Growing up a “farm kid” in rural Wisconsin there were always chores to be done and I knew early on demanding farming life was not in my blood. The cold winters meant cutting down old dead trees and sawing them up for use in the wood furnace and fireplace. By age 12, I was pretty good with an ax and graduated to a hydraulic wood splitter, which only meant I could split more wood in a shorter period of time, freeing me up to do other tasks on the farm.

My family were good stewards to the land and for what we take we should put back. I remember one Friday late afternoon when a flatbed truck with large containers, came down our narrow gravel driveway. The initial excitement of a large delivery was quickly crushed when learning these were 4,000 maple tree seedlings, which I would be planting, by hand, the next couple weeks.

Trees were something I was not going to miss when I left for college in Arizona. Skip ahead 20+ years, still living in Arizona and found myself in the garage with a role of baling wire in hand and a twisted tree just emerged. It was not particularly pretty, but I added to it and continued to shape it over the next few days into something I liked to look at. Over the next week, it stood tall on my toolbox being battered by tools and oily rags. In order to save it, I took it to work and placed it on my desk. People asked where I had purchased it. “Keep it” I can make another one.

I don’t create trees for a living or to pay some of my bills, I create them because I love being able to use my imagination. No two are alike is not on purpose. Much of the shape and size of the trees reflect my mood and attitude at that time. I’ve made some “Angry” trees and generally just toss them in the trash along with all the bad karma. I hope you enjoy my “Happy Trees”

-Randy