Christmas Tree and Drought

Lots of media stories out there about how drought in some areas are "hurting Christmas trees". Not a lot of understanding how a Christmas tree farm is managed though. Summer weather patterns don't really impact trees harvested later this year. Those are more mature trees with well-established root systems so they're not as susceptible to seasonal weather patterns as are younger trees. Low rain fall, excessive rain fall, early cold snap, bugs, disease...any number of those types of environmental factors could cause a tree to go into dormancy earlier than typical. Regardless, by the time they are harvested around Thanksgiving or later, the environmental conditions on the farm have changed much since summer time anyway. The seedlings farmers planted in the Spring however, can be damaged by excessive or insufficient rain fall. Mortality rates of newly planted seedlings can go up due to weather extremes. This is the risk any farmer faces regardless of the crop being raised. Consumers should not worry about the quality of trees they can find this year no matter what the weather was like in the summer.

Guest Blog from New Jersey Farmer

Guest blog from a farmer in New Jersey. We're not advocating one way or the other, just thought it would be interesting to share.

Subject: anti-farm laws not the answer Dear farmer friend, I received a request from an animal rights group seeking my farm’s support of a bill in the NJ State Senate. The authors of the bill claim that it will outlaw farmers’ abuse of animals by “using pens so small that nursing pigs cannot stand up or lie down.” It seems that they also feel that this law will “level” the playing field between those big greedy corporate conglomerates and us nice little friendly family farms (kind of a clever way to get our support, don’t you think?). I know of not a single NJ farm where pigs are in pens so small that they cannot stand up or lie down. Perhaps this group does. If so, I wish they would tell me the name and address of those farms. Although I no longer raise livestock (I grow choose and cut Christmas trees), I have had many years of experience raising pigs in the past. It is important to provide appropriate pens for nursing sows so that baby piglets are not crushed by the mother. What may appear to the inexperienced observer as a “cruel” process of restricting a sow’s movement is actually a method of keeping the babies alive. When I raised pigs, the farrowing pens were about 10’ x 10’ and had, what we referred to as, baby bumpers on all sides. The mother would lean against a wall and basically “flop down” to a prone position. Without the bumpers, babies would get squished without the mother pig even realizing what she had done. There may be a very small minority of farmers who actually abuse animals. That, I find despicable. But there are already laws on the books and more than adequate agencies to enforce those laws. I don’t buy into the concept that family farms (like mine) are in conflict with “industrial operations,” as this group implies. There is more than enough room for all of us in this country and I do not consider farms larger than my own to be the “enemy.” I have always been very reluctant to support new restrictions on agricultural endeavors. It’s hard enough being a farmer these days without “Big Brother” placing restriction after restriction on our activities. I believe that farmers (both small and large operations) have the best interest of animals as a top priority. I am sure that members of this group have only the best intentions in promoting new laws regarding farming. However, I have found that so many of the animal “rights” organizations simply don’t understand (or don’t wish to understand) the nature of farming. Farmers are good people. And left alone, we will do the right thing...for our farms and for our animals. It is for that reason that Shale Hills Farm cannot endorse this legislation. Mike Garrett Shale Hills Farm Sussex, NJ

Learning in a new language

A student named Anna Galovich translated one of the lesson plans in the RealTrees4Kids! online curriculum for a communications class project and it's really good. Kind of a neat story.

Here's the original lesson plan in RT4K! http://www.realtrees4kids.org/sixeight/cycles.htm and here's the translation page she did http://webhostinggeeks.com/science/realtrees-4kids-et

Factory or Farm?

So you often read comments here or on the NCTA site saying something like "you either have a real tree grown on a farm or a plastic decoration made in a factory" ...something like that.

Factory vs farm.

Pretty clear choice really.

