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About E~Clan Shearing

The following article was authored by me, Trent Johnson and was published April 2005 by the Wisconsin Christmas Tree Producers Quarterly Journal.

E~Clan Shearing dates back to 1999. It started 5 years after I started swinging knives for my Dad's tree farm at the age of 13; perhaps you could say it was in my blood. Eventually Evergreen was sold and the new buyer inevitably needed his trees sheared, thus I formed the E~Clan, which has evolved into one of the largest shearing crews in the Midwest!

One of the first questions I usually receive is what the name stands for. As the story goes the E~Clan was derived from the spirits of the field. My old shearing boss at Evergreen Inc. had his select "Elite" group, which I managed to be initiated into after two years of shearing. My boss often sent this group to get a field or block done in a time of need or expertise. Then Evergreen was sold and I seized the opportunity to become a young entrepreneur. Heading off to college I needed a summer job and I decided to take on Evergreen's shearing. I hired some of my fellow Elite Coworkers, resulting in the formation of the sole proprietorship known as E~Clan Shearing!

Along with shearing over the past years, I also graduated from college at St. John's University. During these years I broadened myself with many college experiences. I engaged myself in lessons of the academics, received a scholarship for being The Minnesota Collegiate Entrepreneur of 2001, broadened my horizons while studying abroad, as well as shearing trees, in Australia, and managed to become the captain of SJU Rugby team. After graduating college with a degree in management and economics I returned home again to shear trees; after the season I packed up my back pack and followed the travel bug that had grown inside me. I adventured thru six of the seven continents for eight months until it was time to return back to my roots, shearing trees.

2010 will be E~Clan's 12 Season of shearing. Through these years this unique business has grown in size and still continues to grow on me. E~Clan Started with a crew of 7, so for those that have sheared understands our crew size only averaged 4 people on a given day – from this its grown to an incorporated team of over 25 strong who shear for over 70 growers through out Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. I use the word team with emphasis because that's what E~Clan has evolved into, as many of you would agree shearing isn't the easiest or perhaps most glamorous job around. Despite the demanding variables that shearing requires one to endure; our crew carries morale of a team that battles through the toughest days with jokes, stories, music and plain old hard work. For many of my employees shearing was their first job. Many of these young adults hadn't been a part of a team before and a decent percentage hadn't ever had responsibility on their shoulders, but after shearing with the E~Clan these new members have experienced all of these things and more.

I believe these experiences of being part of a team and having responsibility are some of the contributing factors to a relatively high return rate of crew members year after year. This is an important reason why E~Clan offers a quality job at a very competitive price. For me it's been inspiring, fulfilling, and educational over the years to observe and be an influence in these young adults' lives, while providing one of the many services of preparing a Christmas tree to be received into a family's home.

References

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Associations

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Minnesota Grown

Minnesota Christmas Tree Association

Minnesota Christmas
Tree Association

Wisconsin Christmas tree producers Association

Wisconsin Christmas
Tree Producers Association


Contact Information

I'm always open to new jobs & projects, so don't hesitate to contact me with any questions. Please use the below contact information to reach me or visit one of E~Clan's other Divisions of business with the Below links

ECI Tree Services: Ball and Burlapp Landscape Trees. Now merged with B&J Evergreen!
E~Clan Shearing: Custom Christmas Tree Shearing
B & J Trees: Christmas Tree Retail Lots & Wholesale Trees

Trent Johnson
Address: 11261 42nd Street, Clear Lake, MN 55319 (click for map)
Email: trent@ECITreeServices.com or EclanShearing@yahoo.com
Phone: 320.267.3350
Fax 320.743.4998