Today is Earth Day. And yesterday, our founder, Jay Lehman turned 86 years young. It’s fitting that Jay’s birthday neighbors a holiday dedicated to caring for the earth. Because Jay has spent decades – literally – planting thousands of trees – literally – around our store in Kidron, Ohio, our office and warehouse building, and his home. It’s a “hobby” he’s passed on to son Galen (Lehman’s President) and grandson Matthew as well. And what a legacy it is – read on…
Fun Facts about Jay, Galen and TREES:
As of Spring 2014 (last year) Jay and Galen estimated they had planted about 50,000 trees.
They plant nearly all hardwoods – a mix of walnut, oak, cherry and sugar maple. This should allow a sustainable harvest of quality hardwood over the next 100 years.
Galen says: “200 years ago, when the first settlers arrived here, the land was covered with hardwood trees. It is said that you could walk from one side of Ohio to the other without seeing the sky. … I suppose Dad and I are just trying to put things back the way we found them. Most of the trees back then were chestnuts. Some of the beams in the oldest parts of our store, reconstructed from barns and cabins dating to the early 1800’s, are made of chestnut. A few lonely chestnut trees still stand near our our Kidron store. Somehow, they survived the blight that nearly wiped out the American Chestnut back in the 1950’s.”
Read more about Jay, Galen and planting trees here:
https://www.lehmans.com/blog/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed/
https://www.lehmans.com/blog/the-trees/
Happy Earth Day!