So this article came out describing a factory in Thailand that makes plastic tree decorations out of raw materials made in China and even it's having a hard time competing again factories in China making the same products.
http://bit.ly/vXseol

I'm sure David Addington at the Heritage Foundation would be proud. According to him, real Christmas trees grown here by American farm families don't have an image problem and don't need to do any marketing to compete with fake trees made in China.

Americana History

Quick post...


Someone sent this link to us. It has some awesome old photos of shop fronts during Christmas time and old family photos with Christmas trees during the 20s. Check it out: http://www.papatedsplace.com/Christmas1920s.html


I found this awesome commentary article by Brad Stanhope. The comments are particularly amusing.http://bit.ly/skfTfB


Airports can be...well, to be honest, somewhat drab and depressing. But sometimes, when they are decked out in Christmas decor they can be uplifting. Earlier this month I had to travel to a meeting and connecting through O'Hare airport in Chicago I was impressed with the terminal for K and H concourses. I actually didn't mind connecting through O'Hare that day. The photo is from my phone so it's not the best but I wanted to share anyway. Talk about "decking the halls"!

Santa rides a bike?

This is the funniest thing I’ve read all year: "'People just aren't expecting Santa Claus on a bike, to show up with a boombox playing Christmas tunes, with a Christmas tree on the back and a pulled-pork sandwich in his hand,' said Toraldo.”



Well, um…no I guess they wouldn’t expect that. Check out this article about a guy who delivers a Christmas tree and a pulled pork sandwich on a bicycle. I don't make this stuff up people.



In other news, congrats to the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and FedEx for delivering the 100,000th free farm-grown Christmas tree to a military family this year through the Trees for Troops program.



On a less happy note, stories like this just burn me up (no pun intended). So in an all-too-common scenario, a local TV news station is getting a firefighter to light a Christmas tree on fire so they can do a "fire officials warn about the dangers of Christmas tree fires ..." blah blah blah. This guy had to use 2 road flares to get any kind of burning going, and then says "we're not trying to scare people away from getting a tree ..." Well, duh ... THAT'S EXACTLY what you are accomplishing when you do that!



So what's the message then? ... don't bring 2 lit road flares into your home??!!



GRRRR...that makes me angry! I wonder if David Addington at the Heritage Foundation still thinks Christmas trees "don't have an image problem." I was talking about him with a reporter at the Wall Street Journal yesterday who was writing about the Christmas tree industry and I said "you should call him up and ask him what kind of Christmas tree is displayed inside his home." That would be interesting to know. I bet he has a fake tree.



Yeah, and misinformation about Christmas trees is not a new phenomenon that tree farmers have to deal with. It's been going on for years, ever since factories started making big green toilet bowl brushes and calling them "Christmas trees." Check out this story of a promotional effort to promote fresh, farm-grown Christmas trees from 1969 ... make sure and play the song and listen to the lyrics, it's hilarious.



A couple interesting questions this week:

On a split trunk...
From: Jeffrey
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 12:02 PM
To: info
Subject: Is this tree damaged?

We purchased a Fraser Fir 2 nights ago and had the nursery fresh cut it for us. We put it into a tree stand and filled the reservoir with water. Since then, I've noticed the tree has barely absorbed any of the water. One thing - I found that the tree has a split in the trunk that rises from the bottom to more than half way up. Is this a fatal flaw and should I have it replaced, or am I barking up the wrong tree so to speak?

We've purchased Frasers for years from the same nursery and have not deviated from our normally successful tree standards.

It does not affect the ability of the tree to take up water through a fresh cut. The reason for the trunk to split is the field conditions prior to harvest. You did everything right. I would monitor the water level for the next few days closely. It can take a while for the tree to start moving water up its system. I put my tree up this past Friday evening and it didn't start taking up water until last night.

From: g_m_reiland@
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 5:31 PM
Subject: tree stand
I have a quick question and was hoping to get information from the experts. I just purchased a fraser fir and brought it in the house this morning. It is in the stand and is sitting pretty flush to the bottom. I told my husband we need to raise it up a bit so water can flow under and he said it's unnecessary and that it's supposed to sit flush so that the tree is more secure. What is your opinion?

