Landscaperto fill leaf-blower vacuum

What’s old is new again in the lawn-care business. And a local start-up is taking Sonoma landscaping back to a simpler - and quieter - time, eschewing gas or even electric powered tools for lawn maintenance services by hand.

“Our goal is to provide quality lawn care in virtual silence with no noxious fumes or leaf blower dust and debris clouds,” says Get Reel Lawn Care owner Sterling Stevens, 50. His retro outfit uses human-powered reel mowers, grass shears, rakes and brooms, plus a few battery-powered tools.

“What I’m really providing for the people of Sonoma is a choice,” says Stevens. “Many citizens in Sonoma have voiced their dislike of leaf-blowers and so I’ve started this company in direct response to this local hot topic.”

Among his first clients is Mara Lee Ebert, a leaf-blower critic who’s lobbied hard for a tighter rein on the gusty landscaping machines.

“At long last I have peace and quiet in my home office,” said Ebert, who has been among the squeakiest wheels in the ongoing leaf-blower debate. “I love hearing the songbirds even when my landscaper is hard at work. I look forward to the return of butterflies in my backyard.”

Ebert is the founder of Sonoma Calm, a group of citizens pushing for leaf blowers to be banned inside city limits. “We’re from diverse neighborhoods and many of us have lived in Sonoma for decades,” said Ebert. “We came together to find a solution to the proliferation of gas-powered leaf blowers and the damaging effects of these machines on public health, the environment and on quality of life.”

Sonomans have spent much of the last five years hearing the pros and cons of leaf blowers, while multiple city councils have debated whether to ban them, restrict them, or place such options before the voters. Are gas blowers noisy and terrible for your health? Or are they are efficient and less time-consuming than raking. And would banning them put landscape employees out of work? The answer depends on who you talk to. In the end, voters will have their say in the Nov. 8 election, when they consider a resident-driven referendum overturning the city’s recently placed ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.

November’s referendum vote may clear the air a bit. In the meantime, Ebert and Sonoma Calm have gathered a head of steam in their efforts. Last fall, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District removed all gas-powered leaf blowers from the maintenance equipment on all campuses and agreed not to use electric leaf blowers unless there was no other tool for the job, and never when children were present. Ebert has also compiled a list of other businesses agreeing not to use leaf blowers including Sonoma Market, Fine Line Art Supplies, Williams-Sonoma, MacArthur Place, Bolt Staffing, Broadway Veterinary Hospital, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, G’s General Store, Three Dog Bakery, Sonoma Old School among others.

If Sonoma residents do vote in favor of banning gas blowers, the city will join about two dozen communities in the state that already ban gas powered leaf blowers including Berkeley, Mill Valley, Palo Alto and Belvedere.

As for his snatched-out-of-the-headlines business idea, Stevens worked on his family’s small cattle ranch in Vermont as a boy, using low-tech equipment like sickles and scythes. He and his wife Marina have been in Sonoma since 2004 and have followed the leaf blower controversy with great interest.

“As I read articles about concerns over the noise, pollution and dust created by modern lawn-care services, I discovered I wasn’t alone in how I felt,” said Stevens. “There was a need and I realized I could fill it. I felt Sonomans would be among the first to embrace this kind of eco-friendly service, so Sonoma gets to be the testing grounds.”

While his business is off to a slow start, Stevens hopes to spread the word to see if “this kind of service resonates with the community.”

“I just want people to understand they have a choice when it comes to their lawn care and that choosing to go noise-, pollution- and dust-free is not only a benefit to them and to their pets but also a gift to their neighbors,” said Stevens.

Several local landscape companies declined to comment on how they have, or have not, adjusted to the potential ban, but Ian Hinkley, owner of Hinkley Gardens, says that his first priority is to help his clients maintain the beauty of the gardens that they are accustomed to. “The controversy surrounding the use of leaf blowers has been harder on our customers than on us because it just means it is not cost effective for them to keep their neighborhood landscape as clean and tidy as they always have,” said Hinkley.

Hinkley stressed that he only uses leaf blowers sparingly, but that without them, “we can’t necessarily deliver the same kind of service our clients have become accustomed to.”

Much of the debate on eliminating blowers does center on cost and efficiency.

Stevens said, however, that his “all by hand” rates are comparable to what he has seen in the marketplace. He quoted a rough guesstimate of weekly visits at $25 to $40 for a house on a quarter-acre lot.

“But we’re not striving to be the fastest lawn service in town, nor are we trying to purposely undercut anyone,” said Stevens. “Our goal is to simply be the quietest, cleanest and greenest option while providing competent lawn care.”

Stevens thinks that making lawn maintenance eco-friendly is the best way to reduce the amount of noise and pollution in Sonoma neighborhoods. In time, if there is marketplace demand, he expects to add full landscaping services.

Contact Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.