Vocation Visit a Victory for ALL

Growing up you choose a professional that seems to fit and seems to work for you and your family. Then sometimes a twist comes along that makes everything look like a mismatch. Some consider it a misfortune, some consider it a challenge, some consider it a disaster and well guys like Casey Vandervalk consider it an opportunity to grow, invent and look at life differently.

Our Vocation Outreach, set up by Rotarian Al DiCampo, was a classic vocation visit for Rotarians as we got to meet Casey- a true living example of how you can change vocations and look at the future differently. Not everyone has a family that is willing to accept change and 25 acres of farmland to fall back on. Not everyone has the visionary capacity and creative juices that Casey exhibited yesterday and not everyone has the incredible personality, enthusiasm and dedication of Casey Vandervalk, but if you do, it makes the transition a tad easier and lot more rewarding. A lot of hard work, risk and commitment brings lots of happy visitors and repeat customers to his dream land. His business card says "Vandervalk Tree Farm, but it is so much more than a tree farm as his dream encompasses, Christmas trees, pumpkins, blueberries, daylilies, farm tours, and a beautiful welcome center displaying a variety of wonderful seasonal crafts, jellies and all sorts of " I should have that products" and of course you are welcomed all year round by a friendly wave from a 20 foot tall Santa Clause. Outside the Center at "inventors corner" you are introduced to three of Casey's inventions.

The first to grab your attention is the train barrel car- used to ride kids around the farm and you may have seen Casey and his train car at the downtown festival. I kept wondering- am I small enough to jam into that awesome looking fun loving tram car and I decided -probably not, Then I started to think what a neat shot it would be of a dozen Rotarians sitting in single cars being pulled by a tractor through rows and rows of Christmas trees ranging from 1 foot to about 8 ft. It would have been a neat photo but I passed for a variety of reasons. Instead Ralph and I settled for too many great shots of Rotarian Paul Yanovitch sitting on Casey's tractor in a nice white striped business jacket hauling the team over the 25 acre farm.

Of course we could also have dropped $189 for one of Casey's other inventions "the Trash Limo." Recognizing that he was talking to a conservative group Casey quickly informed us that should one of us decide to pluck down the $189 we would in fact be his first commercial sale. Too bad it actually looked like a very helpful cart for handling trash - recycling and potentially having the best organized trash on the street.

Next to Casey's -not doing so good invention- is his best invention- the TREE CADDY. A simple tool that Casey came up with so visitors can go out and cut their tree- place it on the tree caddy and easily bring it back to the welcome center so he can put the tree on the "tree shaker ' so kids can press the remote and watch as the trees excess needles are shaking off before moving over to be placed in a tree wrap before heading go off to be the highlight of someone's holiday. According to Casey, the Tree Caddy has been a pretty successful venture and can be shipped by UPS since the unassembled package is only 5 inches thick. Score one more "bright idea" from Casey , compliments of some of the skills from his corporate life.

So much for "inventions" and multi-tasking- the real dream was the farm covering 25 acres with 10 acres containing about 10,000 beautiful Christmas trees in a variety of heights. It takes about 8-10 years to grow the traditional 7-8 foot tree. Casey's business plans is based on guest cutting about 1000 trees a year in addition to buying a couple of trailer loads of trees to have on display for people who just want to grab a tree and run rather than enjoy the EXPERIENCE OF SELECTING AND CUTTING their own tree. Casey began planting trees in 1984 and yes, because he is a smart business man, he started selling his trees right on schedule 10 years later in 1994. That first year Casey sold 50 trees. Thirteen years later he finds that he can sell all the trees he wants to sell to families that want that true holiday experience, the apple cider, the ride in wagon, the rush of finding your tree, the pleasure of cutting it down, popping it on the tree caddy and yes hitting the remote control button to give it a good shake while Casey hovers around, more excited than the kids, while at the same time thinking about his next venture. Like -you pick'em blueberries- Always one to wonder what if- Casey decided a few years back to plant blue berries bushes for you pickers. Like so many of Casey's ideas this one was a score with pickers harvesting about 900 pounds of blue berries on the young bushes and Casey dreaming about when the bushes mature they might yield 9000 pounds. His eyes were sparkling when he said 900 pounds and his constantly smiling face got brighter over the thought of selling 9000 lbs and the sounds of parents and kids enjoying the experience while learning that blueberries don't grow in the isles of Market basket and Shaw's.

Yes' it was a great Vocation offsite visit. How could you not feel uplifted listening to Casey's story, his enthusiasm, his willingness to change, to take a risk and to include the importance of what his lovely wife Sue and other family members have done to help make it all happen. The whole 25 acres is one happening place. Thanks for setting up our visit Al. Thank you Paul for keeping the wheels moving on the Vandervalk Wagon and for keeping the wagon on the road giving our Rotarians an opportunity to return to work to pursue their careers.