Why there's a birch tree on the island.

Birch trees grow abundantly in Latvia, and they matter to the culture. I always wanted one planted on the island in the bottom pond, for my grandparents.

Rick grew up right here in Shelby County, farming with his family and wanting nothing else. Andrea grew up four hours north in Michigan, planning on art school and New York City. They both joined the Air Force instead, and met at a small base an hour outside London, where she checked him in for an appointment for a broken arm. He made her laugh. They married in Berkshire in 1988.

A few years and two kids later they came back to Waldron for the Midwest values they'd both been raised on. In 2010 the right piece of ground came up for sale, and Rick finally had his farm. Figuring out how to make a living from that many acres took longer, until a drive home from Michigan took them past a Christmas tree farm. Three months later, the first 1,200 trees went into the ground.