Many of our Christmas time customers - annual friends - like to know what our other interests are. We’re a typical family with full time jobs, volunteer commitments, recreational activities, and active retirements. We love our tree farm, a model green space in the midst of the Twin Cities that we enjoy sharing with you during this wonderful time of year.
David Hansen, 2nd generation, Mark’s brother. Dave is overall supervisor, chief organizer, and CFO too. He’s a greeter and troubleshooter. During the rest of the year he is busy every week after the snow melts: maintaining the irrigation system, planting, controlling weeds, mowing, fertilizing, fixing tractors-implements-buildings, grading roads, pruning trees, scheduling workers, planning improvements, paying bills, doing accounting and taxes... For 40 years he was a photojournalist for the U of M, travelling all continents except Antarctica documenting everything from the Honeycrisp apple to pig sociability to sustainable agriculture to invasive species. He has a cabin on Leech Lake, including a garage he made from Scotch pine logs harvested from Hansen Tree Farm. He and brother Mark also built a log cabin alongside the Kettle River during their college years in the early 1970s. It was the beginning of our love of building with logs.
Mark Hansen, 2nd generation, Dave’s brother. Mark makes all our wreathes and other greenery. He shears the young trees, plants, builds our log structures, plans the long-term management of our forest and harvests mature trees needing thinning. Mark is a research forester, retired from the US Forest Service. With a PhD in forestry, he is our tree expert. He was president of the Minnesota Christmas Tree Association and, previously, on the board of Minnesota Grown. He enjoys cross country bicycling trips, skiing, canoeing and backpacking. He’s been active in Boy Scouts his entire life and is usually on a church commission at St. Anthony Park Lutheran church. He and Brenda have a cabin on Turtle River Lake, north of Bemidji. He and Dave help maintain the three skating rinks in the St. Paul neighborhood where the Hansen families live. Last but not least he enjoys entertaining his three granddaughters; Chloe, Dalila Hazel and grandson Peter.
Mark Hansen
Brenda Hansen, married to Mark. Brenda helps set up and maintain the gift shop while also managing three granddaughters; Chloe, Dalila and Hazel. She was primary day care provider for each before they began their school lives. She is active in St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church and neighborhood activities. Brenda is also treasurer of our favorite non-profit, the Blue House orphanage in Uganda. She enjoys summer weeks at her and Mark’s cabin on Turtle River Lake, near cousins who live nearby.
Trygve Hansen, 3rd generation, Mark and Brenda’s oldest son. Tryg is in charge of the outdoor workers. You’ll find him within sight of the shaking/baling shelter and greeter station. He supervises those who shake, bale and load or tie your tree onto your vehicle. He’s a landscape architect grad from the U of M and plans institutional and commercial projects around the country. He also helps with our long-term planning such as building improvements, evaluating new species, and new management strategies such as drought tolerant grass to smother weeds. He and his wife Jeanne have their hands full with three girls - Chloe, Dalila and Hazel – and he’s very active at St. Anthony Park Elementary School. He plays hockey and often is a coach at our neighborhood rec center.
Jeanne Hansen, married to Tryg. Jeanne takes care of the gift shop; setup, tagging, displays, supplies and the check out and registers. She helps select things we sell, schedules and supervises the inside workers, and keeps the office organized and the barn clean. She is a speech language pathologist at Murray middle school in St. Paul and is active in many St. Anthony Park and church activities. She is mom to Chloe, Dalila and Hazel.
Chloe Hansen, 4th generation, daughter of Tryg and Jeanne. Chloe helps out in the gift shop, at the register, and is also one of our greeters. She does ornament design for our State Fair trees. She’s interested in acting and has performed at the History Theatre in St. Paul.
Dalila Hansen, 4th generation, daughter of Tryg and Jeanne. Dalila is an outdoor, active girl who is the first to volunteer to start the campfire when we arrive each morning and feeds it during the day. She is our most enthusiastic greeter as well as having gift shop responsibilities.
