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John Grosman: It's hard to believe we planted that tree.
Narrator: In the spring of 1970,
John and Kate Grosman planted a few rows of red pine
in honor of their newborn son, Christopher.
- I borrowed my dad's farm tractor
and we furrowed it and did the planting that way.
- Two years later, they planted more red pine
for their second son, Andrew.
- We thought it was neat to just start this new life
parallel to these new lives otherwise starting.
- John was a forester
and the trees contained a metaphor for life.
- The trees that will succeed on this piece of property
will adapt to the place that they're plugged in to grow.
There are parallels to kids and young adults growing
and finding their way in the world.
- The trees that were barely visible
in the first few pictures
eventually grew taller than the boys.
- [Kate Grosman] You probably measure your kids' height
on a wall...
- On a stud wall in the basement.
- ...somewhere. Same concept.
Only it's the trees and their growth.
- Over time, the boys grew up
and started families of their own.
- Then the grandchildren started coming
so we began planting for them.
- Each new grandchild has their own species.
- Classically, we plant about 50,
so it is a community.
- John says the factors that determine
whether a tree or a child thrives in their environment
are the same.
- You create an environment for them, hopefully,
to come to be independent and move off into the world.
- Anna is 14 and her white spruce are well established.
- They're off and on their own.
Here's Sophia's trees.
- Sophia's larch are much younger
and still need a lot of nurturing.
- See the ones that are under shade aren't as tall.
Okay?
And some of the lesson in that
is you will grow differently than the people you grow with.
- Parker's red oaks need cages
to protect them from wild animals.
- When we planted this tree, you were about this high
and it was about this high.
- Zoey's sugar maples are next to her big sister Anna's trees,
and when Lily arrived this spring,
they had literally come full circle.
- It was in the shade of Dad's trees
and his trees were in need of thinning.
- So now there are a few stumps among Christopher's trees,
allowing light to shine on his daughter Lily's white oaks.
- This one was harder for me because you planted it.
So now, to have to cut it,
which I know that's the healthy evolution of the forest.
You go, "Really?"
- That is part of the deal and lesson too.
I mean we are all here for a moment in time.
- Finite period of time.
- The reminders of life and death are present in the trees.
Not far from the other grandkids' trees
are some red oaks that are growing tall all by themselves.
- We had a little granddaughter that was born preemie
and passed shortly after birth.
Emma would have been about 12 by now.
It's a reminder that she's thought of.
There's a little bit of wild rose
and a few forget-me-nots spudded in here too.
- Emma isn't the only family member
whose presence lingers over these acres.
- That's old Mike.
- John's grandfather, Mike Grosman, was Polish
and emigrated around the turn of the century.
He made his way to northern Wisconsin
and bought land outside Sugar Camp.
- It was very much a cutover scene that they cleared then
and made, over time, made a dairy farm in the early 1900s.
- In a century it went from forest to farm
and now back to forest.
- These trees are here for a moment in time.
They live longer than we do
and you have the sense that they live eternally
but, in fact, they're transitory just like we are.
- The one constant has been the Grosman family,
best represented
by this Polish phrase on the outside of the cabin.
- Grosman od roku 1904 jeszcze jesc naszc,
which says, "Grosman since 1904 and still ours."
- John and Kate hope their grandkids will eventually
feel the same connection to this land as they do.
- There's a sense of pride and belonging
and that's important. - Yeah.
- It's a retreat...
...as much as anything.
We work hard there, but it's a relaxing experience
because we're investing in something bigger than us.
- The land is not something that belongs to you.
You belong to it, okay.
And to the extent that that thought can be captured
in what we hand off to these kids and their trees,
I think that's a neat thing.
This is video, you know?
- Oh, okay. [All laugh]
- We're moving.
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