Craig

On July 3rd, I visited the Badoura State Forest Nursery at Aekely, Minnesota. I wanted to purchase an allotment of Black Hill Spruce trees to plant on our properties for beauty, shelter, and carbon dioxide abatement.

For 15 years I have driven right by it on the way to the lake and never stopped in. Well, it was a thrilling, inspirational, educational 4 hours I spent their with Craig, the farm manager. He is a bleeding heart liberal and not shy about it. As a 34 year DNR employee, that is to be expected. What fascinates me about him is that his progressive political views do not define the man, but are just one aspect of his clever, practical, scientific and managerial personality. He is a self-actualized man--most impressive, most talented, original and effective.

He is a fountain of knowledge about trees. As a scientist and nurseryman who has access to seminars and education, that is not unexpected.

All of that professional and technical knowledge is tumbling around in his psyche so he tries different, subtle experiments to get trees to grow.

For example, trees of the same species from the latitude along the Iowa border, do not grow half as well as trees grown in Akeley, but he is now the only state nursery, so he has to come up with optimal growing conditions for all trees native to all parts of the state. He is rather successful. Regarding those Iowas border trees (red oaks or white oaks?), he figured out how to simulate the warmer soil 150 miles south by mulching the young trees. He showed me the fields with mulch and without mulch. The mulched ones, the same age, were twice as tall. All the trees were from southern Minnesota, but to grow here like trees acclimated to this soil and weather: he had to simulate southern Minnesota conditions.

He is a standout personality and employee, and I gathered that is a source of contention with his faceless, bland bosses up the chain.

He has grown 30 million trees, and his nursery makes a profit, gets no money from the state but gives money back to the state. He is shrewd as a farmer and money manager, yet some conservative private tree nurseries want him put out of business--and almost succeeded--so they could enjoy a monopoly on the tree market. He sells trees for 15 cents apiece, and they sell planting trees in the commercial nursery for 150 dollars.

He reminded me so much of my dad, that brilliant, artistic, intuitive, excellent farmer and cattleman.

Craig has 34  years of experience.

I hope his replacement is half as alert and lively. The state of Minnesota should not close down this nursery that is doing avant gard science, and making a profit for the taxpayers. Why then, wipe it out?

I do not get my trees until next late April. He convinced me to grow Minnesota white spruces instead of Black Hill spruces. The white spruce here is closely related to the Black Hills white spruce, is equally disease resistant and hardy, and does better here.