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Twin Pines Nursery offers holiday items and so much more
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By Craig Moorhead
Special for the Argus
Whether you’re looking for a fresh cut tree, holiday wreath, evergreen garland roping, ornaments, poinsettias, or gift ideas, Twin Pines Nursery has it covered. In the 10 years since James and Sue Furlong began their business located on Highway 44 between Caledonia and Hokah, they’ve offered both goods and advice for gardeners.
With Christmas just around the corner, customers looking for a tree can find fresh cut, locally grown specimens at Twin Pines.
“We pick them up in Black River Falls,” Sue said. “We go right to the field and pick them up and haul them ourselves. They’re cut the same day we get them.
“The gift shop changes with the seasons,” Sue explained. “I make candy, and my uncle makes hand carved decorative items.”
Christmas ornaments are also a popular item. “A lot of people let their kids pick out an ornament,” she said. “There’s a lot of Christmas ornaments in here, but there’s also gift giving ideas…candles, pictures, signs, lamps, all kinds of home décor.”
Sue said she enjoys meeting customers. “At this time of year it’s fun ‘cause so many little kids come out and their parents let them pick a tree. It’s fun to watch the kids, and the kids like the cats.” (While we talked several friendly farm cats wander the barnyard outside of the barn-turned-gift shop). Twin Pines holiday hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The nursery is closed from the first of the year until around the first of April, Sue noted. That doesn’t mean that she and James aren’t busy. In early February it will be time to fire up the greenhouse. “I always enjoyed this kind of work. I enjoy the planting part of it…planting and watching it grow.”
This winter, the Furlongs may even open up for a “long weekend” just before Valentine’s Day. Sue reported she’s considering having a wine tasting at the gift shop.
“It’s kind of a customer appreciation thing,” she explained. “In the fall we have a wine tasting here.” Sue says that her friend Robin Schlegel usually brings some of her award-winning wine to the autumn gatherings, and she and James supply a few bottles for friends to sample.
“In the fall we make hors d’oeuvres and sample a little wine, it’s just a visit.” She said that the Valentine’s gathering isn’t yet decided upon, but may well happen.
Furlong said she enjoys working with plants, and the greenhouse provides something akin to an early taste of spring, even though February and March snow needs to be cleaned off of the roof.
“It’s nice to get out there early in February. It’s like you get an early spring, because you’re out in the greenhouse all the time. We plant for three months,” she explained. “Flowers, vegetables, trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials. And we sell vegetables in the summer. We sell what we raise, a lot of sweet corn and tomatoes and peppers, kohlrabi, onions, and squash. We also do a lot of pumpkins in the fall.”
Sue enjoys talking with people and working with plants. “I couldn’t imagine being somewhere where it’s just concrete and I didn’t have any ground to work with,” she noted.
Another thing that Furlong enjoys is helping gardeners who have questions. “My thing is plants,” she explained. “A lot of people may come in and they don’t understand a lot of it. I’ve had them tell me that they come back because I answer their questions for them. They tell me they know what they’re getting when they buy it. They say they like coming back here because they get answers when they come…what kind of soil does a plant require? Where does it belong? How and when to fertilize? That part of the job makes me feel good.”
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