The business of recycling

Debbie Ferguson and Loretta Hsu Gromo are the best of friends.

In addition to living next door to each other, they share a common enthusiasm for art, a commitment to the environment and a budding new business.

This past spring the Deer Lake neighbors launched their home-based enterprise, “Late Bloomers.”

“When Loretta and I talked over the years about what we would do when we retired,” says the 50-something Ferguson, “we knew we wanted to be challenged creatively and keep exercising our minds.”

They landed on making handcrafted plantable paper products as a way to combine their passions for recycling, gardening, learning new things and working with people.

Their complete production facility is in Ferguson’s kitchen.

“When you are making paper,” says Gromo, “it doesn’t take a tremendous amount of space.”

The duo recycles grocery bags, junk mail, old bill stubs, cotton, denim, banana leaves and other botanicals.

“We shred, tear or cut recyclable materials into manageable sizes for the blender,” says Ferguson. “The ideal consistency of the pulp will be like cake batter.”

They add botanicals and seeds to the pulp mixture, dip their molds and let them dry.

Their product line includes greeting cards, name tags, place cards and gift tags in nine colors.

“The herb paper contains a variety of seeds, depending on the batch we’ve made,” says Ferguson. “We label each package and include planting directions.”

The stationery embedded with flower seeds features a combination of Queen Anne’s lace, petunias, birds eye, silene armeria, lemon mint, Farewell to Spring, yarrow, mountain garland, Iceland poppies, showy primrose, evening primrose, daisies, poppies, rose angel and California bluebell.

“I love the whole idea that one gift of a card can give a happy thought twice, maybe more as you watch your garden grow,” says Ferguson.

“The most rewarding part has been seeing the joy of people who have purchased our products,” says Gromo. “They’ve all had such huge smiles on their faces.”