We Live Here
Edmister Farms
O Tannenbaum
EDMISTER FARMS
Words by | TAYLOR SIX
12Madison Magazine April-May 2020
Having been raised on a farm throughout his life , Richmond resident Skye Edmister has helped cultivate next to everything — including diary , livestock and grain .
Now he , and his wife , Hannah , along with their five children , are dipping their toes into a new agricultural niche with the Edmister Tree Farm in Richmond , selling Christmas trees .
For Edmister , having a tree farm had always been a dream of his as he has a deep love of Christmas . That love was instilled in him by his own mother .
“ I have always been a huge Christmas fan ,” he said on his five-acre farm . “ My mom kind of bred that into me .”
And unlike others who typically use a fake tree , Edmister has only celebrated with real fir trees , which contributed to his passion for a tree farm .
Even in college , he said , one of his projects was to pick a business , research it , and create a business plan .
“ I picked a Christmas tree farm ,” he said . “ As I researched it , I thought , ‘ I would love to do this .’”
Flash forward to 2015 , Edmister and his then family-of-five , moved to Richmond and were looking for a tree of their own to celebrate Christmas .
They found themselves at Baldwin Farms off Tates Creek Road , and in conversations with owner Margery Baldwin , Edmister again spoke up about his dream of owning his own tree farm .
“ She said ‘ Whenever you decide to start , come to me and I will tell you everything I know .’ She gave me a list of her suppliers and everything ,” Edmister recalled .
In the years that followed , the family returned for trees until Edmister heard the news Baldwin Farms would be in their last year of tree sales .
So , in 2019 , just three weeks before Thanksgiving , Edmister contacted Baldwin to ask if she was not going to sell trees and stated he had the