by ASHLEY MILLER

For the Sequim Gazette

Tucked away in a Carlsborg warehouse off Hooker Road is one of Sequim’s many well-kept secrets.

There are no flashing neon lights or giant billboards announcing the location, but that’s not Wanda and “Papa Len” Horsts’ style.

The couple — who trace their roots back to Pennsylvania Amish farmers and a logging mill right here up Blue Mountain Road — own Earth CPR Supplies, an organic gardening supply company. 

The business wholesales fertilizer, soil, seed, worm factories, spice jars, compost tea systems, container planting products and more to local farmers and businesses but it is open to the general public as well.

Popular products include Hendrikus Organics, Barefoot soils, Denali Gold Alaskan humus, MJR potting soil, volcanic pumice, coconut coir bricks and Pacific Grow organic fertilizer spikes.

Conversation and advice are free.

The Horst’s started Earth CPR Supplies almost five years ago but have been experimenting with organic gardening for decades. Their own spread — Dutch Family Farms — features more than two acres of gardens with more than 85 fruit trees, 2,800 square feet of raised beds and 47,000 saffron bulbs.

“People started asking us, ‘How do you grow what you grow so well?’” Wanda Horst recalled. “After we started ordering supplies for people, our distributor said, ‘Why don’t you just get a license and start selling Hendrikus Organics?’ So we did.”

Earth CPR Supplies focuses on conserving, preserving and restoring the environment.

“The concept of being ‘organic’ seems to be almost mystical to some people,” Wanda Horst said. “But it’s not. It’s simple. It’s all about microbes, fungus and bacteria in the soil.”

Others may think gardening is easier than it is.

“You can’t just put a seed in the soil and cover it up,” she added. “Just like it takes a village to raise a child, well, it takes an array of microbes to grow a plant.”

The Horsts are passionate about organic gardening and swear by the products they sell.

“We’ve used all the products we carry and we stand by them,” Wanda Horst said. “We don’t claim to cure diseases or kill pests; we simply bring everything into balance, which equals fewer problems.”

“People used to think this was all magic,” Len Horst added. “Now, it’s being backed by scientists from all across the world.”