Hazel Hansen, 4th generation, daughter of Tryg and Jeanne. Hazel used to take naps in the break room, but no longer! She helps hand out tree bags as she entertains customers in the gift shop, always close to mom or grandma Brenda.
Per Hansen, 3rd generation, son of Mark and Brenda. Per shakes and bales trees and makes sure they get securely attached to the correct vehicle. He is a structural engineer in Northfield and, together with Kell, installed our drip irrigation system. He helps plan improvements to our buildings, roads, and the irrigation system. He is active in Catholic church activities, especially those related to the American Chesterton Society. He is married to Marie and they have a young boy, Peter
Marie Hansen, married to Per. Marie assists with wreath making and helps set up the gift shop.
Kip Hansen, 3rd generation, son of Mark and Brenda. Kip is in charge of our food and beverage service, available free to all customers. Kip works throughout the year on Hansen Tree Farm activities, including tree planting, shearing and wreath making. He enjoys schmoozing with customers in between putting out batches of our Christmas sausage. He has an MS in communications and helps with our social media and on-line presence. He enjoys the Korean-American community of the Twin Cities.
Britta Hansen, 3rd generation, daughter of David and Karen. Britta coordinates the over 200 photographers who use Hansen Tree Farm for family photo sessions. Britta is the third generation of Hansens to serve on the board of the Minnesota Christmas Tree Association. Britta's career is in international agricultural development. She's had positions with the Peace Corps, UC-Davis and U of M. She is now at Venture37, a nonprofit within Land O'Lakes where she works on development projects around the world. She enjoys biking, canoeing, cross country skiing, home ownership, and involvement in social justice activities in the Twin Cities.
Kell Hansen, 3rd generation, son of David and Karen. Kell lives in British Columbia and is here for our busy Thanksgiving weekend. He works hard shaking, baling and loading trees. He helps with long term management and planning and is a graduate of the University of British Columbia’s wood products program. He started and manages the custom fabrication, laminated beam division of a Squamish, B.C. company. He loves the fishing, hiking, and back country snowboarding that B.C. offers.
Karen Lilley, married to Dave. Besides being mom of Britta and Kell, Karen is patient with all the time Dave spends at the tree farm! Retired from the U of M, she then was president of the board of Blue House orphanage.
IN MEMORY
Henry Hansen and Harry Lindquist, leaning on axe, ready to harvest the first crop of red pine at Hansen Tree Farm in 1957.
Henry Hansen and Harry Lindquist, leaning on axe, ready to harvest the first crop of red pine at Hansen Tree Farm in 1957.
Henry Hansen, 1st generation, 1912-2005. Hansen Tree Farm was Henry’s innovative idea. He marketed the first crop of trees, from 1957 through the 1960s, to tree lots and florists in the Twin Cities. He and Harry also delivered trees directly to homes in the Twin Cities. See our history page for photos.
Charlotte Hansen, 1st generation, 1915-2014. Together with Henry she helped plant the first crop of trees, driving the tractor. She and Henry raised three boys; Trygg, David and Mark.
Trygg Hansen, 2nd generation, oldest son of Henry and Charlotte, 1946-2011. Being the oldest son by 7 years, Trygg and his high school friends spent summers shearing every one of the over 50,000 trees. There were no houses in the area back then and no barn, no well, and no power tools. Working out of a station wagon with canteens of water for refreshment, he and Henry successfully brought the first rotation of trees to market. When we began selling the second crop in the 1980s Trygg jumped back into the family business. He was a newspaper editor and publisher in Wisconsin until his untimely passing in 2011.
Harry Lindquist, let’s call him pre-1st generation! 1888-1989. Harry was Charlotte’s father. When Henry and Charlotte wanted to start Hansen Tree Farm he lent the money to purchase the land in 1951. He soon discovered that he, a butcher in the Camden neighborhood of north Minneapolis, enjoyed helping to plant and shear trees. He loved the outdoors! He was a quiet, thoughtful, and supportive role model to his children and grandchildren. We honor him by serving his Swedish Christmas sausage at our farm.
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