He ended up instead learning to be a plumber, then transitioning into building houses. He started his own remodeling and home-building company in 1978. As his business grew, Zenor, who had turned 50, saw retirement approaching. He and his wife, Janice, decided it was time to look into a farm. “We more or less said that, if we don’t do it now, I’m going to be way too old to do anything,” he recalls. Piney Acres Farms opened in 1999. Tree farming was unlike anything that Zenor or his family had ever done. He and his wife studied the best varieties of trees to plant, how to care for them and the right time to harvest them. At the same time, they had to learn the best way to market and sell the trees. “The only thing I knew was to put the green side up,” Zenor says. “Today, it sounds really risky, but I’ve got a knack of doing things the right way.” After three or four years, Piney Acres Farm was selling enough trees to expand its planting. The staff also put in a corn maze and play area, opening in the autumn to serve both as an additional source of income and a boost to their tree sales. That focus on agritourism has led to the success of Piney Acres. Zenor and his staff have made a trip to the farm an experience. He wants guests to come out and sip on hot cider while picking out pumpkins. As families head out into the tree field, he wants them singing Christmas carols and huddling around hot chocolate. Making the farm a tourism destination serves as a template on how modern farmers can survive. “You can have 50 or 75 acres and make a living,” he says. “You have to do something different, and the agritourism makes it different.” The work can be hard. Cutting the grass and weeds around the trees, caring for new saplings to replace the ones cut down each year, and planting the corn PhotoS Provided by Piney Acres farm
Piney Acres Farm that will make the maze keeps Zenor and his team busy throughout the year. But every time the holiday season rolls around, he sees how the work he puts in makes visitors to his farm happy. And he thinks back to the moment when he was an 8-year-old kid with a dream to be a farmer. “If I can inspire one kid in my lifetime to be a tree farmer, or a farmer, then I will have succeeded,” he says.
Where: 1115 E. Road 1000N, Fortville Christmas season hours: Noon to 8 p.m. Sundays through Fridays; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays through Dec. 24. You-cut available daily until 6 p.m., pre-cut lot available daily until 8 p.m. Information: pineyacresfarm. com or (317) 326-1700
Farm Indiana // december 2016
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