I once worked at the Toadstool Bookshops, both in Milford and Peterborough. This was a way to be part of my community after retiring from a previous, stress-filled job on the edge of high tech. While working at the Toadstool, I couldn’t help but note the variety of publications that passed through the delivery doors at the back of each store.
One style stood out. These were laminated, fold-out, regionally based nature guides. Instead of awkward books, they were easy-to-handle, indestructible guides I could take on hikes or walks anywhere in the country to identify trees, plants and wildflowers, birds and their nests, eggs and feathers, insects or mammals or even sea-life when visiting the shore. I thought, “What a brilliant concept.” Then I discovered that cards, stickers and posters were added to the collection. Even better.
Little did I know that I didn’t need to drive even as far as Peterborough to be in the midst of all the products I so admired. In fact, all I had to do was go as far as the post office in Wilton, take a right and a curvy left and I was at the headquarters of Earth Sky + Water. It’s probably one of the best-kept secrets in Wilton or the entire region, for that matter.
I set up a meeting with founder Steven Lewers and most of the staff. This is their story, one that is heading in an exciting new direction.
Earth Sky + Water, founded in 2000, as described on its website, publishes “botanical illustrations and scientifically accurate regional, laminated folding guides, posters, stickers and cards for nature lovers.” My question to Steven was, “How did this all begin and where is it going?” His answers explain the essence of the company and its success, its future, and how it became tucked into a mill building near the Souhegan River in Wilton. It’s a great story.
Steven advanced his career in book publishing by joining Houghton Mifflin in Boston after various stints in bookstores and selling for another publisher.
He told me, “When I arrived, I knew basically nothing about nature or field guides. Soon, I was befriended by an editor who, like most of my new colleagues, was a birding enthusiast. He took me on my first bird-watching outing in Connecticut with his author, Roger Tory Peterson.”
That meeting launched Steve’s career. He eventually was put in charge of the entire Peterson’s Field Guide Series.
He continued, “I learned what the market wanted by listening to booksellers who pointed out that most of their customers were looking for localized nature identification guidance. This was something that eventually led me to form Earth Sky + Water. But that didn’t happen until, years later, a guy came into my Houghton Mifflin office in the mid-80’s who showed me a fold-up guide with slits cut into laminated plastic that gave it great muscle-memory. He convinced me to license the use of his patented manufacturing process for field guides. It took time to work through the details; what size, what to include, etc. our first attempts weren’t exactly a success. Later, when I decided to leave Houghton and form my own company, I set to work developing a better version of what we had pioneered.
“Our first product was a FoldingGuide™ to the ‘Shells of Sanibel & Captiva Islands.’ Despite it being a very niche market, this first effort sold well enough to convince me that I was onto something. “
“Earth Sky + Water started slowly, one guide at a time in 2000. When our family moved to New Hampshire, I was shown the space in the Riverview Mill by Kay Roedel, the owner. While the space seemed far too large at first, we used it to store our furniture while we built our house in Peterborough. Now, 25 years later, it remains our main office space where we store, package and ship all our FoldingGuides™, posters, stickers and cards. With Wilton as headquarters, we design, manufacture and assemble everything right here in New England, most of that right here in Wilton. We call it our kitchen table supply chain.”
“My first employees were two people I had met from the High Mowing parent community. The three of us grew the business steadily, always keeping regionality in mind, expanding our title list to include other regions and subjects, guided by our retail customers who understand their markets well. The FoldingGuide™ line now includes over 180 titles, which we sell to over 3,000 customers in all 50 states, including bookstores, aquariums, national parks, museums, nature shops, wildlife rescue centers, garden supply stores, hardware stores and just about any owner-operated shop selling nature-related items.”
“Years later, my first two employees, Nance Hall and Scott Allen, married and moved to Washington State, where they agreed to develop ESW’s West Coast division. Thomas Post and Mika Tamaki have recently replaced these two. Mika is the West Coast accounts manager and Thomas handles sales and marketing for all the Rocky Mountain and southwestern states from their Ferndale, Wash., base. The remainder of sales and marketing for the rest of the country is divided up by those of us working here in Wilton.”
I was able to meet with both Thomas and Mika during their week-long visit to the company headquarters when I last stopped at Earth Sky + Water. They were busy learning the similarities and differences between their regions and were happy to put faces to the names and voices to their co-workers despite the 3,000 miles separating them.
During my visit, I learned of a new twist in the future of Earth Sky + Water. Steven has decided it’s time to turn the reins over to someone new. But who? He didn’t want a new owner to move the company out of Wilton. He also wanted to make certain the company kept its same focus, staff and business model.
In recent years, Steve decided to expand the company’s offerings by publishing a few select books by two local authors, something unusual for ESW. The first was Edie Clark, whom he had met when he first moved to our region. Like everyone who reads Yankee magazine, he loved her columns and profiles that had appeared over her many years there. He proudly added her collections to his company’s product line. Later, when Mel Allen, Yankee’s long-time editor, sought a publisher for a collection of his stories, Steven couldn’t resist partnering with him this past year to publish his collection “Here in New England.” Steven describes both as “evangelists for small town stories.”
Planning his eventual retirement, Steven realized that there may be a way to do something also considered unusual. After some research, he’s decided to sell the company to his employees by having them form a workers’ cooperative. The plan will keep everyone in their current jobs, working in the same collaborative way they’ve been operating for years. The transformation has been guided by a non-profit called the Cooperative Development Institute, based here in New England, and with Hannah Grimes, an organization in Keene that educates and supports local businesses in our region. The proposed transition is scheduled for March 30.
Every employee I spoke with is excited about this opportunity and looking forward to what they can add to Earth Sky + Water’s future.