Jacob Ackerman

Owner, Climber

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Some people have been answering that question the same way ever since they were little, always confident that one day their dreams would become a reality. I feel like every year I was asked my answer would change, sometimes slightly, but more often my choice would leave you pondering the bizarre train of thought that lead me to that career. Every boy wants to be like his dad, so for a while maybe I wanted to be a carpenter, but then next I was shadowing a vet, thinking about cutting animals open for a living. No matter what career I was pursuing, there was always a few constants in my mind that guided me to where I am today.

I had adventurers and outdoorsmen on both sides of my family, bestowing into me a love of nature. Some of my fondest memories are of camping beneath the Ponderosa Pines in the black hills, playing in the Red Pines at my grandparents, or being on the water of a lake lined with beautiful Ash. This love of the outdoors leads me to a strong passion for off-roading. Anything we could take outside and ride around was great, but it seems (at least for me) that there was always something to fix after a day of playing in the mud. As I began to turn wrenches I found a particular knack for fixing motors, enjoying the process of diagnosing and replacing what I had broken. I dove into a world of wrenching and went to college in Bemidji for Automotive Repair and High-Performance Fabrication. You can think that you are conquering the outdoors, riding dirt bikes, and driving trucks down forest roads, but those tall White Pines continued to push their roots deep into who I am, forever leaving an imprint on my personality.

After a stint in Colorado, where the alpine spruce left both marks on my heart and my snowmobile, I returned to the Willmar area. My incredible wife Lisa and I married in June, saying our vows underneath 2 beautiful Cottonwood trees. The trees were in full bloom, covering the ground with white fluff, resembling a summer snowfall.

We purchased our farm, and come spring started to explore the trees that surrounded us. Towering Elms, overreaching Silver Maples, and one of the largest Cottonwoods in the state were now our neighbors. So began my interest in trees specifically, not just the outdoors. As I learned more about each tree on our property, identifying the trees in the woods where we rode became an obsession. Why is that tree there, what happened to that branch, what are these mushrooms? It was similar to what I enjoyed about wrenching, except it was combined with my love of the outdoors! As I tend to do, I fell in head first, reading books and learning more about the trees around me.

Nowadays my favorite activity is hiking with our little one, showing him all the trees I love, explaining the differences, and teaching him how to identify each one. He may have no idea what I am talking about, but he giggles every time I push him through a branch with leaves, so that is enough for me. After all these years of wondering what I want to be when I grow up, I finally figured it out. I want to be a good dad when I grow up, raising my son to be a strong man with the same passion for trees that I have found.

Lisa Ackerman

If you would have asked me when I was growing up what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would have told you I'm going to be a veterinarian. I was one of the people Jacob talks about who has always known what they wanted to be since they were three years old. Little did I know I was going to follow my dad and grandpa's footprints a little closer than I would have probably liked.

After graduating high school I took a year off and tried to figure out what I was going to do with my life since I had decided for the first time in my life I wasn't going to be a vet. So after a year of working full-time, Jacob and I both headed to Bemidji for college. I graduated from Northwest Technical college with a business management and entrepreneurship, as well as a business foundations degree. This lead me into the banking industry, which is where the following a little too close in my dad and grandpa's footprints comes in, considering grandpa once owned a bank and my dad still works at one.

I worked in the banking industry in Bemidji after college, and after marrying Jacob and moving back to the Maynard area I continued to work in the banking industry for an additional five years. It was in 2022 that I quit working at the bank to stay home with our little boy. As a stay-at-home mom, I am also in charge of the bookkeeping for the business, I guess using some of my college degrees is good.

I never thought I would get so invested in trees. I have always enjoyed the outdoors, whether that is on a hike or at the lake there is something peaceful about it. Now here I am looking at trees whenever we go somewhere asking questions and saying things like "Oh, that tree needs some help!" I also would have never guessed I would be sniffing a tree either, tree huggers I tell ya! If you sniff a ponderosa pine tree it smells like butterscotch! Do worry I thought Jacob was playing a joke on me the first time he told me that too.

Now you may be wondering, how does someone so set on being a vet even at the age of three go into business and then a stay-at-home mom? Well, she has WAY too many indoor pets and not enough outdoor pets. We have two dogs and four cats indoors, and one cat and twenty-six chickens outside. I couldn't have imagined my life any better, between the animals, Jacob, and our son, I'd say life is pretty great.

I hope that this little blurb about my life shows you a little bit about who Big Bark Tree Taming is. We are a small-town business just trying to make a difference in the communities around us. We are committed to helping you with your trees so you and future generations can enjoy them.

Owner, Bookkeeper