Quite Simply, a Tree Farm is a managed forest. Forests are managed much like you would manage a garden. Both the scale and timeframe of managing a forest are different, but the idea is the same.

Management of a forest depends on the landowner. If the landowner is a large company, the forest is carefully managed to harvest a marketable population of trees. If the landowner is small, management is based on the landowners vision for their property. We have pledged to manage our forest sustainably through the American Forest Foundation and are a Certified Tree Farm. 

While you are here, you will not hear chainsaws or equipment noise. Our most valuable assets are the sounds of nature that we find on our land and that is what we hope you will enjoy most during your stay.

Some Tree Farms are more actively managed (for timber) than ours. We supplement our home heating with wood in the winter, so most of our recent harvesting has just been for a few cords of firewood each year. Our Tree Farm is in "Tree Growth". Our current management strategy involves waiting for the trees to grow, removing invasive species, pruning to improve tree quality and managing for animal habitat.

Three summers ago, we added a small sawmill. Most all of the wood structures are built with wood harvested from our property. Some of the lumber has been recycled. We try to reuse/recycle as much as we can. The firewood you burn is either waste from the mill or comes from branches too small for us to use in our wood stove.

Much of our furniture comes from the local Re-Store. Purchases from this organization support Habitat for Humanity Programs

The four tenets of the Tree Farm Program are "Woods, Water, Recreation and Wildlife". We have decided that Recreation is most important to us and this is what we have chosen to share with you. We hope you enjoy our land and trails as much as we do.

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