History of the Farm

In 1969, Paul and I, along with our three children, settled on a farm near Somerset, Wisconsin, a half-hour east of St. Paul Minnesota, and just a stone’s throw from the wild and scenic St. Croix River. Teachers by day, farmers by morning, night and weekend, we happily rolled up our sleeves, picked up our tools and began our life’s work.

We hand-planted our first trees, tiny balsam fir seedlings. Through good years of rain and sunshine, and challenging times that brought frost and drought, we kept at it and planted and trimmed and nurtured more and more trees. In 1987, on the day after Thanksgiving, opened our barn doors to welcome the first families to our tree farm.