10/17/06 Duncan tree farm

Cherie Duncan said she and her husband worked non-stop trying to farm 12 hundred acres of wheat, barley and oats. And they couldn't get ahead. Finally, they gave it up and started a tree farm near St Maries in Benewah County. Three times a year Cherie has the tools sharpened and she is working on the trees. DUNCAN "These are Kebab spruce, they're known for their blue. All I'm doing is trying to get just one leader for the tops because they only want one top on them." Duncan works with a buyer who comes to her farm with customers so they can pick and mark the trees they'll want for an instant landscape. DUNCAN "Like we have the short little fat ones, we have the thin ones, we have the open ones. Six foot is the smallest that sell. That's just part of your instant yards." Cherie says it's a buyer's market because there are so many tree and landscaping farms all over the state. DUNCAN "You can't just plant then and let them grow. They have to be weeded, and sprayed, and trimmed all the time or else the market isn't yours." Cherie Duncan says she even has a buyer who takes the trees that won't sell commercially, the 'character' trees as she calls them. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott