Business planted firmly in providing earth friendly lawn-care services

You could say that John DeFilippi has been planting seeds of one sort or another since uprooting himself from Long Island, New York, and replanting himself in Boulder 26 years ago.

"I picked it on a map – that’s the absolute, honest truth," he says of why he moved to Boulder, noting he was in his early 20s and between college stints at the time. "I was just looking to escape the hustle and bustle of New York."

John started his own moving and storage business, The Right Move, in July 1988, nurturing it from a home-based status, operating out of his garage with one full-time employee, into an employer of as many as 100 employees and needing a 21,000-square-foot warehouse/headquarters in Erie. The Right Move branched out to locations in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, providing local, out-of-state and international moving services. John sold the business in 2005 and it is still in operation today after undergoing ownership changes twice since he sold it.

"It was a great company," John says, "and I hope it still is."

Now John, a north Boulder resident, is trying his green thumb again – both in starting and growing a business and in lawn care: he has opened another home-base enterprise, ecoLogical Lawn Care. The business provides earth friendly lawn care to residential and commercial customers and has a crew of four full-time workers now.

"I’m going back to my strengths, which I feel are creating, starting and growing a small, local service company," he says. "The idea came to me over two years ago when I came across some rather alarming statistics from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regarding how much the lawn care business pollutes. I just felt like there’s a better way of doing it, a more earth-friendly way of providing lawn care.

"Gas-powered lawn equipment is a major pollutant," John adds. "The EPA estimates they cause as much as 10 percent of urban air pollution."

That’s why ecoLogical Lawn Care uses only cordless, electrical equipment with batteries charged with wind power on small- to average-sized residential properties, and propane-powered equipment – which burns cleaner than gas-powered equipment – on larger residential and commercial properties. Not only do both kinds of equipment pollute less than gas-powered equipment, but the electric equipment also is as much as 75 percent quieter, John says.

John says his service vehicles run on bio-diesel, and he’s considering mounting solar panels on them to recharge the equipment batteries. The fertilizer he uses is 100 percent organic, as well, and he uses no chemicals.

"We’re also working with other companies to provide xeroscaping options to folks who need to get rid of some of their turf," he says.

John launched ecoLogical Lawn Care in October and started offering services in April:

• Cutting, trimming and cleanup
• Edging
• Aerating
• De-thatching and over-seeding
• Shrub and tree trimming
• Soil testing
• Organic fertilizers
• Spring and fall clean-ups
• Sprinkler maintenance and repairs
• Weeding and mulching

"The response has been real positive, real strong," John says. "I see myself keeping busy during winter preparing for upcoming season.”

Besides owning and operating The Right Move and ecoLogical Lawn Care, John has kept busy with his real estate investment and development company, Bolder Enterprises, LLLP, which is still operating. John also drives a bus for the Boulder Valley School District.

"I love children and I love driving," he says, adding that although busses are "horrible polluters," "the children have got to be bussed. I wish the district could get more compressed natural gas-powered buses. I think they have about 10 right now. It’d be a great if the entire fleet went that way – it’s much cleaner and it's an American resource."

Although John ended up in Boulder by chance – much like seeds carried by the wind – it’s here he met his wife, Julia, and is raising his two children, Ryan, 10, and Tess, 8. And it’s here where his life is firmly rooted.

"I just think it's a wonderful community, a great place to raise a family," he says, noting the tremendous outdoor opportunities. "We love skiing, hiking, mountain climbing – anything outdoors!"

For more information about ecoLogical Lawn Care, visit www.ecologicallawncare.com or call (303) 444-3456.