In the Thick of It: My Adventures with Wreath Makers

From Forest to Pines

Fresh out of the Yosemite woods and less than 24 hours later, I’m on a plane headed further north. This time, to the land of pine where all the wreaths come from.

It’s time to meet our wreath makers and strategize. The season is upon us!

I’m all for remote work. I love propping up a laptop and connecting digitally—like right now in a hotel room. It means freedom to roam and build wherever I want. That’s how we’ve built this business so far.

We’ve all shifted heavily in this direction. But I like connecting in person. I need to connect in person. Hence my mission with The Social Coyote, of getting the pack out of our dens and into the community. To be in the same room, to share energy, and to feed off of each other. It’s more than important.

I needed to connect more closely with our wreath maker. But I was not prepared for how much I would learn.

30 Calls and No FaceTime

I'd spoken to our wreath artist (cool if I call him that?) 25 or maybe 30 times on the phone. He means business and moves quickly; some calls last just seconds, while others we delve a bit deeper. I’d never seen him in person, and I only have an image of what he might look like. Time to put a face to the name, and share mine as well.

So long, San Diego 👋

This Town is Known for Two Things

I arrive in a small town in Washington known for two things: lumber and wreaths. About 6-7,000 people live here, giving it a quaint small-town vibe.

When I get to our wreath artist's shop, tucked into the woods, they’re moving fast. Loading and unloading greenery—pine, cedar, huckleberry. Teams are making wreaths, sorting greenery into bundles, and the place smells fantastic. It’s like fresh pine multiplied by a thousand. I can’t get enough of this!

Our maker says, “I don’t smell it anymore.”

Looks like I’m the green one here.

An Unexpected Delivery

He started to show me around when suddenly a pickup truck pulls in. "One second," he says, "I’ve got to take this delivery." A forklift drops a pallet on a giant scale as they weigh bundles of pine.

I’ve been calling this a farm. It feels like one, but this isn't really how it all works.

There’s an entire economy supporting this industry. Pickup trucks arrive frequently to unload trimmings, which are then weighed and paid for based on quality.

None of these folks work for the farm, but they have small side hustles pruning branches in the forest and selling what they collect. Permits are required, and you either need to pay for one or know someone to prune.

This is a sustainable job when done correctly because the trees grow new boughs the next season. It’s a necessary job in some cases if branches grow towards infrastructure.

Then Russ Pulls In

He’s retired, 75 years old, moving great, and has a few hobbies. Hunting for red huckleberry and harvesting mushrooms both supplement his income. He’s a retired roofer who spent 30 years in Alaska—a tough career, spending about half the time (maybe less) working for weekly paychecks repairing roofs and the other half of the year on unemployment.

In Alaska, he'd earn a weekly rate and head back to his 35-foot boat at night. He said that when he was hungry, he’d pull up one of the two king crab pots he had near the boat. What a life!

Now, he stays young walking in the woods and collecting red huckleberry to sell to wreath makers. "It’s getting redder but not quite there yet," he says. "We need some colder weather." I shiver in my hoodie, jacket, and wool socks, thinking about it being even colder. He’s in a T-shirt.

Russ was one of five or ten trimmers dropping off greenery that day. Each is paid for their collection, and there is a bit of quality control required to ensure quality. But it sounds like our wreath maker knows the tricks well and the “family” of trimmers.

Russ specifically mentioned that he trims near a run of power lines that needs to be pruned back. Next season it will all grow back.

This is so fascinating.

I Met the Family

This is a family business, largely thriving on wholesale. I spent time with his son, who's 16 and quickly impressed me with his forklift skills. My skills are rusty, and I didn’t ask for a turn, but I wanted one.

Our maker’s daughter is in charge of logistics. She's torn between learning about business in a thriving enterprise and working for her father. She’s quite sharp.

There’s something to be said about learning while doing. It might not be easy at a young age to appreciate this, but these lessons will become invaluable later on. She intends to start her own business someday, and the lessons here are more valuable than business school.

I’m dreaming of my daughter teaming up with me on a project when she gets older.

Then There’s the Other Thing About This Town

The next morning, over breakfast, our conversation naturally drifted towards the intricacies of the wreath business. Then the table gets quiet. Our wreath maker looks around nervously. He says, "We don’t talk about wreaths out loud, there are spies all around." I thought he was kidding at first, but there’s a large maker in town that doesn’t play nice with others.

This is a very interesting vibe! An energy I wasn’t expecting at all. How thrilling.

Our conversations leave out the word "wreath," and we don’t speak of the other business. It’s like Harry Potter, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." It adds a layer to the adventure, a feeling of being inside the lion's den. You never know who’s listening. They employ many in town and they have eyes and ears all around.

This is an element I did not anticipate!

From now on I’m in town to visit family, wreaths? What’s that?

A Thing of Beauty

We wanted to take some photos in the woods and asked for one of each of our wreaths.

The quality is fabulous. Sorry to disappoint those who might have thought I was making these in my garage. Also, thank you for thinking I had such skills. That means a lot.

There is such pride in this craft and such care going into each wreath. It’s something I might not have fully grasped had we set up the relationship virtually and I had not come to smell the pine.

I regret to inform you that they wouldn’t let me slow down the operation to make a wreath.

A Major Takeaway for Me

It’s hard to match being somewhere in person, asking questions, and trying to understand the process.

I’m employing the "5 Whys" technique that my 3-year-old daughter taught me. Why do you use this and not that greenery? Why is it done this way? Why do the leaves need cold weather to turn red? Why do we not talk about “the other brand”?

It’s possible to build a business by nailing all the fundamentals or taking a class, but for me, there’s something about building a connection and trying to go a little deeper along the way. This might be especially true for a physical product, but I’d imagine it’s necessary for anyone collaborating with others.

Another thing—I now understand intimately why I couldn’t store 10,000 boxes on site. The short answer, it’s complicated.

Only Time Will Tell

Only time will tell if we can handle the volume.

We’re potentially the largest partner for this family business. Cracks will form, and processes will break.

But I’m hoping that my time spent up here will add better understanding for me and provide context for how I can better team up with this family business.

Their work is fantastic, and I’m going to miss the smell of pine. When my wreath arrives in San Diego, it will carry a whole new meaning, now that I understand the work that went into it—from the trimmers to the makers to the family building a business in the lion's den.

‘Tis the season!

Wreath.co is open for business.

🎄 Days until Christmas: 46
✅ Site is live
📦 Boxes on the way
✉️ Test orders sent
🛬 In person visit complete
🪧 Open for business