Our Story

We are Rick and Andrea Lux and this is the story of how Birch Island Farm came to be:

Individually our stories start about 4 hours apart, but with similar Midwest roots. Rick was born and raised right here in Shelby County and spent his youth helping his family on the farm. He could also be found running the streets of Waldron and Shelbyville with his friends amidst the fields of corn and beans, listening to Johnny Cougar (as he was known back in those days), and getting into enough trouble to make his folks pray a little harder in church every Sunday. All Rick ever wanted to do growing up was to farm, and there was a great family tradition in that his Grandfather Victor Lux was crowned “The World Corn King”, and his father Jerry Lux was reigning “Corn Prince”, quite an honor back in the day. But as the small family farms started to disappear, so did Rick’s dreams of farming for a living. With no prospect of farming on his own, no desire to pursue a college degree or confine himself to an indoor factory job, Rick joined the United States Air Force and set off to see the world. In the meantime, Andrea was growing up 4 hours north, amid the lakes and streams of the Great State of Michigan. There she aspired to be an artist and live in the city that never sleeps; that’s right, The Big Apple. The suggestion of a quiet country life would have been met with a serious eye roll. It would be another couple of decades before Andrea could tell you what a combine does or the date of the opening day of squirrel season (August 15 th , and no I still don’t eat them). This girl was planning on college; although she was a bit too “social” to secure the grades for a scholarship, and it was not financially feasible for her family to send her off to, more than likely, “party”, her first year away. So the plan? Join the United States Air Force to earn the GI Bill and pay for college…..Can you see where this is going?

We met at RAF Greenham Common, a small Air Force base an hour outside of London. He was in transportation. I was a medic working in the small base clinic. He had a broken arm. I checked him in for his appointment. He made me laugh, that was it. Our first date was in London. He nearly pushed me in front of a cab. In his defense, they do drive on the wrong side over there. We were married in Newbury Berkshire on March 12 th, 1988. The following year, while stationed in Biloxi Mississippi we had our first bundle of joy: Brad. Three years later we made the decision that it was important our family be raised with the Midwest values we had grown up with, so we moved to Waldron and bought and settled into Rick’s grandparent’s home in Prescott, because God knew we needed a little more time and patience to parent our high spirited youngest: Kiersten. She didn’t come along until 1997.

Fast forward to 2010. The economy has tanked. Brad has been out on his own for a while and we wereno longer feeding him (and 46 teenage soccer playing boys) so we were in a great position to buy a perfect piece of property, when the opportunity arose. Finally Rick had a little piece of land for a “Gentleman’s” farm. We have corn, and beans, and dabbled in cattle, all the while trying to figure out how we could make a sustainable living off of the small amount of acreage we had been blessed with. Our epiphany moment came on a weekend trip back home from Michigan. We passed a Christmas tree farm and thanks to smart phones, did a google search. The whole thing took off quickly from there. Six days later we were at the winter meeting of the Indiana Christmas Tree Growers Assn. We met some incredibly helpful, nice, positive people and we drank the “eggnog.” We are going to do this! We are Christmas tree farmers! Three months later with A LOT of help and prayers, our first 1200 trees went into the ground.

So why Birch Island Farm? I am the first generation of Latvian immigrants born off the boat. After WWII my grandparents met in a displaced persons camp, married, and had my mom. She was 4 when they came to the States and settled in Kalamazoo where there is a substantial Latvian population (I think Michigan reminded them of the Motherland). Anyway, birch trees grow abundantly in Latvia, and are important to the culture. I have always wanted a Birch tree planted on the Island of bottom pond, to honor my grandparent’s memory. This was my Mother’s Day gift this year from my family. Christmas is also the biggest holiday in the Latvian Culture. It was my Grandmother's favorite and she and my Grandfather made it so special and magical, while teaching my sister and me the traditions of the old country. Fun fact: It is believed, although disputed by some, that the first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.

When deciding on a name, it was Rick that suggested Birch Island Farm. Our logo is a reflection of my heritage; it has elements of Latvian design and color, which is important to me as the granddaughter of an artist and a once aspiring artist. This is our American dream, a blending of my family and our traditions here where Rick’s family settled and he grew up. An homage to making our own traditions but honoring our heritage. We certainly look forward to becoming part of your family’s holiday traditions, and growing together. We anticipate some growing pains our first few years but we can’t imagine doing this in any other community!