If you’re looking for Trish LaPlatney Clark, above with one of her two Wire Haired Pointing Griffons, she might be in her office at Can-Am Trading & Logistics, LLC  which she co-owns with her husband Andy Clark. Or she might be at the log yard scaling wood that is coming in from all over CT. Or she might be cruising a woodlot with Andy and helping to mark trees for a sustainable harvest.

Trish never expected to be where she is now. “It’s really a funny story. I dated into it,” she explains. Her date back then was Clark. He was launching a new division of his already existing business, Limb-It-Less Logging. Trish, who had previously run a small business, had been doing bookkeeping since she was 18. But she also loves the woods, having grown up on family acreage in Ivoryton. So naturally with her love of the woods and her knowledge of running small businesses, they came to the conclusion that they would make great business partners and life partners.

“Originally I was going to do the office work. Then Andy asked me to help in the yard – and I never left!” she said adding, “I like it. The guys are so nice. I’ve always been willing to admit when I don’t know something. I go marking with Andy, which gives me a better idea of what the standing timber looks like before it gets to our yard to scale. [determine how much useful wood is in each log]. The only thing I don’t do is cutting.”

Besides being outdoors a lot, Trish likes the fact that her workdays vary. “Some days I’m scaling. I use the forwarder. I oversee making loads that will be put into containers for shipment overseas. In addition, I dispatch loads to be picked up from loggers and also out going loads at the yard. My favorite job is going marking with Andy in the Fall out in the woods. There is nothing better than not being stuck at a desk. Then at the end of my day, I come home and log everything into Quickbooks.”

Looking back at the past few years, Trish sums it up: “You go into this business because you like it and you get sucked in. It’s a good life. We’re lucky.”