Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 10 : Fall 2011 | Page 33

Maine.

When Gary retired from Agway, and Mary Etta
from a nursing career, they were looking for a retirement
job – one that could include the entire family. So they
decided to start a tree farm, bought a hayfield from Don
Chase, and began lining up buyers. According to Gary, “We
always meant for the farm to be a family activity. When the
jobs go, the farm is always here.”

“So the farmer, his wife, his three children, and two
family friends started the Christmas tree farm. With shovels,
they planted 2,000 trees! Even though the work was hard, all
they could think about was the beautiful Christmas trees that

would grow for everyone to enjoy.”

On land that was originally known as the Boone
Packard Farm in Mapleton, then the Chase Farm, the
Richards family planted their first 500 white pine trees
on their knees by hand, using a five-foot stick to measure
spacing between the trees. The holes they dug were small,
and they worked hard to fit the tree roots into these tiny
spaces. The weather that season was very rainy and the soil
became too wet for the pines. As a result, the little trees
didn’t survive. Undaunted, the Richardses replaced them
because, as Mary Etta Richards, matriarch of the Richards
family, states. “Evergreens retain their foliage throughout
FALL 2011 Tree Farm 33