Prelude

Hello, my name is Dakota. This is my blog for my day to day job working at a tree nursery. The things that I have come across in my short time of working there have been rewarding and unique. I will do my best to describe in detail all of my findings and points of interest in a day in the life at a tree nursery.

     When I first accepted the job as a general laborer  at a tree nursery I had little to no expectations as to what kind of work I would be doing. I was new to this line of work; as most are. Seems like the only people who work there are young students or old timers who wish to have a minimal retirement job. The land that the tree farm sits on is owned by a man. This man also happens to own the whole valley. Which includes 7000+ acres. The farm sits on a solid 250 acres with approximately 250,000 trees ranging in species(about 50 species). The farm is in the heart of the Okanogan, BC. Where the summers are steadily hot often reaching as high as 40 C for weeks at a time, and the winters are cool getting no lower than -15 C.
I work specifically in one area of the farm: pot in pot. Pot in pot is a great way to grow and maintain trees with ease. What is it? Pot in pot is exactly what the name states, it's a pot within a pot. The trees are in 10-15 gallon pots that are then placed into another pot that is buried under that ground. You will see pictures of this throughout the blog. My job is to maintain irrigation, pruning and shipping within the 10,000+ trees of pot in pot. All pots within this area have an irrigation system that comes from piping hidden underneath the ground that surfaces and is used with spray stakes( this can also be seen in pictures). The pots weigh about 50-70 lbs. each, so you get a good workout from this job as well. I am currently crew leader for this jurisdiction and conduct a team of 2-4; depending on the work load of the day. Some days we move trees into the field. Some days we are moving them out and onto reefer trucks.Everyday at the tree farm presents new tasks, and I can't wait to share them!