The Christmas Wreath Spring Rite - Mickman Brothers Holiday Fundraiser

Shared by: John Mickman

Back in 1970's, Mickman Brothers was operated out of the small farmstead where my family lived. The old farmhouse had sloping floors, breezy windows, a dark narrow staircase - and lots of love. My wife and I had 4 beautiful children, Heather, Maegen, John Jr. and Mariah - all 2 years apart. The office was behind the barn which was put together around hand-hewn timbers secured with wooden pegs. Our place was pretty cool and life was good.

Starting a new business was a lot of work, but since my office was at home I was able to spend much time with the kids. They all worked in the business as they were growing up and they all learned to enjoy doing a job well done.

Being the oldest, Heather was quite precocious, learned to 'be in charge' early in life and always had a lot of questions. When Heather was 4 years old, the whole family went shopping on Holy Saturday afternoon to pick up groceries for the next day’s Easter Dinner (since I was the oldest brother, all these family gatherings happened at our house).

This particular Holy Saturday was cold and blustery, like many Easters in Minnesota. After many trips from the VW bus into the kitchen with the groceries, I was looking forward to nice cup of hot coffee. But, when I went to close the kitchen door, I saw that Heather was still standing outside in the cold, warmly wrapped in her red & white checkered winter parka with the red beanie at the tip of its pointed hood. Her plump, rosy cheeks were about the same color as the red of her coat and her little red mittens. She was just standing there, looking quite forlorn - like she had just lost her favorite doll.

Her look was gently tugging on my heart-strings; something was wrong and I needed to fix it. "What's wrong honey", I asked as I kneeled down beside her. As she looked at me I noticed a tear in the corner of one eye. "Oh nothing daddy", she replied. "I'm OK."

I looked at the house as she had been looking, and everything seemed to fine to me; the only thing that was a little unusual was that our Christmas Wreath was still on the door. It looked great, still green and full and I had seen no reason to throw it away - being a frugal person that had been trained by parents that had gone through the Great Depression.

"Come on Heather, please tell me what's wrong. I can tell you are worried about something", I asked again. "Well", she replied, "Do you think that maybe the Easter Bunny won't bring us Easter Baskets tonight when he sees the Christmas Wreath on the door?"

I looked at the wreath on the door and I felt a little tear forming in my eyes. With all the problems in the world and with me trying to scratch out a living with our little family business, my daughter helped to bring the really important things back into focus. "Heather", I said as I held her little face between my well worn, calloused hands, "I don't know for sure if that wreath will scare the Easter Bunny away. But, let's not take a chance. You and I are going to take that wreath down right now - just in case. What do you think about that?"

In return, I received a daughter-to-father smile that only dad's get to experience. A smile from way down deep in your daughter’s heart that fills you up like nothing else can. Beaming in this way Heather said, "OK daddy, let’s do it right now". Then, together my daughter Heather and I took that Christmas Wreath down and put it in the garbage can.

So began the John Mickman Family Tradition of displaying our Christmas Wreath on the front door of our home until just before Easter Sunday - just in case it scares the Easter Bunny away.

This plan worked well for almost 30 years. What happened? Well 12 years ago, not long before Easter, a family of wrens built a house in the wreath on our door and started their own family. And now, each Spring the wrens build a nest and raise a family in our Christmas Wreath. All guests to our home think we're a couple of pine cones short of a full wreath, but we have to keep our wreath up well into May each year as the young chicks break open their shells and grow strong enough to fly away.

So now, the Mickman Household displays our Christmas Wreath from November to May - over half the year. Some say it's crazy - right up until the time I tell them the story of my little girl Heather who was worried about the Easter Bunny!

2010 MNLA Minnesota Capitol Rotunda Decorating - Wreaths donated by Mickman Brothers

We're busy tying bows!

With Summer winding down, we are going full bore getting ready for the busy Wreath Season. One large task that needs to be accomplished is to tie almost half a million bows - all by hand -- one at a time. This is a skill that takes some time to develop, and I've found that not everyone has the aptitude for it. You may find this video of tying a Victorian Bow interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-umcofwIkI

Each of the Bow Tying Crew Members take great pride in the finished look for each of their bows, as many of them are Wreath Decorators too; they understand that 'a nice bow is the most telling part of a nice wreath'. I'm sure you will agree: the fine bows our crew ties are a testament to the same high values your organization's leaders pass on to your young members!

