Southern Loggin’ Times magazine Contributing Editor Heather Lane visits with Varnes Logging, Inc., located in Florahome, Florida. The Varnes family knows logging. Florida pine sap has been running through their veins for nearly five generations. Varnes Logging Inc. is owned and operated by its founder, James Varnes, as it has been since it first opened for business on January 1, 1965. The first generation of the Varnes family to work in the logging industry was James’s grandfather, Bart Varnes. He pulled timber with a mule in the 1920s and 1930s. The second generation was James’s father, Julian Varnes, who worked in the woods for more than 40 years, right up until the week before he passed. It should come as no surprise that Varnes always knew he wanted to work in the woods. He started his own logging company in the middle of high school with $700 worth of equipment: a truck, a crawler tractor and, as he says, “half a chainsaw.”

Featured Story: “Family Tradition”

Written By: Heather Lane
Company: Varnes Logging, Inc.
Location: Florahome, Florida
SLT Issue: June 2013

Check out other featured articles in the June 2013 issue of Southern Loggin’ Times magazine.
Southern Loggin’ Times June issue spotlights Mike Squires and his son Michael as they partner up in Black River Logging, based in Ivanhoe, NC. With a succession plan in action, the team tackles wet lowlands near the coast. Secret to the Varnes brood’s 50-year success story is family ties and hard work. Also, it is just the beginning for Alabama’s William Parker.