While it's best to have the entire surface area of the cut tree trunk wet at all times, I don't think you can create a water-tight seal by having the cut surface flat in the bottom of the stand. Water is absorbed on a molecular level by the plant tissue and it most likely will be able to do so in this case. Most tree stands do have some kind of prong or spike in the bottom to help with both of your points, exposure to water and stability.

From: Michael
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2011 11:20 PM
Subject: Tallest Christmas Tree Question
Hello. I've been watching a Christmas tree special on television, and have learned that the tallest Christmas tree in a private residence is at the Vanderbilt home, and is "three stories high." Next year, I'd like to try to beat that in my home. Do you have any information on the tallest Christmas tree ever displayed in a private residence? I'm pretty certain I could erect a tree well over 25 feet in my home, which is a concrete monolithic dome home in Las Vegas.If you can come up with any information or links I can research, I would appreciate it!

Sorry Michael, that's not something we would be able to verify or track in any way. In other words, I have no idea how they can prove the "three stories high" tree you saw on the special is indeed the tallest?

Hey check out my tree I put up and decorated this past Friday! Isn't she a beee-yoot?

Interaction and endorsement

I got a great email from Alison this week, providing some feedback about our web site and the way we provide information about Christmas Trees. Here's our interaction:

Hi Alison. Interesting points, thanks for writing in… but missing key facts /considerations. Elaborations below in blue to specific points….

From: Alison
Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 9:50 PM
To: info
Subject: Hi

Just was looking through all your arguments about real vs. fake trees. You might want to at least be a bit more honest,
-- there’s nothing on the site that isn’t factual or sourced / linked if it’s opinion …can’t be much more honest than that

and a little less obvious about which one you’re pushing.
-- really? You think we should be less obvious? I think being pretty up-front and obvious about what our association stands for and believes in is the right way to go…subterfuge or subtlety would not serve our purposes I feel.

Maybe at least throw in the facts that real trees take a lot of water,
-- so? …so do house plants and pets and people ….so what? What’s the point?

and a whole bunch of fuel to truck the trees to their final resting place.
-- not necessarily. Some people buy a tree at a local farm, and many people in the U.S. and Canada live near areas where Christmas trees are grown. Besides, if you chastised people every time they purchased an agricultural product that had to be hauled to them, well, you would be chastising pretty much every person that eats bananas north of Mexico, every person who eats broccoli south of roughly the 35th parallel, etc. Personally, I’m glad I live in a place where I can buy agricultural products from all over.

Also that it totally depends on how long people keep their fake trees. That in itself changes everything.
-- no it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter how long you keep a fake tree, it will eventually end up in a landfill where it will NEVER decompose. 10 years? 20 years? 50 years? 100 years? The Earth will be here a lot longer than you or I and it will have to deal with all the non-biodegradable products we keep manufacturing, like artificial Christmas trees, instead of a the real thing, planted and grown on a farm, replaced by another seedling, then decomposed back into natural elements as all plants are.

Just thought you should know that you might be banking on human stupidity a bit too much,
-- I feel just the opposite Alison. I’m banking on people being smart enough to separate myths and misperceptions from facts.

but then again you might get lucky. Hope you guys make tons of money this year, enjoy mine, and spend it on coming up with more witty Christmas tree propaganda. Alison

Well, at least she thinks I'm witty.

So what do you think? Tell us if you feel as Alison does that we aren't honest on our website or that we should be less obvious in our attempt to convince people who display a Christmas tree to use a real one grown on a farm and to stop buying more plastic and metal fake trees.

Oh, one more quick thing this morning. I noticed the fake tree people again trying to tout an "environmental study" saying a fake tree was better for the environment ... when are they going to give this up? What do the real environmentalists say? Check for yourself, you can't get more "tree hugger-y" than the American Forests organization: http://bit.ly/vUJQTn