My name is Mike Hiller, I work at Kraemer’s Nursery in Mt. Angel, Oregon, and I am proud to be your new OAN president. But how did I find myself in this position? Several years ago, Mike Coleman approached me to consider joining the Executive Committee of the OAN Board of Directors. I asked him […]
Climbing skyward
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Wow. I know it’s a cliché, but I honestly can’t believe how fast time has flown over the last year. It seems like it was just a month ago and I was scrambling to put together my very first Digger column. Funny thing is, they haven’t gotten any easier — especially after hearing people say […]
A favorite ‘holiday’
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Growing up in a typical American household, we had all the usual holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Easter, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We celebrated birthdays too, just like many of the rest. But growing up in an Oregon nursery family, there was one more “holiday” — the Farwest Show. As far back as […]
The ‘offseason’
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Sometimes I feel that people outside the nursery industry think we only really work during our harvest season, which for most of us is in the spring. The prevailing thought among my non-industry friends seems to be that after we ship the present crop and plant next season’s crop, we simply kick back and wait. […]
Move forward on immigration
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I’d be willing to bet most folks in our industry don’t have an elaborate tie collection. I myself own three. They rarely come out except for the occasional wedding or funeral, but this past May, I packed all of them up and headed to our nation’s capital to do some politicking on behalf of our […]
Fun and business
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It seems spring has just started, but it’s coming to an end already. Summer’s just about here. It’s a welcome transition. It means we can regroup after spring’s “harvest havoc” and start to focus on production and future planning. Because it is summer, hopefully there are plans that include something fun and relaxing. And hopefully, […]
What does efficiency look like?
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Regardless of what part of the country you are in, it seems labor is tight for nurseries in need of help. We all know our businesses must reckon with limited options if we are going to remain open. One way to address the labor shortage is to do more with less. Everywhere we look, we […]
An adventure worth taking
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On a recent weekend, I did something I don’t do enough — I went to a retail garden center. You see, as a nurseryman, the honest truth is that by Sunday, I usually feel like I’ve seen enough plants. I can’t wait to go out into the woods for a run, clean the house, putter […]
Christmas is here
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From the looks of this title, you may be wondering if it’s a misprint or if December’s article somehow crept its way into the wrong issue. By now, even the discounted holiday decoration aisles have all been put away, right? It’s not a mistake. For many of us in the nursery business, March is harvest […]
Teamwork matters
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Growing up, I was always a foot shorter and roughly 20 pounds lighter than my age group, and my coordination was not exactly stellar. As a result of all this, sports analogies can go right over my head. These days I rarely watch sports events on television, and I definitely haven’t ever had a fantasy […]
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