To start your own business is admirable. To start your own business and still love what you do nine years later is enviable! For Steve and Helen Humpal, owners of For the Birds, Wildlife, and More Inc., their business has been a dream come true.
Steve was raised on large acreage, which originally belonged to his grandmother, and has always loved the outdoors. Birds and wildlife were just a step out the front door and part of growing up. For Helen, though a country girl at heart, suburbia was her home until she had an opportunity to purchase a small farm and surround herself with her own rabbits, chickens, and horses. After the country boy and suburbia transplant married, they eventually decided to purchase a new home together consisting of 100 acres east of Chardon.
For the Birds, Wildlife, and More is really just an extension of who they are and what they love to do. Their property is filled with the very nesting boxes, bird feeders and houses, and critter foods that they sell in their store. Their acreage consists of a large ravine and creek, hardwood forests, hemlock forests, meadows, ponds, and young woodlands, making it the ideal testing ground to observe how their products perform in real life. If we could be a fly on the wall, we would see them with one of their three pair of binoculars or the spotting scope spying on the many species that have taken up residence including screech owls, kestrels, bluebirds, tree swallows, purple martins, chickadees, woodpeckers, and more. With 20 nesting boxes for these feathered residents, and the huge selection of various feeds, it’s no wonder they have chosen to make these 100 acres home!
For The Birds Wildlife and More, Inc., is not a franchise. Steve and Helen wanted to maintain complete control over the company and felt a franchise would limit their ability to provide what customers really want, as well as limit their ability to keep costs down. Steve and Helen put the store together themselves and it continues to grow today. Sounds like the American dream to me!
This store is an absolute MUST visit for the bird and wildlife lovers. The numbers and varieties of foods and accessories available is unending.
Check this sample list I have compiled. It is not nearly exhaustive!
Feeders: Traditional bird feeders, hummingbird feeders, oriole feeders, thistle feeders, peanut feeders, window feeders, deer and turkey feeders
Feeds: Wide variety of seeds and mixes including: Black oil and Striped sunflower, Fruit and Nut Blend, Cardinal-Chickadee Mix, Waste Free Mixes, Woodpecker Mixes, peanuts in the shell and out of the shell, cracked corn, whole corn (shelled) and ear corn are available for feeding deer, turkey, and squirrels.
Accessories: poles, hooks, squirrel baffles, and realistic bird kites for the kids (and adults) that flap their wings in the slightest breeze. Weathervanes, Audubon collectibles, books, CDs, and unique gift items.
Nesting boxes for bluebirds, tree swallows, chickadees, wrens, woodpeckers, screech owls, and kestrels are all in stock. They also carry purple martin houses and poles for one of the most sought after birds in America.
If you visit their website, you will find more interesting information about Steve and Helen along with a nice selection of nesting boxes and some very unique gifts you can purchase online. But if you really want to see what they have to offer, better just make a trip to their store!
For the Birds, Wildlife, and More
153 Center St
Chardon, OH 44024
(440)286-1622
Open Monday through Friday form 9 a.m. till 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m.
