This is the tree that gave us our name, as the basswood is also known as the Bee Tree! An acre of basswood trees can produce up to 1,100 lbs of honey.

These trees are a native flowering species that is covered in fragrant, nectar-producing flowers in early June. Honey produced from these flowers is very light in color, with a floral / almost minty flavor.

Although we’ve planted these to produce syrup, sugar maples show some of the most beautiful fall foliage, going from green to orange, yellow, and red.

Maple trees should be at least 10” in diameter before they are first tapped, so we’ve still got a ways to go. Once mature, a sugar maple tree can produce enough sap to make anywhere from 1 to 8 gallons of maple syrup.

Silver maples are one of the fastest growing maple trees, and at maturity can reach up to 70’ high.

These are one of the first trees to break dormancy in the spring, and so are an important early source of pollen for our bees.

While we have many mature Pin and Bur oaks on our property, we’ve also added 3 white oaks.

White oaks are an extremely long lived tree (500 years+), and are more resistant to oak wilt than other oak varieties. Although the acorns are loved by wildlife, it can take up to 20 years before white oaks are mature enough to start producing. We have a ways to go until ours look anything like this picture!

The shagbark hickory has a very distinctive bark that makes these trees easy to identify. They produce a sweet nut that is a favorite of wildlife. We expect we’ll be waiting about 10 years for our first harvests of these, but the hickory fudge is already calling our names!

Shellbark hickory trees produce the largest and sweetest of hickory nuts. They are also a zone 5-8 tree, and we are located in zone 4. We’ve got them planted on a sheltered southern slope, which we hope will provide enough protection for them to make it through our winters.

This is one of the largest trees that is native to eastern North America. It can reach over 100’ tall and live for hundreds of years. This tree prefers wetter areas, such as along the edges of streams or lakes.

We’re also pushing the zone boundaries for this one, as it is most commonly found in zones 5+, and we’re in zone 4.