Family Business is Back!

FAMILY BUSINESS IS BACK!
  By Linda and Leon Hussey

This is truly a ‘Family Business’! Leon and Linda Hussey, former owners of Classic Nursery and Landscape Co., are back in business at 12526 Avondale Rd. NE. in Redmond. Since 2002 after selling Classic, the Husseys started another business called “Keep It Simple, Inc. (K. I. S.).”

Keep It Simple sells compost tea makers (invented originally by Leon Hussey) and the organic ingredients to put into the machines to make compost tea. Compost tea is used to replace the biology in the soil and is like ‘vitamins’ to plants. It can often make a plant stronger to ward off diseases.

The Husseys have owned the over 7 acres site located on Avondale since 2002. They sold their business and continued to lease the land to Classic Nursery & Landscape Co. This year they regained the property and are not only moving their current business but starting an ‘urban farm store’ and will also be selling organic hydroponic products. “The Farm” will have chickens, chicken coops, bee hives, rabbits, ducks, dog, cats, healthy feed for animals, as well as bird seed and feeders. As they grow, they will have fresh eggs, produce and many other organic products. The almost 8 acres will be dedicated to sustainability, permaculture and education.  Read More >>

In preparation for opening you will find all of the family working together to start up the new business. Frank Yoshitake, 95 years old, Linda’s father, has been working around the site cleaning up the beds, helping with all the outside areas, as well as Linda’s sisters, Teresa Hall and Sharon Gilbert. Linda and Leon not only have been working on the outside areas but much of the foundational pieces to the business with their sons, Tad and Tyson.

Tad Hussey, 34 years old, is essentially “in charge” working 7 days a week with coordinating everything. Tyson Hussey, 29 years old, has been helping with filling the current orders with K.I.S. and helping with re-creating the website with his artistic abilities.

They are working very closely with Jessi Bloom, owner of N.W. Bloom EcoLogical Landscapes, who is developing a master plan for the property. She is an award-winning landscape designer whose work emphasizes ecological systems, sustainability, and self-sufficiency. She is a certified professional horticulturalist and certified arborist, who has been praised as an innovator in sustainable landscape design. She is also the author of a new best-selling book Free-Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful, Chicken-Friendly Yard

Keep It Simple is located on Bear Creek and Leon was instrumental in earning the recognition from King County for two Green Globe Awards for Wildlife Habitat Protection and Environmental Education. He helped found the non-profit of Redmond Organization of Shared Environments (R.O.S.E) that continues on the site working with the Lake Washington Environment and Adventure School for the last 12 years. R.O.S.E. continues to have volunteer docents who guide school groups on a trail developed by the school. The tours are by donation ($1.50 per person) and scheduled by Linda Hussey. The tours are all year around with the fall being the most popular time (September-November) when the salmon are running.

The Keep It Simple Farm (FB)is located at 12526 Avondale Rd. NE in Redmond. Stop by and see them as the business develops!

Contributed by Linda Hussey
April 14

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