My dad started his landscaping business about sixteen years ago in a little town called
Quarryville, Pa. It was very difficult for my dad because of his back, in 1988 he had injured his
back. After a few years of recuperation he had collected a good amount of equipment to
sustain his job’s demands. When I was born both my parent’s said I would be such a little farm
boy and they were right I rolled in the grass and played in the fresh cut grass, good times.


When I was five I loved to jump in the mulch and huge grass piles and sliding down the salt
piles in the winter. In the mornings my dad checked his equipment to make sure it worked and
would not break down on him while he was working at his job. The first thing he would always
do was check the hydraulic fluid in the tractor lines, just the smell would wake you up in the
mornings. My favorite thing to watch and even smell was when my dad sharpened the lawn
mower blades, when he was done they looked like they came straight from the store, brand
new. On the weekends my mom and I would wash the trucks and some of the equipment, so to
keep with our appearance to our public image.


At the age of eight I helped out my parents with the family business. I helped mow the
grass at some of the small jobs not with a push mower, with a riding mower, also I spread the
mulch with the smaller tractor and in the winter sat in the truck and controlled the plow with
the remote and sipped hot cocoa with my mom. My other Favorite thing to do was with my
dad and he let me drive the big tractor over to the trailers and scoop up the cut grass and then
dump it in the compost pile and then me and my dad would manage it together.


Then I was twelve, I was getting a allowance and after that my dad was like “lets go open an
account for you” and off we went and after the lady set it up I handed her eight dollars I could
smell them when I handed them over to her. Then after that it just seemed to get harder from
then on because of the drought hitting my dad lost most of his business and so he had to work
harder. Then we moved up to my uncles house and lived there for two years and in those two
years my dad slowly started to sell some of his equipment and so the only equipment we have
now is seed and salt spreaders and rakes, shovels and some pesticide sprayer’s. I am now
almost eighteen years old and my pop went through a lot more back surgery’s, 3 more since the
one in 88, my dad and I are doing some landscape jobs but not like in his hay day . My dad is my
hero because of how the world says look at you your feeble and cant do any thing with your
back like that, and all he says is watch me. The family business will come back you can count on
that.