Seeds of success

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Noah Herron used recycled magazines to start his gardening business, Urban Farmer Seeds. (Photos by Robert Herrington)
Noah Herron used recycled magazines to start his gardening business, Urban Farmer Seeds. (Photos by Robert Herrington)

Noah Herron built his gardening business one magazine page at a time

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Noah Herron

How did a biochemistry major at Indiana University create a successful agriculture business in Westfield? With the help of a stack of old Sports Illustrated magazines in his garage, of course.

While living in Broad Ripple, Noah Herron looked to his collection of magazines for a way to save his own vegetable seeds for the following season. Cutting out a page and gluing the sides down, Herron created his own seed packets. He then got the idea to form his own small home business in early 2009.

“I’m pretty good at making websites and marketing,” Herron said. “I thought it was a good niche to get into.”

After working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. as an analytical chemist at Eli Lilly, Herron came home and tended to his garden and seed business until he went to bed.

“I was working part-time filling orders. Thankfully, my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, would help me,” Herron said. “Last April, I quit my job and did this full-time.”

Herron married his wife, Emily, and moved to Westfield last July.

“We wanted to live in the country and have a bigger garden,” he said. “Westfield is a growing city, but our business didn’t fit in our house.”

Urban Farmer Seeds opened at 106 N. Union St. on Dec. 1.

“I didn’t choose gardening, gardening chose me,” he said. “Six or seven years ago I never thought I’d have a gardening company.”

Herron started with 10 seeds including tomatoes, beans, corn and peppers. The company now offers more than 75 different types of tomatoes and 50 different types of peppers.

“We have 1,200 different seed varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers, potatoes, garlic and onion sets. Basically, anything people want to grow in the garden we have available, and it’s always growing,” he said. “If I don’t have it, I can usually get it in a few days.”

Herron has signed the Safe Seed Pledge affirming Urban Farmer Seeds’ commitment to not knowingly sell genetically modified organism seeds.

“Ninety percent of our seeds are heirloom and organically grown,” he said.

Noah Herron used to buy his seeds in 5-pound bags, but now he has to purchase them in 50-pound bags thanks to the success of Urban Farmer Seeds.
Noah Herron used to buy his seeds in 5-pound bags, but now he has to purchase them in 50-pound bags thanks to the success of Urban Farmer Seeds.

The Basics

Urban Farmer Seeds

106 N. Union St.

600-2807

www.ufseeds.com

Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

While June and July are the slower months for Herron, he is still making multiple shipments each day. In the winter, buyers from California, Florida and Texas keep Herron busy with their growing seasons. The store also provides gardening supplies, fertilizers and hydroponics.

Herron said his mother was an entrepreneur who owned her own balloon shop and popcorn and snow cone place.

“She was always teaching me the ropes of customer service,” he said. “I always wanted to be my own boss.”

Urban Farmer Seeds averages $30 per online order, but the company has grown from having 5-pound bags in its back room to 50-pound bags.

“With $2 seed packets, you have to sell a lot to make a profit,” Herron said. “I’m getting more orders and the order size is getting bigger.”

Seed PacketsHerron anticipates selling 15,000 seed orders this year with 99 percent coming from his website. Urban Farmer ships throughout the United States and Canada.

“We’ve exponentially grown over the last four years,” he said. “The first couple of years were slow going… I kept at it, worked hard at it.”

As Urban Farmer’s profit margins grow, its products decrease landfills as recycled magazines are still used to package all of its seeds.

“Every seed packet has a story. Customers love receiving our seed packets and looking at the stories and pictures,” Herron said.

Herron prefers Sports Illustrated or People magazines because of the paper weight and the way it holds glue better. Every seed packet is unique and made from old magazines from the Westfield Washington and Hamilton East public libraries.

“Once every year I go through their magazines and I get a year’s supply of magazines in a few days,” he said. “We’ll recycle 50,000 pounds this year.”

In the beginning, Herron’s father cut the pages into packets using a band saw and wooden template.

“He did 20 magazines at a time,” Herron said. “Then we glued all three sides and filled them.”

Now the packets are prepared through a company with the equipment to die-cut and glue the packets, but the seeds are still filled by hand.

“It saved 50 percent of the time,” Herron said. “It’d be impossible to do it the way I used to.”

As Urban Farmer Seeds’ success continues so, too, does Herron’s plans for the company.

“In the fall, I want to find a building and turn it into a local garden center with a greenhouse on the side to grow all sorts of vegetables,” he said, adding he hopes to accomplish this by October or November. “I definitely want to stay in Westfield.”


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