~ April 18, 2025

We just wrapped up tree planting on the farm! Four days of perfect weather, a hardworking team, thousands of baby trees, the determination to plant hope this year and we are DONE! We want to give a HUGE thank you and shoutout to our amazing crew of SGN and iTrees guys who go above and beyond to keep it rolling around here. 

Planting is both the same and different every year. Every Spring there are a billion things going on: trucks of trees shipping out, digging in the field, trees moving around the nursery, customers coming to pick up, phone calls, emails, all the extra stuff that needs to get done behind the scenes, the list goes on! But Planting always pulls us out of whatever chaos is ensuing and helps reorient us. It causes our team to stop what we’re doing, pivot, and plant. There are always challenges – being too wet, too dry, running out of space in a block we thought we had counted out exactly – but somehow they always get solved and the trees get growing off to a great start. 

Here is an excerpt from a CaringBridge post that Becky wrote about what’s happening on the farm – it sums up how we’re all feeling about this Spring season:

“We started tree planting yesterday at the nursery! As a grower, tree planting is my favorite time of the year. I think Jamie would agree. We have always made it a family affair – the kids grew up alongside of us in the field, my mom always makes lunch for everyone, Chris & Marlee bring their crews to help out, Chris drives the tractor, extra high school or college kids hanging around join the crew temporarily – like I said, it’s a favorite time of year for all of those reasons!  

Right after Joey’s accident, Jamie & I had an initial thought to cancel planting this season.  With our spring season upon us we were faced with lots of unknowns, and we were overwhelmed with the entire situation our family was facing. So for a brief moment, we thought about skipping a year of planting. But then just as quickly, we realized that this spring more than ever, we need to plant trees. We need to plant hope! 

Joey had recently taken over the liner ordering part of the nursery business and had all of the orders set up and ready to go, so we decided it was best to stick to the plan. Last week, we received 7 semi loads of new tree liners. On Sunday, Jamie & I took a drive up to see Joey for the day. We brought our planting maps and lists, and together with Joey made the planting strategy for the 2025 season. Joey was on top of it and knew exactly how he wanted the blocks laid out. Zach took a few days off from his work to help out this week, and together with Maggie they are learning to lead this season’s planting operation. Today is Zach’s 30th birthday, and he is spending it planting Oaks & Elms with Maggie! I am so proud of both of them and how they have each pivoted quickly to help cover Joey’s roles at the nursery as well as several of mine. It’s so fun to have everyone’s help and support to get our new crop in the ground and growing!”

We arrive at the end of another planting season grateful, hopeful, and tired. It’s supposed to rain this Easter weekend to give these newly planted baby trees a good soak and give us a break from being out in the field. We plan to enjoy this rainy weekend with family, celebrating Springtime, new life, and the abundance of hope we have in our lives! 

Below are some pics of planting as well as a great video put together by our friend Robert Avery of Airwave Media Productions – @AirwaveMediaProductions. Enjoy!

~ Maggie Thomas Harper