HANSVILLE — After 40 years, Big Maple Tree Farm is closing.

Owners Don and Suzanne Sandall, 90 and 80 years old respectively, say they’re too old to continue maintaining the property.

“After trimming trees for 40 years it’s getting kind of old,” Don said. “I’m 90 years old now … it just got to be too much.”

Don and Suzanne bought the 20-acre property in 1975, but they weren’t sure what to do with it. They turned to county extension agent and he suggested a tree farm. So, they allotted 7 acres to Christmas trees.

“It was not a calculated thing,” Don said.

They started selling only Douglas fir and pine, but eventually broadened their selection to Norway spruce, grand, noble and Nordmann firs, among others.

Don said the noble and grand firs became the most popular.

“They’re a prettier looking tree and their branches are firmer to hold ornaments,” Don said.

They live in Edmonds and operated the farm part-time. Don worked as a dentist for 35 years and Suzanne was a stay-at-home mother and a part-time ski instructor for 30 years. They’ve been married for 59 years.

“It’s hard to say goodbye to it, but it’s just something that has to go,” Suzanne said.

Suzanne said their goal with the farm was to work outside and do something with the environment. The physical nature of the job — the planting, the shearing, the mowing — kept them in good health.

“It keeps us in shape and we love being outdoors,” Suzanne said. “That part we’ll really miss.”

When asked if he’ll miss the work, Don said simply “no.” But both he and Suzanne said they’ll miss the customers.

“We’ll certainly miss the people,” Don said. “We’ve seen several generations come and go.”

Suzanne added, “We watched them grow up from being little toddlers to graduating college.”

At its peak, the farm drew about 500 customers, but in recent years it’s had about half as many.

“It’s just not a money-making thing unless you go really big and we were never inclined to do that,” Suzanne said. The farm was very much a mom and pop operation, Suzanne said. They have four kids and six grandkids helped out every season, which they count as their favorite memory.

“I suppose the favorite memory would be working the holiday season with the sales with our grandkids,” Don said.

Perhaps not her favorite memory, but one that stands out for Suzanne, happened about five

years after they opened.

A couple from Seattle came to pick out a tree. They were repeat customers and drove an old pickup truck, Suzanne said.

While they walked about the property, they left their two dogs inside the cab of the truck. Soon, the dogs began to fight. As they did, one of them released the parking brake and the truck rolled into a ditch, Suzanne said.

The dogs were OK, but when the couple returned the following year, they did so in a brand new truck, Suzanne said. The dogs stayed home.

“It was very comical,” Suzanne said.

The farmhouse on the property that once belonged to the original homesteaders will be used by two of their grandkids as an art studio.

“They saw the house and thought they could make a work studio,” Don said.

They’re hoping to turn the rest of the property into a nature preserve, Suzanne said.

Although they’re leaving the farm behind, Don and Suzanne aren’t slowing down. In January, they’ll join a group of senior citizen skiers in Sun Valley, Idaho called the Ancient Skiers. It’s something they’ve done for years.

Sun Valley, by the way, is where Don and Suzanne first met over 60 years ago.

Big Maple Tree Farm in winter. — Image courtesy of Mimi Poehlman