Don't forget to vote...every DAY!!! The Trees for Troops program is still in the top 100 for the Pepsi Refresh grant contest for September but needs a late month push to get the money and provide more trees to service men and women and their families this year. http://www.refresheverything.com/treesfortroops
We watched the preview clip of a short film by Susan Sfarra and put it in our youtube favorites. Watch it here. Susan writes, "my short film THE GROWING SEASON, which was inspired by my early life on a Christmas tree farm. The film continues to screen at film festivals. It screened at a few more film fests in the US and recently finished screening at the Salento International Film Festival in Italy and will screen in Hamburg, Germany next month."
It's a fascinating look into farm work during the summer at Christmas tree farm. It's particularly good for those few misinformed people who think it's a shame to cut down Christmas trees because they come from a forest.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
September tidbits
A few interesting things going on this week.
First, don’t forget to vote for the Trees for Troops program in the Pepsi Refresh grant contest. You can vote once per day online AND once per day by text. That’s 2 votes per day. USE THEM!! Click here.
Second, now that the schools are back in session, many tree farms are planning out their farm tours with school and youth groups. Harvest season and Christmas season are the most popular times for school tours at Christmas tree farms. Although, I’m sure many would love to have the groups out during planting season in the spring too. Here’s a link to a great article about a tree farm in Virginia that does a fantastic job with tours. They go way beyond just “come visit our farm” and incorporate solid education for the kids into the tours. It’s written from the perspective of teaching other tree farm owners / managers how to do better tours, but I think it reads well for anyone, especially if you are a teacher or a youth group leader interested in taking your group of kids on a farm tour.
Third, keep an eye out for the news around the selection of the White House Christmas Tree. It’s taking place a little earlier this year, September 28 to be exact. Now, they won’t actually harvest the tree selected until just before the presentation after Thanksgiving, but staff members from the White House will be visiting the farm of the Grand Champion and picking out which tree they would like. The Grand Champion for 2010 is Crystal Springs Tree Farm II in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. The farm is owned by Christopher Botek. You can read about him winning the National Tree Contest here .
Lastly, I was talking with a farm manager at the convention last month about purchasing trees online. His farm, The Rocks Christmas Tree farm in New Hampshire, sells a pretty large number of trees via online sales. The trees are shipped directly to your home. I was telling him that, while there had been numerous news stories about this over the years, it’s still somewhat of a surprise to most people that they can buy a tree this way. We even posted a video on our YouTube channel last year showing how the tree arrives and how easy it is to take one out of the box and set it up. Check it out here .
So our idea was to go even further and show a tree from “field to family room” as it were. He’s already selected a tree from one of his fields and tagged it. I can blog about it throughout the season and will post pics or vids of the tree all the way through the process until it’s set up and decorated in my home.
I don’t know....cool idea?
Here’s the photos of the tree selected.
First, don’t forget to vote for the Trees for Troops program in the Pepsi Refresh grant contest. You can vote once per day online AND once per day by text. That’s 2 votes per day. USE THEM!! Click here.
Second, now that the schools are back in session, many tree farms are planning out their farm tours with school and youth groups. Harvest season and Christmas season are the most popular times for school tours at Christmas tree farms. Although, I’m sure many would love to have the groups out during planting season in the spring too. Here’s a link to a great article about a tree farm in Virginia that does a fantastic job with tours. They go way beyond just “come visit our farm” and incorporate solid education for the kids into the tours. It’s written from the perspective of teaching other tree farm owners / managers how to do better tours, but I think it reads well for anyone, especially if you are a teacher or a youth group leader interested in taking your group of kids on a farm tour.
Third, keep an eye out for the news around the selection of the White House Christmas Tree. It’s taking place a little earlier this year, September 28 to be exact. Now, they won’t actually harvest the tree selected until just before the presentation after Thanksgiving, but staff members from the White House will be visiting the farm of the Grand Champion and picking out which tree they would like. The Grand Champion for 2010 is Crystal Springs Tree Farm II in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. The farm is owned by Christopher Botek. You can read about him winning the National Tree Contest here .
Lastly, I was talking with a farm manager at the convention last month about purchasing trees online. His farm, The Rocks Christmas Tree farm in New Hampshire, sells a pretty large number of trees via online sales. The trees are shipped directly to your home. I was telling him that, while there had been numerous news stories about this over the years, it’s still somewhat of a surprise to most people that they can buy a tree this way. We even posted a video on our YouTube channel last year showing how the tree arrives and how easy it is to take one out of the box and set it up. Check it out here .
So our idea was to go even further and show a tree from “field to family room” as it were. He’s already selected a tree from one of his fields and tagged it. I can blog about it throughout the season and will post pics or vids of the tree all the way through the process until it’s set up and decorated in my home.
I don’t know....cool idea?
Here’s the photos of the tree selected.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tree Farms Need Your Help in Supporting our Military
Help us bring an additional 5,000 military families together in SPIRIT this Christmas, just by clicking the mouse a couple times per day.
Trees for Troops in the Running for $250,000 in grant money from the Pepsi Refresh Project! I emailed the Rush Limbaugh show today to see if they would champion this effort by urging listeners to vote for us each day in September. You never know ...
Since 2005, Trees for Troops has reached over 67,000 military families by delivering fresh Christmas trees donated by American farmers to service members and their families across the U.S. We can add to that number with additional funds.
During the month of September, we are competing for a $250,000 grant in the Pepsi Refresh Project that will help deliver an additional 5,000 trees to military families this Christmas.
VOTE EVERY DAY DURING THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER!
Here's the link to vote for the T4T project ...you can also vote with a text from your cell phone. http://www.refresheverything.com/treesfortroops
Trees for Troops in the Running for $250,000 in grant money from the Pepsi Refresh Project! I emailed the Rush Limbaugh show today to see if they would champion this effort by urging listeners to vote for us each day in September. You never know ...
Since 2005, Trees for Troops has reached over 67,000 military families by delivering fresh Christmas trees donated by American farmers to service members and their families across the U.S. We can add to that number with additional funds.
During the month of September, we are competing for a $250,000 grant in the Pepsi Refresh Project that will help deliver an additional 5,000 trees to military families this Christmas.
VOTE EVERY DAY DURING THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER!
Here's the link to vote for the T4T project ...you can also vote with a text from your cell phone. http://www.refresheverything.com/treesfortroops
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