The History Behind Joe's Mix

About twenty years ago in a small garden center in Newport, Minn., just south of St. Paul, an Irish fellow with the last name of Murphy had a passion for feeding birds. He began experimenting with some of the seeds they had at the garden center to see if a seed “mix” would attract more birds to his feeders. He would dump the ingredients into a 55-gallon drum, mix the seed by hand and take it home for his feathered friends. After some weeks of trial and error, he found just the right mixture. The birds in his yard couldn't resist it.

One day some customers at the garden center witnessed him mixing up a batch for himself and asked if they could buy a little. Mr. Murphy looked a little puzzled at first and decided it wouldn't hurt if he sold a batch or two. A few days later those same customers came back and wanted more. Their birds had devoured it. So, Mr. Murphy started mixing up some extra batches to keep around the garden center to sell. It didn't take long for word to spread about this new birdseed mix at the garden center. You see, when your neighbor puts out something really tasty, most of the neighborhood birds end up there. The secret got out. People came from all around asking for this new seed mix and began to call it Joe's mix because Mr. Murphy's first name was Joe. As you can see, there's some real marketing genius behind the name Joe's Mix.

To make a long story a little shorter, Joe Murphy, the enterprising Irish fellow, went on to manage the first Wild Bird Store in White Bear Lake, Minn., and retired from the All Seasons Wild Bird Store several years ago. Joe's legacy continues on as last year alone, over 200 tons were eaten by our local wild birds.