Prairie wanderings: Selecting a Christmas tree
By PAUL G. JANTZEN
Contributing writer
It's a pleasant afternoon, two days before Thanksgiving Day, and we are on our way to the Pine Creek Christmas Tree Farm located on the west edge of Marion County.
Our daughter Kris and her two children will not be here for Christmas. So, Madison, 8, and Jacob, nearly 4, join Elaine and me to begin our family yuletide celebration today by choosing a Christmas tree before they head back to Houston.
As we approach the farmstead, we are greeted by life-size, two-dimensional figures making up a choir — no doubt singing Christmas carols. Near the barn we see a creche or manger scene.
We stop at the farm house to pick up a hand saw, an instruction sheet, a price list, and map of the farm. The kids pause at the creche while we hope they relate the choosing of a Christmas tree to the nativity.
We head down the trail, straight north to Lot II west of Middle Emma Creek. Since this is early in the season, we quickly find a choice tree — a five-foot Scotch pine with a symmetrical shape and somewhat blue-green foliage of two, two-inch needles per cluster. Scotch pines are native to Europe and northern Asia where they are widely distributed. They thrive even in poor, sandy soil, so they are a good choice for Midwest tree farms, shelterbelts, and landscaping.
While I lie on the ground to saw the tree from its roots, the kids are romping freely among the young pines — their mother keeping a watchful eye on them. During their play, they see a ring-neck pheasant mistaking it at first for a wild turkey.
After we return to the farmstead, an attendant applies the tree to a vibrator to shake loose any dried needles adhering to the tree.
The others return the saw and pay for the tree. The kids are given candy canes. Elaine took a cup of coffee, bought a few peppernuts, and looked over an assortment of tree ornaments.
Meanwhile, I visited briefly with Lloyd Schroeder who, with wife Marlene have been managing this tree farm. They are now transferring their business to their daughter, Ardie and husband Wynn Goering of New Mexico.
Lloyd said they have about 15 acres in trees — Scotch pines, Austrian pines, and a few white pines — numbering about 1,000 per acre. Away from the creek he waters trees with drip irrigation. Near the creek, ground water is close enough to the surface so irrigation is not necessary. The trees also require pruning and spraying with insecticides. But the tree harvest season doesn't interfere with other farming activities.
Lloyd said his income per acre of Christmas trees is better than that of more traditional farm crops, even though there may be seven years between harvests.
It is difficult to know when trees were first decorated for Christmas. Even before the Christmas era, trees or branches were used for certain ceremonies. When Egyptians observed the winter solstice, they brought green date palms into their homes. The Romans observed the feast of Saturn with evergreen boughs. The first Christmas tree decorations may have been tufts of cotton or strings of popcorn or cranberries.
The custom of lighting Christmas trees often is attributed to Martin Luther (1483-1546). Legend has it he walked through a countryside alone one Christmas Eve and a brilliant starlit sky reminded him of the birth of the child Jesus. The snow falling on the evergreen sparkled in the moonlight and so impressed him that he wanted to share the experience with his family. So he attached some lighted candles to an evergreen tree to represent the starry heavens.
Today, lighted candles are considered hazardous and electric lights have replaced them.
We take the tree to our home and immediately place the butt end in a pan of water. When decorated and lighted it will serve as the center of our yuletide festivities and as a canopy for gifts commemorating the coming of the wisemen.
After New Year's Day, our tree will be placed in a lake providing habitat for fish.