John S. Mickman

Letter from Minnesota DNR

The following is a letter we received from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in May, 2009

Dear John and Chris:

Thank you for the generous gift you made to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to help fund tree planting projects on state lands. Your gift will go a long way toward ensuring that healthy forests are available for Minnesota's future generations.

The $8,486.30 you designated for the DNR's Deer River Forestry area will enable 35,795 red and white pine seedlings to be planted on state land on two sites in Itasca County. Each site will be "marked" with a sign that identifies how a gift from Mickman Brothers Inc. made possible the planting of this future forest.

Your gift to the DNR is just one more thing to add to a long list of conservation efforts you have accomplished over the years, including helping to establish the Balsam Bough Partnership. I not only thank you for this recent gift to the DNR, but also for your recognition that Minnesota's forest resource is renewable if it is nurtured, protected, and wisely used in the years ahead.

Sincerely,

Dave Epperly, Director
Division of Forestry

Where Balsam Tree Boughs Become Wreaths

It might seem a landscape, irrigation and garden center makes its money in the summer. But about half of a Ham Lake company's $11 million annual sales is from its holiday wreath division.

Originally published December 20, 2006

By Sarah Moran, Staff Writer, Star Tribune

More than half a million of the country's Christmas wreaths this year come from Ham Lake.

About 4 million pounds of balsam fir and pine boughs, mostly from Minnesota, flooded Mickman Brothers landscaping and garden center in October.

That's a big batch of boughs, but don't worry: There will be another crop next year. As part of the company's focus on conservation, almost all the bundles are balsam fir, which keeps growing after branches are harvested.

After the branches descend upon the landscape business, about 100 employees, 250 temporary workers and 100 families working at their homes in northern Minnesota turn the boughs into beautiful wreaths.

When they're finished, those wreaths end up in the hands of 3,000 fundraising groups a year, from an aquatic booster club in California to a Boy Scout Troop in Pennsylvania.

Since the wreath operation started at Mickman Bros. in 1977, those organizations have earned more than $40 million in profits to fund their activities, said John Mickman, president of Mickman Brothers.

And, of course, the company has benefited - about half of Mickman Brothers' $11 million annual gross sales is from its wreath division.

Wreath manufacturing is about a $30 million industry in Minnesota. But without conservation efforts, the industry could have gone the way of the overharvested and now rare king crab in the Bering Sea, Mickman said.

In the early 1980s, Mickman and other leaders in the business went to the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with their concerns about forest regeneration in Minnesota.

There are two types of evergreen trees: pine and fir. Pine trees have buds on the tips of their branches. If those tips are cut off, there is no more growth. Fir trees, however, grow buds on the tips and along the stems. So cutting just the end of those trees means the tree can continue to grow and be harvested in another three to five years.

A group called the Balsam Bough Partnership formed in the late 1980s. It included wreath manufacturers, bough buyers, harvesters, land owners, the U.S. Forest Service, the state DNR, Indian reservations and counties.

The group went to the Legislature and got some changes starting in the early 1990s. Balsam bough buyers, who usually pay harvesters for their boughs and then sell them to companies such as Mickman Brothers, now need annual licenses. They are regularly inspected to make sure they're accepting only boughs that were properly harvested.

Harvesters had always been required to have permits, but the new laws required harvesters to show written permission from property owners to the buyers.

"There's a number of important reasons [to conserve] from a perspective outside the wreath industry because much of the forest land that the boughs are harvested off is public land," Mickman said. "If we have a big impact on the forest, it makes it less valuable for other users, and eventually we won't be able to harvest boughs there anymore.


MICKMAN BROTHERS' WREATHS: THAT'S A LOT OF NEEDLES

• 4 million pounds of balsam fir and pine are used each year to make wreaths.
• More than 500,000 wreaths are sold every Christmas season.
• 49 states receive wreaths from the company.
• 95 percent of wreath sales are to fundraising organizations.
• $40 million has been raised by fundraising groups since Mickman Brothers started the wreath division in 1977.

