‘Our Green House’ Offers

Natural Products For Home and Garden

By Dottie Evans

Mike and Pam Davis, owners of Willow Environmental Testing, Inc, have recently opened a brand new retail business called Our Green House. Their slogan is “Real Life, Naturally,” and soon the modest little white building at 365 South Main that houses both enterprises will be painted a soft spring green to accompany this theme.

Our Green House offers a full line of allergen-free products including natural baby clothes and nursery cleaners with no harmful additives, chemical-free household cleaning supplies, non-allergenic personal hygiene items, along with powerful, dust-reducing vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, dehumidifiers and air conditioning units for use by those suffering from asthma- and allergy-related health problems.

The new retail business is being managed by Mrs Davis, and is being operated alongside her husband’s established, licensed environmental testing business.

“It draws off what we have been doing all along,” Mrs Davis said, “which has been to advise people on ways to create an allergy-free home environment.

“People are overwhelmed by all the choices in the marketplace. We decided that opening a business that stocked some of the products we recommended seemed the next logical next step.”

Mrs Davis explained that over the past four years since Mike Davis opened Willow Environmental Testing, customers would come in asking about tests for radon, lead paint, asbestos, water purity, and mold, or to talk about removal of underground oil tanks and possible soil contamination issues.

“I had begun using the natural products myself when our children were born,” she said.

She had also been alerted to the need for keeping chemicals and synthetics out of the home after attending a program sponsored by Business Networking International of Newtown.

“It really opened my eyes.”

She explained that over the past 50 or 60 years, “we have contaminated our indoor environment.”

People’s homes are more tightly insulated than they used to be, and the use of chemicals and synthetics in home cleaning products, in clothes, even in carpets and curtains, has skyrocketed.

“In addition, we all have to cope with a certain amount of pollution in the outside air,” she noted.

“Baby sleepers are saturated with flame retardants. We use bug sprays inside the house, and fertilizers out in the yard; we call in exterminators for the ants and they come in with sprays and powders. There may be a new baby in the house. We need to stop and consider what the cumulative effect might be of all these toxins,” Mrs Davis said.

The increased incidence of chronic asthma and allergic sensitivity among young people might be evidence that something is not right in the average home environment, she said, and the youngest family members might be the most vulnerable.

“It all adds up. I don’t want to scare or alarm people, but I hope to help them make changes by taking small steps to make a positive difference,” she said.

 “People coming in have taught me so much I didn’t know.”

Newtown: A Great Family Town

When Mike Davis first drove through Newtown with a realtor seven years ago and saw the top of Main Street and its flagpole, he called his wife to tell her “this was the place they should live.”

So the couple and their two young children left Hoboken, N.J., and bought an historic home in Sandy Hook, “and we’ve been very happy here,” Mrs Davis said.

Shortly thereafter, Mr Davis opened Willow Environmental Testing, Inc. Mrs Davis stayed home to be with Meaghan and Michael, but she was able to help her husband by keeping the books for the business. Then a third child, Matthew, was born. When it was possible, she helped him out at the store, answering the phone and interacting with customers who walked in the door, “a process that I thoroughly enjoyed,” she added.

Now that her youngest child is in kindergarten and the older two are in the second and fourth grades at Middle Gate School, she feels ready to take on managing the new retail business.

The entire Davis family is involved in some way, and their daughter, Meaghan, has been helpful with setting up the clothesline displays for all-cotton, unbleached “Our Green House” T-shirts.

Mrs Davis has arranged for the children to be dropped off at the store after school, which allows her to stay open until 5 pm during weekdays. The business is closed Sunday and Mondays.

Since her husband is in and out while running his environmental testing business, “we switch off and help each other out.”

Before she had children, Pam Davis, who was originally from Massachusetts, spent ten years in fashion merchandising working as a vice president for Ann Taylor Division in New York City.

“From that experience, I knew what chemicals they were putting into the clothes we wear to create the special finishes and features,” she said.

From Toothpaste To Yoga Mats

Considering the relatively small size of the building, Our Green House stocks an amazing number of products and specialty items are arranged in bins, boxes, and containers that are both attractive and utilitarian. A 150-year-old copper lined bathtub, for example, makes a perfect front window display for the organic soaps and lotions.

Among the natural products being sold at Our Green House are Caldrea cleaning products, Burt’s Bees body products, natural toothpaste, handmade Vermont soaps, dried lavender and other natural room fresheners, unbleached cotton baby clothes and receiving blankets, nursery cleaners, cotton T-shirts, and natural shampoos and body lotions.

A pet section offers hemp leashes, and organic catnip as well as organic dog shampoos.

Kitchen products include Loofah veggie scrubs, organic teas and coffees, and wax candles with no lead added. Household products include ostrich feather dusters, and aromatherapy products.

Our Green House boasts a yoga corner with mats, gym bags, and exercise clothing, since Mrs Davis has enjoyed practicing yoga for several years.

In conjunction with Willow Environmental, Our Green House offers kits for home testing of well water against bacteria, radon testing canisters, and tests for mold and asbestos.

Home environmental monitoring is available through use of a digital hygrometer and thermometer, through the use of an Air-O-Swiss humidifier, or a Friedrich Air Cleaner –– all in stock and on display.

Mrs Davis recommends the Miele Hepa Vacuum for people with allergies.

“It takes up the dust and keeps it inside the vacuum bag. The filters trap the finest dust particles so they don’t escape back into the air during vacuuming. These vacuums are very powerful,” she said, adding they are not inexpensive. The Miele Hepa Vaccuums list from $499 to $599.

A garden section is still being stocked that will display natural fertilizers, insect and deer repellents. Seeds of flowers and plants that are beneficial to birds and butterflies have been packaged as gift items.

Our Green House is at 365 South Main Street at the Newtown/Monroe border. The store is open Tuesday through Friday, from 9:30 am to 5 pm, and Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm. Closed Sunday and Monday. Phone: 364-1484.