After 57 years, Ryes to retire

For several years, Darlene Rye has been urging her husband Rodney to take a step or two back from working like a man half his age.
Finally, her words got through.
After operating Rye’s Nursery for the past 57 years, Rodney and Darlene have decided to have their landscaping machinery, boom trucks, all the shrubs and potted trees and much more auctioned off this month.
The Ryes will continue to live on the 135-acre property, but are hoping someone will purchase the nursery and equipment and run the business from the same location it is now between Taunton and Porter along Highway 68.
“I’m keeping the stump grinder and tree spade,” said Rodney, who soon turns 83. “I’ll still grind stumps and move some trees, but that’s about it.”
Rodney admits that it’s hard to completely let go of a business he’s been involved in for so long.
“Last year, Rodney’s hip was so bad that he practically had to crawl around to get anything done,” Darlene said. “But he was bound and determined to get the work done.”
“He’s doing much better now that he has a new hip, but I don’t want to be stuck with all this mess if something were to happen to him. It’s just getting to be too much. I’ve been trying to tell him that for a few years now.”
Rodney then interjects by telling his wife how he is able to run again now.
“I had a customer here that forgot something and I had to run across the yard to catch them,” he tells her.
“The hip feels really good now.”
Darlene just shakes her head and rolls her eyes.
The Ryes have been married for over 60 years, yet still laugh at each other’s comments and tease each other like two teenagers in love.
“I couldn’t have done this for so long without her,” Rodney insists. “She keeps everything together and organized here.”The scenery on the property drive on the road leading up to their home and nursery feels like you’re on a scenic tour. Outdoor décor is laid out expertly in various scenes that include benches, ponds, trees, manicured shrubbery, rocks, bird feeders, animal statues and much more.
“That’s all her,” said Rodney, nudging his wife. “She would have made an excellent interior decorator. She just has a knack for things like that.”
Darlene is soft spoken and somewhat shy, while Rodney is outgoing and has the disposition of a human perpetual motion machine.
“He never stops working,” Darlene laughs. “That’s why it’s been so hard for me to get him to slow down.”
Rodney also enjoys woodworking, taking raw wood from the trees he cuts down or removes from customers and bringing it back to the nursery where he planes it down and then utilizes the pieces.
“I make whatever (Darlene) asks me to make for her,” Rodney remarks. “I make furniture, shelves and things like that.”
Soon the Ryes will have more time for other things they’ve grown to love such as going on a cruise.
“We’ve been on about eight now,” Darlene says. “We want to go on a cruise to Alaska sometime. We’ve never been there.”
And they will have more time to spend with their two daughters, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Early farm life
Rodney and Darlene both grew up on farms. Rodney lived in rural Porter and went to school in Canby, while Darlene lived in rural Ghent and attended school in Minneota.
When Rodney was 14 years old, his father passed away, leaving him with more responsibilities on the farm. That additional work on the farm is likely what led to his current relentless work habits.
“A friend of mine said that since I’m always looking for something to do, why not cut and trim trees,” Rodney explained. “So I bought my first chainsaw when I was 18 years old from Sears and Roebuck for $134.”
When the mailman delivered the chainsaw, Rodney’s uncertainty of whether or not his new profession would bring any business was soon eased.
“The mailman saw that I was getting a chainsaw and he said he had a tree for me to cut if I was interested,” Rodney laughed. “That’s basically how I got my start cutting trees.”
Rodney and Darlene were first introduced to one another by relatives and eventually married in Sept. of 1957.
“It’s been love ever since,” Rodney says with a laugh.
“I don’t know about that,” Darlene responds while flashing a smile.
They bought their current property soon after they were married and farmed the land for four years before starting the nursery.
The house they currently live in had no running water when they first bought it.
“We had to get water out of a well and we had an outhouse out back,” he noted. “We had two daughters and not much money then.”
“We worked three farms,” said Rodney. “Darlene would work the soil ahead of me in a tractor and I would follow behind and plant. We didn’t have money for a hired hand.”

The nursery is born
In the late 60s, Dutch Elm disease was in its infant stages of ravaging trees. Samples would be taken from trees that were suspected of having the crippling disease and sent to the University of Minneota laboratories to be analyzed.
Rodney was still cutting trees while working the three farms, and because of his knowledge and experience, was asked to take a sample from a tree in Minneota to be examined and analyzed.
“That was in August of 1968,” Rodney recalls. “That tree that I took a sample from was the first tree diagnosed with Dutch Elm disease in Lyon County.”
After Rodney cut down the diseased tree, he was asked if he had another tree to replace it.
“That’s what prompted us to start the nursery,” Darlene spoke. “Whenever Rodney would take out a tree, someone would ask if we had a tree to replace it.”
The Ryes purchased a spade truck in 1974, the same year Rodney obtained his nurseryman’s license.
“We started planting trees in 1975,” he noted. “And when people would come on the property to purchase a tree, they would ask if we had any shrubs. So we started selling shrubs. And then we added perennials and vegetables and lot of other things. We even had a gift store at one time.”
The nursery currently has 40 acres of trees, including ash, locust, flowering crab and maple.
While Rodney is out moving trees, cutting, or doing landscape work, Darlene is taking orders and doing the bookwork.
They also currently have three other employees.
Auction set for June 22
An auction is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on June 22, run by the Steffes Group.
Included in the auction is: Tractors and attachments, landscape equipment and supplies, skid loaders and attachments, boom trucks, box trucks, trailers, automobiles and much more.
“It will be sad to see it all being sold,” said Rodney, slowly looking downward. “My philosophy has always been, ‘If you love what you’re doing, you’ll never have to work a day in your life’. And I have always loved doing this.”