I continue to operate as a one person office with part time help for bookkeeping and the computer while I personally do everything that involves my customers, such as order acknowledgements, seed packing, etc. Since I am often out working on seed cleaning or harvesting, you will not always get a live person when you call. I apologize for this, but please leave me a message on the phone recorder or by email so that I can get back in touch with you.
This past fall’s crop of conifer cones was good for four origins of Picea pungens (blue spruce) but poor to nothing for everything else we supply. We gathered no Abies cones, of either concolor of lasiocarpa arizonica. Fortunately, I have good stocks of Lincoln Douglas Fir and several other species.
It is difficult to know how to price our seed this year. On one hand, all of our expenses (from business insurance to the price we pay for cones, etc) are higher. Fuel is one of our biggest expenses and it was very expensive during September and October when we gather cones. On the other hand, the economy has gone to pieces and our customers need to keep their expenses under control, including the cost of seed. After thinking about it for several weeks, we have increased prices on some items where it was necessary, but kept most prices the same as last year. The price for blue spruce from the Rio Grande, San Juan and Santa Fe origins is the same as last year, even though the cones cost more.
In the photo gallery on this web site, you can see photos of mountainsides of Abies concolor where half or more of the trees have died due to the last several years of drought. This is especially true for the Cibola and “Swift’s Silver” origins because they are low elevation and drier areas. Also in the photo gallery are photos of some of our wildflower seed production fields.
Click here,Tree Seed Price List, 1894, to view a copy of a tree seed price list from a Denver company for that year. This one is a lot of fun.
You can also click here,Forest Service Regulations—Kaibab, to see the regulations under which we work in order to gather cones in the Kaibab. At present the Kaibab has the most difficult regulations. In other forest service districts the regulations are less onerous.
I believe we supply the best quality seed available. As with most things, in tree seed you are likely to get what you pay for. Lower-priced seed often turns out to be more expensive when purity, moisture content, germination, incorrect source identification, etc., are taken into account. Our only business is seed and we take pride in the job we do.
I am finding e-mail to be more and more useful and we are happy to correspond with our customers this way. There are some days when we do not check the e-mail, especially when I am busy with collection and processing of seeds. But, be assured, we will respond even if it takes a couple of days. The same applies to phone messages.
I want to thank all of our customers for your patronage and to wish you the very best for 2009. Mine is a small and very pleasant business, in large part because of the type of people who are my customers. I appreciate dealing with you.
Best wishes for the coming year!