Meet Josh, our summer intern! Josh is planting Hybrid Poplar cuttings, a tree which assists in removing pollutants from the soil. Our mission this summer is to help “clean up” industrial brown fields in our region, areas where industry dumped toxic chemicals into the soil. We will then replant the Poplar trees in the brown fields to restore balance in a process called phytoremediation.

Making trees grow … We are up early this morning irrigating newly-germinated Norway Spruce seed.

Spring is such a great time to run into tiny creatures, like this toad getting some sun. He is hanging out on one of our gates as we are doing some field work today.

There is no shortage of newborns around the nursery. After a hard winter, we were happily in awe to find twin fawns born this weekend! The momma doe is keeping a close eye on them.

We plan ahead. Years ahead, in fact! Our tractor and planter are loaded to plant fragrant Fraser Fir this spring. With 7-9 years time, these sturdy transplants will become prime Christmas Trees.

Friday at the Nursery: Spotted our playful Ring-necked pheasant this morning. He’s just one year old, but displays all the characteristic beautiful colors of his species, including the namesake white ring around the neck.

Meet our sweet deer family.

Found a few edible mushrooms on the nursery today! We decided to drench them in egg and flour and fry them up with a bit of olive oil and salt. Mushroom season is short, just 2-3 weeks.

Here’s a “behind the scenes” look at some of the work we’ve been up to this spring at Hensler’s. Prior to transplanting these seedlings into the ground, we sort out the best quality and size of our Norway seedlings, by hand.

Our peacocks are enjoying the sun and warmer weather today.