Who is Barky Beaver?

Who is Barky Beaver, and what’s important to us?

Barky Beaver’s mission is to provide customers with quality products at a good value, while providing a delivery service that is second to none. With acres of mulch and bark in year-round inventory, Barky Beaver ships thousands of loads to customers each year. A fleet of trailer trucks deliver bulk shipments of mulch and nursery mixes, while bagged shipments are quickly and efficiently delivered on flatbeds for easy unloading by the customer. Because Barky Beaver offers such a wide array of products, we provide a one-stop source for almost any soil mix needed for landscaping, growing plants or for retail sales. We value our integrity, dependability and are known for our excellent customer service. We are respected throughout the horticulture industry for our continued commitment to natural ingredients that respect the earth and environment.

How we began.

Barky Beaver traces its roots back to a sawmill nestled in the hills of Tennessee. Doug Smith, our founder who passed away in 2011, developed an appreciation for wood products from his father, Lemuel, who operated a sawmill to supplement income from the family farm.

“Dad put the sawmill in during the 1940s,” recalled Doug, who grew up not too far away from Barky Beaver’s current headquarters in Clay County. “It wasn’t much but just enough to keep some money coming in during the off season. By the time I was 11, I found myself in the mill, working with dad and the few people we had on-hand to mill the lumber.”

By the time Doug graduated from college, earning a degree in engineering from nearby Tennessee Technological University, his father had stopped operating the mill. After a few years putting his engineering degree to work in the professional world, Doug decided to return home to start up the sawmill again.

“Something about working with the wood just appealed to me. It was like I was being called to discover how I could combine that appreciation with what I learned in school,” said Doug.

It was 1970 when Doug and wife Janie started milling wood again, except it wasn’t on the Smith farm anymore. He relocated to the small town of Moss, where it still sits today.

Green Forest Wood Products started with only a handful of employees, focusing on supplying milled products for area businesses. In 1984 Doug founded Barky Beaver because he determined that there was a need for mulch products and looked at it as a way to diversify the company.

Prior to 1984 bark from the sawmills was viewed as a waste product to be disposed of. Doug began grinding the bark into a mulch product and marketing it to local landscape contractors. From this basic beginning Barky Beaver has grown to process bark from several sawmills in Tennessee and Kentucky.

In 1988 the decision was made to begin bagging mulch to enter a larger market. Doug expanded the company, and Barky Beaver moved to its current complex where more than 80,000 cubic yards of bulk mulch and more than 132,000 bags may be stored.

Doug added a soil mix line to the manufacturing operation in 1989, and Barky Beaver now markets more than 12 different soil products to landscapers, greenhouses and retailers.

After Doug’s passing, operations were taken over by his daughter, April, and her husband, Nick Patterson. The company continues to grow and now distributes mulch and soil products all over the Southeast.

Barky Beaver Mulch and Soil Mix, Inc. is located in the small rural community of Moss, Tenn. A second mulch processing operation is located in Algood, Tenn., near Cookeville, just off I-40. Nestled in the heart of the Tennessee Upper Cumberland on Tennessee’s Eastern Highland Rim, Barky Beaver has access to some of the best and largest stockpiles of bark available anywhere. From this bountiful source, bark is readily made into products that are delivered to markets in the South Central and lower Midwest regions of the U.S.