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Christmas Tree Farming

In 1991 we started Christmas tree farming. We planted 3000 Christmas trees. They were Fraser Firs, Concolor Firs, Douglas Firs, Balsam Firs and French and Spanish Scotch Pines.

For the last seven years, I have been able to sell trees at Christmas time both wholesale and retail. I have some customers who call every year and come early in the fall to pick out the tree they want. We tag the tree and then after Thanksgiving they come to have it cut.

I also have an arrangement with another Christmas tree grower who shapes the trees and plants new ones each year as well as harvesting some for his own sales at a lot in town.

Not all the things that happen with Christmas tree farming are good. We have a lot of deer in the area and they do much damage to the trees. The damage is done especially in the fall when the buck deer rub their antlers on the trees. And during the whole year they feast on the new tender growth.

One year we hung smelly soap on each tree but that didn’t help very much. Now we share with the deer and hope that they do not wipe us out completely.

Yesterday I had two families with children come to get a Christmas tree. There were about a dozen children of all ages and sizes who had a wonderful time playing “hide and seek” among the Christmas trees. Many of the trees are very large now and it is easy to hide behind them. It was joyful to see the fun they were having with such a simple sport.

And today was the best of all for the first snow arrived and the trees were covered with snow. They looked as if they had all been already decorated for Christmas with white ornaments. The snow was falling slowly making a picture as we walked through the rows to pick out just the right tree for the family who had come.

This marked the true beginning of the Christmas Season.

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