All Seasons

A tree farm and forest requires work all year long. As workers we have the responsibility of caring for the trees. In return, we enjoy watching them grow and seeing the land change through all seasons and over the years.

After years of drought and mortality, in 2008 we installed a state-of-the-art irrigation system. Kell and Per Hansen laid 24 miles of drip line - the most efficient irrigation method - in rows 6 feet apart. Please watch your step, but with snow and weed cover the lines should be stuck to the ground by winter. The lines are fed from 2 miles of underground pipe, all leading back to a digital controller in the barn and a 300 foot well. Underground monitors in the fields turn on the system when water is needed, and apply just the right amount. Our goal is to prevent baby trees from dying, then to help them grow more quickly. In a few years you will have a larger and better selection of trees. We know we now don't have enough - or large enough - trees, but this will get us closer! We appreciate your patience.

Weeds grow faster than trees and take precious water, nutrients, and in extreme cases even sunshine away from the baby trees! We try to control weeds all growing season with a combination of management practices.

Some large, hard to kill invasive weeds must be hand weeded. Kell Hansen enjoys doing this on a hot summer day!

He finds mowing more effective, but this isn't the same as mowing your yard. It requires dodging stumps and of course the trees themselves. Kell uses a small 4-wheel drive diesel tractor pulling a 4-foot wide mower to get the job done here.

Each year every tree over 3 feet high must be sheared to give it denser foliage and a more uniform shape. Our trees are lightly pruned, deliberately creating a more open, natural look than other farms.

And, we are growing a group of balsam that are not sheared, as people have asked for this. The trees were planted in 1996 and some are big enough this year.

In the spring of 2006 we did a final "thinning" of the maturing large trees. They need enough space between them so each can get a sufficent amount of sun, water, and nutrients. Be careful so you don't fall as you walk over the branches left on the ground.

In addition to tree work, there are innumerable chores that keep us busy, and make the land more convenient and safer for you to access. A short list includes: removing stumps, grading the roads, making signs, repairing equipment, pruning mature trees and removing dead ones, eliminating poison ivy, maintaining parking areas, cutting firewood... We hope you enjoy your visit to our farm and forest.