All this low hanging fruit.
If ya’ll ‘re so smart, why ain’t ya rich?
“Why aren't you doing this now?”
Most excellent question. The Future Directions page has all these ways to increase income. It’s very reasonable to ask why we aren’t already there.
The answer: There are only so many hours in a day. A nominally retired old fart (I was 65 last fall) has only so much energy. That said: We've already done a lot, and are not resting on our backsides:
- In 2013 I did it all on my own; In 2014, I hired my nephew for a month; In 2016 I hired him for two months. In 2016, I had two nephews working for me. In 2017 I had 3-5 people working here most of the summer. This hit the net profit pretty hard, but we filled more pots, did more transplants, got more planted than ever before.
- In 2015 we half filled one "strip block". (See the Caliper Trees in Notes.) In 2016 we finished that one, and filled one more, and did most of a third. Each strip block represents about 50-80 thousand dollars at maturity (3-6 years from now.) In 2017 we added another 400 trees in grow bags and 1100 in #7 pots.
- In 2014 my Jeffries order took up 15 feet of a semi-trailer. I was one of 4 small nurseries in our part of Alberta. In 2017 I had the entire trailer to myself, and got anotehr 15 feet in a another load later.
Tree farming is about time. Much of the effort is at the front end. Get the tree, stuff it in a pot. Then wait for 2-3 years to increase in value. Sell or put into a bigger pot. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. During the wait times, you give it small bits of attention to water, fertilizer, and weeds.
Lodgepole Pine in our front yard.
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Copyright © 2008 - 2018 S. G. Botsford
Sherwood's Forests is located about 75 km southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. Please refer to the map on our Contact page for directions.