Chances are if you phone, it will be Laura who answers. She is reception, sales agent, tier 1 question answerer, much of the organization, all of the bookkeeping.
Sherwood is the one who gets dirty. He's tier 2 questions, and actually grows the trees, and decides what we will carry.
My nephews started a game of giving the dogs fancy names.
Radar (on right) came to us as AK2773921 from the Calgary Pound. The name was awkward. Large ears made him “Radar” The circling tail made him Radar Rotifer. (Google rotifer on youtube.) He is a pretty good watch dog. Radar Rotifer Rolex. (High class watch for a high class dog.) Now he’s Radar Rotifer Rolex, Sir Galumph the Graceless, (He’s always tripping over his own feet); Warden of the Western Marches, Water Walker, (On his first hike he initially was afraid of crossing streams. A week later he was charging through.) Thunder Paws. (Non carpeted stairs...) Goofnacious Tridell, Snarfmeister.
We figure he's border collie cross something larger and clumsy. Of the three he’s the only one that plays with toys.
Ceilidgh (Kaylee) (Left) is the one that actually looks like a border collie. She was free to good home from a small town an hour north of Edmonton. She is a serious pet-a-holic. We have tried several times to get her into Petaholic’s Anonymous 12 Step Program, but she won’t admit she has a problem. Anyway her full name is Princess Ceilidgh, Snoozle Dog, Dancing Girl, Wiggleworm, Party Animal, Mud Puppy (She will go and stand chin deep in a small pond, and get absolutely filthy, more dirt than dog. Of all my dogs she has the smallest feet, and manages to bring in almost as much mud as the other two put together. ) Polyester dog (But an hour later she's dry and clean. Dirt doesn't stick.) Knight Commander of the Loyal Order of the Breadcrust (She heels well)
Sandy, the fuzzy mostly black chunky one, was way too dignified to be just Sandy. She had a penchant for lying upright, head alert, forelegs crossed at the ankles, looking regal. Laura started calling her "Lady Jane" then Lady Kassandra Jane. Then the nephews arrived. Now it is “Her Excellency, The Lady Kassandra Jane, First Fang of the Forest, Protector of the Realm, (All squirrels need to be barked away. She is often the first one to spot someone driving in.) Soul Singer, (she has a sound between a growl and a whine that she tries to talk to us with) Wooly Bear, Sticky Butt (At night we get enough wild raspberry twigs out of her fur to start the fire.) Gopher's Bane (She will sit listening, then suddenly start to dig furiously. About one time in three she comes up with a pocket gopher.) Greedy Guts, Lunch Mouth the Third. (She’s supposed to be part Lab, and this shows in her eating habits. Radar will likely be GGLM IV on Sandy’s passing) Sandy was an ad in the local paper, “free to good home” She came in at age 4 or 5, and initially was very timid.
Who are we?
A Brief History
Sherwood says, "We started growing trees in 2000, but didn't really get serious about it until 2003. It was a serious hobby. Something to keep me busy after I retired. (Hah! Busier than a one handed wall paper hanger...)
"One of our startup rules: Don't borrow money. It might not work. I had no previous experience. Neither did Laura. Let's not get in over our head. So we sunk a few thousand bucks each year out of our paychecks.
"In 2008 the school I was working at closed, and Laura said that it was time to go full time.
"Originally we were going to be wholesale. I couldn't see customers driving 45 minutes from Edmonton for retail purchases. But it didn't work out that way. We don't work on a wholesale scale. We don't do 5 million trees a year, like Bylands. But neither are we really retail. Most of our customers are somewhere in between. Many are acreage owners. We sell them trees big enough to miss with the mower, small enough to plant with a shovel. Others are interested in edible landscaping. We sell forty odd kinds of fruit trees and shrubs. Lately there is increasing interest in native plants.
Laura says "If someone had told me 30 years ago that I would one day be living and working on an 80 acre tree farm, learning accounting, I'd have smiled politely and backed away slowly. And yet, here I am. Sherwood is, and always has been, the green thumb in the family. It's not that I don't like trees, or plants in general, because I do. I love our natural forest and meeting the people who come out to buy our trees. Sherwood has the big picture mind and I have the detail mind, which makes for good teamwork.
Once Sherwood took on the tree farm full-time, I became the traditional farmer's wife and continued to work part-time in the city to keep the daily living expenses paid. It was a big moment, in 2014, when we decided it was time for both of us to concentrate on the tree farm. We haven't looked back.
Our deliberately low overhead costs have allowed us to concentrate on providing a good product, at a reasonable price, with all the in-person assistance and advice a person could ask for. Trees we don't sell this year, will be sold next year. Or the year after that. Growing them in pots, outdoors, summer and winter means that we can call our trees "Alberta hardy" with confidence. Keeping all facets of our business in-house (we do have outside help with our taxes -- life is just too short for some things) means that we can respond quickly and personally to all inquiries. It means a great deal to us to have increasing numbers of return customers every year."
Got something to say? Email me: sfinfo@sherwoods-forests.com
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Want to talk right now? Call me: (8 am to 8 pm only, please) 1-780-848-2548
Do not arrive unannounced. Phone for an appointment. Why? See Contact & Hours That same page gives our hours of operation.
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Sherwood's Forests is located about 75 km southwest of Edmonton, Alberta. Please refer to the map on our Contact page for directions.