Oiva & Aune Ylönen Hibbing 2007

5th Finglish trip July 2007 #17

In 1990 Oiva and Aune Ylönen bought an old Suomi dairy farm (now Norwood Tree Farm) in Hibbing Minnesota to grow Christmas trees. Or so they planned, all 48000 hand-planted trees grew too tall and they had to be used as sawn timber and for landscaping.

Oiva is a retired acoustics engineer, he has worked with aircraft industry. Aune has worked in a high school kitchen. She was born in Hankasalmi Finland. Oiva moved with his family from Finland to USA in 1946 when he was 14 years old. He was born in Mikkeli Finland. First they lived in Bronx, NYC and after two years his parents bought a chicken farm in Rhode Island. They both have an interest in folk dance.

Next Eila Iivonen Virginia Minnesota USA

#Hibbing #NorwoodTreeFarm #Hankasalmi #Mikkeli #Bronx #NYC #RhodeIsland