THE LEAFLET

While Casey Trees works hard to restore, enhance, and protect the trees of our nation’s capital – all of our trees begin their journey in Berryville, VA at the Casey Trees Farm. The 730-acre farm is a picturesque vision of a calming countryside, but don’t be fooled, busy days at the farm can involve moving, planting, or counting hundreds of trees! We recently reached out to Kyle Derr, our Nursery Manager, to see how the summer weather is treating everyone.

Casey Trees (CT): Hey Kyle! Thanks for chatting with us, what’s been going on at the farm this summer?

Kyle Derr, Nursery Manager of the Casey Trees Farm

Kyle Derr (KD): In short, a lot has been going on at the farm. A brief sample of our summer work includes tons of pruning and tying tops to ensure proper structure for each of our trees, nutrient foliar sprays, pest and vegetation management, irrigation maintenance, and building out a future field that we will be planting this fall. Trees don’t sleep so the crew works day in and day out to accomplish weekly goals to stay ahead of the game.

(CT): What are you looking forward to this fall?

(KD): I’m looking forward to several things this fall but top on the list would be planting our new field that will home over 6,000 or so new trees. We currently have almost 30,000 trees in the ground at the farm – so this field expansion will result in a 20% increase in our farm’s production. The crew has been working hard installing irrigation piping, electrical wiring, tree bags, etc. just to be ready for this coming fall planting. When we have the new field totally planted and irrigation turned on it will be a huge accomplishment for the entire team.

(CT): How’d you end up at Casey Trees? (Tell us a bit about yourself!)

(KD): While going to school for my BS in Environmental Science, I worked part-time at a natural resource management company doing various jobs. One of which was to manage a small-scale native tree and shrub nursery. I’d say this was the moment I first realized my interest in not only trees but the cultivation aspect as well. After graduation, I held several positions with the Forest Service. First as a wildland firefighter out of Boise, Idaho and second as a fisheries technician in Petersburg, Alaska. After spending some time in the Forest Service, I returned east to take a management position at the same natural resource management company I had done some part-time work for in college. I worked there for the last four years leading up to my recent hiring at Casey Trees.

(CT): What’s the best part of your job?

(KD): The best part of my job is knowing that all the work we do at the farm makes a long-lasting impact on both communities and the environment. Helping provide strong, young trees that in some cases may outlast my lifetime gives me great pride in what we do.

(CT): What is your favorite tree and why?

(KD): I’d say currently my favorite tree is the swamp white oak. It has a great bark texture, deep green leaves and is generally a tough adaptable tree. Also, who doesn’t love an oak?

Scroll down to enjoy some recent snapshots of what’s happening over at the farm!