With April’s arrival, area homeowners are back outdoors planning lawn and garden projects. Many who have a particular love of nature and a feeling of stewardship about the environment have discovered The Earth Store, on Technology Park Drive in Kilmarnock, where the aisles are stocked with high quality merchandise that is gentle on Mother Nature.

Of course, any story about The Earth Store must start with its parent company, GeoProducts, whose products to help builders control erosion and protect the Chesapeake Bay have made the company one of the region’s fastest growing.

Jackie Barrack, who was running a small business in Alfonso, branched out in the early 1990s. He stated that the Chesapeake Bay Act had just been passed and he knew that building practices throughout the entire Chesapeake Bay Watershed would change.

“All of a sudden there was a demand for silt fencing, a polypropylene fabric attached to wooden stakes. We said ‘this isn’t all that complicated to make,’ so we started making it by hand,” Jackie recalls.

Wilson Brothers Building Supply in Fredericksburg and Custom Builders Supply in Williamsburg were early customers. Word quickly spread and soon Barrack, Inc. – renamed GeoProducts LLC, was shipping silt fencing all over the east coast.

The company ordered equipment to produce the fencing and print the customers’ name on the fabric. New products followed, including a “filter bag” that allows contractors to safely remove silt from standing water at a job site.

The company was located on land that had been in Jackie’s family since 1890, so as the company rapidly grew, Jackie decided to move the business to Kilmarnock. He negotiated an agreement with the town for three and a half acres in the Technology Park and built and moved into a 13,000 square foot facility in December 2004.

The firm, which doubled its number of employees in one year, is already drawing up another 12,000 square foot plant to house the silt fence production operation. Meanwhile, it continues to add to its product line, offering increasingly sophisticated tools for controlling erosion.

“The move to Kilmarnock has been great for us. It puts us closer to our contractor customer base, and has opened the door to serving homeowners directly,” Jackie said.

When GeoProducts moved into its new facility, Jackie and his wife, Robin, established a portion of the building as a retail center to serve consumers directly. Customers who shop at The Earth Store find the same high quality merchandise contractors purchase at contractor prices.
The Earth Store supplies a variety of premium wild bird feed, premium turf seed and wildlife plot seed as well as many other lawn and garden items. Product Specialist for The Earth Store, Archie Lake, says the emphasis is on providing consumers with the special products they want.
“We carry a lot of organic fertilizers because our customers are concerned about runoff into the bay, and they try to stay away from chemicals,” he said.
One of The Earth Store’s popular spring time products is corn gluten, an organic weed preventer.
“We also carry premium lines of wildlife feed. We have not only bird seed, but also food for deer, turkey, squirrels and other wildlife,” Archie said.
Much of The Earth Store’s product line shifts with the season, offering earth-friendly, high-quality products year round. And as the Northern Neck’s population grows, more and more homeowners are thinking about the environment first as they plan their lawn and garden projects.
You might say The Earth Store and GeoProducts have been good to Mother Nature, and Mother Nature has been good to them as well.
“I look back and I’m amazed at how fast we’ve grown,” Jackie said.
The Earth Store and GeoProducts will likely continue growing right along with the Northern Neck, helping to preserve this area’s natural beauty and quality of life at the same time.
- Geo Products and The Earth Store are located on Technology Park Drive in Kilmarnock. You can reach them by phone at 804-435-7777.

© 2006 Northern Neck Buyers Guide. All Rights Reserved.