Like selling produce at a farmers’ market, selling Christmas trees can be a social event. Because we sell on a cut-your-own basis, we get to see many of our friends and neighbors when they come for trees. The plantation provides a place of scenic beauty, a place for picnics in spring, summer and fall, a place for wildlife, a place where neighbors race their snowmobiles. It’s being maintained as an agricultural area, too, because invading woody plants are removed. The abandoned field in which we are growing trees is improving every year, because hay is no longer being taken off of it three times a year with no nutrients being added back to the soil. Several species of birds have taken up residence in our trees and in the grasses that grow between the trees – one of the many benefits of growing trees organically. The time I spend in the plantation pruning is some of the most peaceful, quiet time that I get in the summer. In addition to generating income, Christmas trees are a pleasure to grow. So, if you are growing vegetables, flowers or other summer crops, you need to allow a couple of hours per day during these times for planting and pruning Christmas trees – or you can contract out those jobs. They need to be planted in late April and early May and are best pruned in late June and through July. While the income from Christmas trees comes during the off season, much of the work involved in growing them does not. Those of you who grow fresh vegetables or other warm-season crops might be interested in generating such additional income in the off season. Next year we hope to sell 100, and within a couple of years after that we hope to be selling 200 each year and bringing in about $3,000 each December. This past Christmas, we sold 47 trees at $15 each – making enough money ($705) to offset much of our Christmas spending. In 1995, we started selling those trees, making a couple of hundred dollars that first year and a few hundred the next. As you can imagine, I didn’t do any of the actual planting, just plodded along and kept my husband company. We planted the last of the first on May 6, a date I remember because on the next day, May 7, our daughter was born. Twelve years ago, my husband and I planted our first Christmas trees. This article appeared in the Spring, Summer and Winter 1998 issues of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.
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