By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published January 14, 2005
On his tree farm in Odessa, Todd Payne grows what are known as woody ornamentals: live oak, laurel oak, magnolias, red maple, red cedar, sycamore, sweet gum and bald cypress.
You can see his trees in new developments around Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. About 90 percent of his sales are commercial. The other 10 percent are typically walk-in customers who spot the business, Arborgate Farms, from Tarpon Springs Road in rural Hillsborough County.
The drive alone is worth it.
"It's an area of lakes - clear, clear lakes - and natural pastureland," Todd says "And, of course, a lot of development coming in."
The trees grow in rows on 27 acres, a short walk from the small home with green shutters he shares with his wife, Ruth Elizabeth, and his five children, ages 6 to 14.
Some days, at lunchtime, he sits on one of the wooden rockers on the front porch of the building that houses the farm office and classrooms where his wife homeschools the kids.
They'll have sandwiches and homemade lemonade and oranges picked from one of the trees Todd planted.
"So many people who come out here to visit me say how peaceful it is," says Todd, 41, a certified arborist.
The farm backs up to 1,600 acres of cattle grazing land, beautiful pasture and a head of cypress so tall it looks as if it's in silhouette against the winter sky.
Some mornings, Todd sees the sunrise as he walks from house to office.
From the windows of the schoolroom, his children see coyote, deer and wild turkey.
"Once we saw a hawk holding a fish as it flew by," says Aaron, 10. "It was really cool."
The Paynes have lived at Arborgate since 1993, when Todd first came to the farm to work. He later bought the business.
They know how lucky they are. As development encroaches, raising a large family on a farm, especially in Tampa, seems almost unreal.
"I'm very thankful we're able to have the kids here," Ruth Elizabeth says as she stands in a classroom where pictures of planets adorn the walls. The children, who have been studying all morning, gather around as she talks about the flexibility the lifestyle affords, about their passes to MOSI and how they can use them when they feel like it.
"It's definitely not a hectic life," she says. "It's nice to know the kids can walk back and forth between the school and the house and feel safe."
The Paynes, evangelical Christians, attend Idlewild Baptist Church. They are devout and unwavering in their faith. Todd doesn't believe in coincidence or luck, but rather God's plan for his life, one that landed him on a tree farm in Odessa "on this beautiful day in Florida."
He keeps a Bible on the passenger seat of his red Ford pickup truck, and on a drive around the farm, he points out the divine poetry of the place: a cluster of beehives, a row of trees where he sees a small deer run, the crepe myrtle he's growing, a new variety that "get deep red leaves, the most beautiful red you've ever seen."
Despite the innate beauty, a tree farm isn't an easy way to make a living. Weather isn't always merciful. Hurricanes and winter winds can uproot his trees in the blink of an eye. Competition for business is stiff, he says.
He employs just three part-time workers - all friends - doesn't deal in credit and will deliver a tree to a retail customer's house, depending on where he or she lives.
"I'm kind of like the corner grocer, the neighborhood hardware store," Todd explains. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep a customer satisfied and saying, "He gave it to me for a great price and did a good job.' "
A small business, a simple life, one that braids the rhythms of work and family. Raising his kids on a farm, he notes, teaches them the narrative of nature. They eat honey from their hives, squeeze their own lemons, walk beneath crisp starry skies undiluted by city lights.
Skin a deer, he says, learn this lesson: "That things in life aren't always pleasant, but are sometimes necessary."
The other night they built a campfire in a field in front of the house and cooked hot dogs and s'mores.
"Imagine doing that in the middle of the city!" Todd says, almost astonished at the thought.
What came afterward was even better.
"With a family so big, we have enough kids for our own little softball game."
For more information on Arborgate Farms, call (813) 920-8325.
