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Wife and Children

How did Jeff meet his wife Leslie? “I stopped at Bennigan’s up near Duluth for a beer with some friends, and this young lady came over to me and said, ‘You are the best looking guy in this whole restaurant.’ We started talking and there you have it.”

Continued Jeff without prompting, “That was 23 years ago.”

Jeff and Leslie have four beautiful daughters -- Michaela, Brooke and Annette (twins), and Bobbi Lee. One of the daughters dialed her dad as this interview for the Gazette was drawing to a close and she was excited about the upcoming family gathering planned for that evening. Jeff and Leslie had just returned from a couple weeks at a winter getaway vacation to Arizona. The speaker phone was not turned on, but the normal volume must have been set high. At the end of the short conversation, the daughter said, “Love you, Dad.” Jeff’s reply: “Love you, too.” The family lives in Victoria.

Over 50 Years Ago

It happened over 50 years ago that Jeff was born at St. Francis Hospital in Shakopee. “My parents were living in a trailer next to the Billy Aretz home down by the tracks,” said Jeff. “You know that little road across from the Victoria House? Well, there were little homes along Stieger Lake there, and that’s where Mom and Dad lived after they got married. I think there were a couple trailers parked over there.”

“Then they moved their trailer up to the Batzli farm on 78th Street,” said Jeff. “Mr. Batzli gave my dad a little spot for the trailer and Dad came to buy the land and he built our house where Jack Barckhoff lives today, across from that barn. Then he bought part of Matt Kerber’s farm and built homes and turned it into the Hartwood neighborhood. After that is when my parents moved to Bavaria Road and we got into the Tree Farm business.”

Again, Jeff recalls the words of his father. “You’ve got to work to maintain this farm whether it’s got trees or donkeys on it!” The place didn’t come fixed up as it is today, said Jeff, and it didn’t come with trees or donkeys. It came with older buildings that housed farm animals, and there may have been cows on the place when that first batch of trees was planted by the DNR. Hartmans tore down the old structures and constructed buildings that would be suitable for the Hartman Tree Farm.

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Thank you, Jeff, for all that you do, and have done, to help improve the Victoria community. Congratulations on celebrating over 35 years in business. Continued success to you and yours.