Q. What is it like to grow up and then work with your whole family?

A. I wouldn't want to have it any other way. We did not have a company growing up so we brothers built in on our own. That's kind of special. In the family when things come up, we don't always agree. I love it when someone comes up with an issue because that shows me that they care. It shows me they are dedicated to the company. Then we can work on it and come up with a solution. It's easier to pull on a chain than to push it.

Q. What is the most dangerous machine or process in your business?

A. If we do the most conventional type of logging, I'd say using the chainsaw. I would rate working with a chainsaw as the most dangerous, even in terms of all other occupations. That is why we try to stay away from using them at all, because people can get hurt. When you start moving the trees around when you're hand felling, it can create what's called a widow maker -- when a dead limb up high breaks loose and falls -- and it can injure or kill someone. That is why the process of hand-felling trees is so dangerous. But the chainsaw itself is the most dangerous tool because it can have a kick back and you could be severely cut. You have to handle a chainsaw like a loaded gun by always keeping the business end away from you.

Q. What made your father get into the logging business in the first place?

A. Dad was a farmer years ago and when winter came, there wasn't much to do. Sometimes in the winter things were really hard. Our mother would arrange us around the woodstove used for cooking and heating and wrap a big blanket around us. Any time there was any source of food, we would go after it, whether blueberries or raspberries. We went into the fields and picked potatoes by hand. In order to get by, Dad converted the farm trucks into log hauling trucks during winter. After a while he decided to stay in log hauling because farming was declining up here in the County (Aroostook County).