Copyright 2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Garden Center is Always Blooming With New Ideas

Mickman Brothers Inc. in Ham Lake has expanded services this year, highlighting its owners' tuned-in timing.

Originally published April 26, 2006

By Sarah McCann, Staff Writer, Star Tribune

A time to plant,
a time to reap,
a time to innovate and expand business.

Chris and John Mickman of Mickman Brothers Inc. nailed that pattern once again this year.

The brothers grew up helping with the family Christmas wreath business in the 1960s, started their own landscaping and irrigation business in 1975 and took charge of the wreath operation soon after.

Mickman Brothers produces about half a million wreaths a year. If a Cub Scout has ever knocked on your door in the winter months, you probably know Mickman wreaths.

Then they added a Garden Center with trees, flowers, pots and tools at their 21-acre property in Ham Lake.

Last year's expansion included a partnership with Hedberg Hardscape Center, which offers materials and services for retaining walls, water features and patios at the Mickman Brothers' site.

This year's growth area is aimed at women, who make up 80 percent of Garden Center customers. New this season is an expanded home decor section in the center, and it's all arranged in a female-friendly atmosphere.

The idea came about after visitors from the American Nursery and Landscape Association noted that men were the decisionmakers for the Garden Center while mostly women were using it. Advice taken.

The Mickmans asked Diane Lee, who grew up across the street from their family and is the former owner of the Round Barn antique and home decorating store in Andover, to head up the effort.

Lee worked on redecorating and selecting new items. "Women really want to get a warm, fun feeling when they're shopping and more of an experience," she said.

The result? Sales are up 40 percent this season.

Leslie LaBonne, who has shopped at Mickman Brothers for about 10 years, is one contributor. "I was amazed when I came in this year and saw how they expanded it. I like that a lot," she said. "They've really grown. They've just added and added and added."

The Mickmans' open ears to feedback, innovative ideas and calculated responses are exactly what keeps the business strong, employees say. In 2005 the business recorded $11 million in gross sales.

Bob Fitch, executive director of the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association, said, "Both John and Chris are experts at new ideas, creative ideas and the ability to implement those ideas."

John gives some credit to their downtime in winter months.

"I take that time to do a thorough evaluation of our past year's operation and search for ways to enhance the good things and look for ways to deal with the issues we had," he said.

That could mean major business decisions. Or adding classes that now run every Wednesday and Saturday on topics such as growing and cooking with herbs or decorating a beautiful table for wedding showers or July 4th. Or purchases such as the cardboard compactor machine that breaks down loads of cardboard boxes that become profitable when sold for recycling.

"I'm always looking for ways to make things more efficient and easier," John said.

Conservation is a huge part of that for the company, Chris said.

"Our father was a real big role model for us," he said. "He always told us we should be like the Boy Scouts and always leave a place - for instance a campsite - better than when we first got there.

So Mickman Brothers stocks shelves with cutting-edge technology like the new solar landscaping lights that store enough energy to shine throughout the night. The brothers spread the word on the most forest-friendly way to harvest balsam boughs for wreaths. John initiated and garnered support for legislation requiring lawn sprinkler systems to have rain sensors that stop watering during or just after rain. That became state law in 2003.

People who work with the two say they have a passion for conservation, a balance between reflection and action, and enthusiasm best described by John himself.

"They're going to bury me here. This is my hobby," he said. "I like spending Saturdays in May here - I'm not going to be at my house doing my garden; I'm going to be here talking to customers about their gardens."


Copyright 2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Business Honor Goes to Wreath Makers

Originally published March 19, 2003

By Jim Buchta, Staff Writer, Star Tribune

John and Chris Mickman transformed the wreath-making talents of their Norwegian grandmother into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

In recognition of the brothers' accomplishment, they were named small business people of the year by the Minnesota office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Grandma Mickman made her first wreath in 1934, but her son, John and Chris' father, snuck off with it and sold it to buy her a Christmas present.

Wreath profits have been buying Mickman gifts ever since. The Mickmans are one of the largest wreath manufacturers in the country.

The Mickman brothers also run a Ham Lake garden center, landscaping business, golf driving range and an irrigation business.

Other Minnesota SBA winners are Gae Veit, Ron Wacks, Jan Jordet, Robert Heck, Patricia Mack and Mary Patricia Riebe.