Meet 15-Year-Old Clara Stone, Founder of Quixlan Heirloom Seeds

Don’t mistake Clara Stone with the average 15-year-old business owner. Now a couple of years into her run as the founder/operator of Quixlan Heirloom Seeds, she’s branching out her entrepreneurial efforts, with a growing online branch of the operation, as well as a tiny, brick-and-mortar kiosk at a local coffeeshop.

In a city (and society, in general) with a growing population of backyard gardeners and farmers, Stone’s a bit more active than most. A resident of South City, Stone’s not only interested in growing crops, though that’s a huge part of the appeal of gardening.

“One thing I like about St. Louis is that it seems to have a lot of other backyard gardeners and chicken keepers,” she says. “It’s a good city for that.”

We recently met up with Stone and her dad, Brad, at Kitchen House Coffee, where she sells seeds through a counter-top display case. In honor of her age, here are 15 reasons why you should considering supporting Quixlan Heirloom Seeds for your planting needs.

1. Clara’s a lifer. “When I was nine, I wanted to start a seed company,” she says. “At 10, I had a seed catalog. I was 12 when I typed out my seed catalog. It’s an email-only seed catalog now. I’m converting it into e-book, but I haven’t figured out exactly how to do that.”
2. As the above indicates, when there’s something that Stone doesn’t know, she sets about to correct the situation. “I’m totally self-taught,” she says of both her gardening efforts and her increasing web presence. “One of my sisters says that I’m the sneakiest one on the computer. From her, ‘sneaky’ means you know how to do things that the others can’t.”
3. Those siblings, yes, they’re her workers, too. There’s a total of eight of them. Of those, each has a plot of land in the family’s Southside home. And more than a couple have done time in the employ of Quixlan. “I’ll employ them sometimes,” she says. “I employed my 13-year-old sister to type up seed packets for me. I’m particular about things, like how many seeds go into a packet. When I was doing a print catalog, certain people were put in charge of certain pages. There was a little bit of fighting over the pages they wanted. I paid five cents per catalog, when well done; three cents per catalog when not done well. One sister saved up $7.50 by the end, doing several hundred catalogs.”
4. The clan is home-schooled, so all of these activities go into the process of self-directed education. For example, Brad Stone says that she’s figured out some workarounds when her Goodwill-purchased typewriter hasn’t worked, using carbon paper instead. “She’s very resourceful,” he notes.
5. In her process, there’s certain simplicity to all the gardening talk. “I find it satisfying all along,” she says. “Except when I’m working on the catalog and it’s not getting done. I like knowing that I’m preserving old crops, and not the new, hybrid varieties. Selling and growing are the most satisfying part. And also the thing I like is that you plant this one little seed and it becomes this giant plant. In late summer, when our garden is filled with green.”
6. It’s a garden that also includes chickens. And, interestingly, turtles. People give the family found turtles, though Brad notes that they come and go as they please. “We have a turtle sanctuary,” she says. “That’s my word for it.”
7. That said, she’s aware that nature has other plans for even the most-planned garden. When living in New Haven, she says, “We had a groundhog that would eat our green tomatoes and plants. We liked to watch the groundhog, but didn’t like him eating all of our plants.”
8. Asked what she’d tell 15-year-olds that don’t garden, she cites other wildlife. “I would tell them that it’s a good, rewarding thing,” she says. “I just really enjoy going out in the garden. It brings lots of wildlife. There are hummingbirds that nest not far from our yard, woodpeckers and goldfinches. I picked my new room to look out at the butterfly bush. I’ve counted 20 kinds of butterflies, several of each kind. And the insect varieties are pretty interesting. I like turning the yard into a wildlife refuge.”
9. Though seeds are for sale now, starter plants are in the mix soon. “I have tomatoes and eggplants and peppers. I’ll add herbs and flowers later.”
10. The gardening theme runs through Clara Stone’s greeting cards, as well, a wholesome lot that’s geared towards the gardener. “Get Well Soon,” says one card, “So You Can Garden Again.”
11. She’s found a fine venue to sell her seed, through Kitchen House Coffee. The sustainable nature of the place and its chicken theme made it natural. But sometimes people often don’t pay the right amount. “I think people are kind of overpaying,” she figures. “I look at the amount of seeds gone and the amount of pay. There’s not $10 worth of seeds gone, but there’s $30 in the [can]. I think people see and want to pay more. It’s doing better here than at Black Bear Bakery, where I was before. I would like to find another place to put one of these things. If it isn’t the right place, I won’t get enough business.”
12. There are also jewelry bits, made from Job’s Tears. You can buy the seeds and grow your own, or pick from already-harvested Job’s Tears for jewelry that Clara makes based on your color wants and needs. “I’ll make it and will send it to you,” she promises.
13. She is just kind of intuitively gifted with this stuff. “I started natural-selection breeding before I knew there was such a thing,” she says. “I found the seeds I wanted most and replanted them, before knowing that’s what you did…I didn’t read that much about how to grow plants.”
14. As alluded to earlier, buying into the Quixlan approach, you’ll see Clara continue to work on clarifying her processes as she goes along.

15. Still want more? There’s a YouTube video of our talk. Whoa: