I have one more question. Marguerite Buer (48:00) Okay, I have one more. If you could start. Marguerite Buer (48:03) If you could start from scratch, like you just have raw lands and you're like building a house, how would you design your yard and establish all of your care just from the beginning? Marguerite Buer (48:08) How would you design your art in? probably I wouldn't put in a sprinkler system. I kind of just let God sprinkle it for you, you know, and then. lots of compost on top of the clay and then go from there. is there anything that you want to share? Anything going on? Any products? Marguerite Buer (48:27) there anything that you want to share, like anything going on, ⁓ any new products? You mentioned that you're working on something. I don't know if you want to share that. And where can everyone find you? Marguerite Buer (48:34) and working everyone. Yeah, let's see. CarolinaTurf.com. Of course, if you have any questions, just give us a call. we're big on answering any question that you have about anything, even if you don't become a customer, maybe a couple of years down the line, you might become a customer. Everything's listed out on our website. We have tons of just information blogs coming out all the time. Yeah, we're one of the few ones to actually post our pricing and you can sign up online. So it's not super complicated. You don't need a quote or person to come in. You can sign up right there. Yeah. And you don't need to be in this area. Your website has so much information. It's just a great resource and like how to get started and even just like what to think about as you're thinking about your lawn care. Yeah, I love it. Marguerite Buer (49:10) That's awesome. That definitely makes it easy for people for sure. as you're thinking about your own. Marguerite Buer (49:25) All right. Well, thank you. Thank you. It was awesome. Cool. Thank you. Marguerite Buer (49:25) Well, thank you guys so much for being on the show. loved talking to you.
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Houston and Hanna Hinson are the team behind Carolina Turf, an organic lawn care and pest control company serving the Raleigh-Durham area. Houston leads operations with years of hands-on experience in the field, while Hanna drives marketing and customer experience.
Together, they’ve built a business focused on reducing toxic chemical exposure for families, pets, and the environment without sacrificing results.👀 you can find Carolina Turf:
+ on the web carolinaturf.com
+ on instagram @carolinaturf
+ on Facebook /carolinaturforganic
👀 you can find us:
🎥 watch → YouTube
👂 listen → spotify, apple podcasts, amazon music & iheartradio
💌 read → substack (weekly emails & all the extras!)
🤩 follow along with us on our socials!
instagram → @crunchypod
facebook → crunchypod
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📝 on the web → crunchypod.com
🛍️ shop merch → unapologeticallycrunchy.com
💫 connect with karl → uncommonstandpoint.substack.com
💜 peace, love + CRUNCH!