Rossview Farm is making new holiday memories one cut at a time

By Tim Goodwin - Dec 10, 2013 | 0 comments

Your Christmas tree in eight to 10 years.

The latest fir to leave Rossview Farm.

It would take a lot of time to hang ornaments on all those trees.

The Hirsch family, from left, Finley, Erin, Grayson and Dave, check out their new Christmas tree.

When you arrive at Rossview Farm, you are greeted with a friendly hello from Don Ross, handed a saw and pointed to a certain area of his field.

While at first it may seem like Ross is trying to get some free labor out of you in exchange for hot chocolate (fair wages, we’d say), the only work required at Rossview is what it takes to get the tree you want from the ground to your living room.

The cut-your-own tree farm is in its 16th year supplying area families with Christmas trees, and every year the number of balsams (the traditional Christmas fir) and frasers (a variety that has been trending over the last few years) being selected and sawed down at the farm continues to grow. Soon, Ross may have to start planting fake trees to keep up with the demand. Hopefully nobody notices.

In the beginning, there was no way of knowing that Rossview would turn into the place to pick your Christmas tree. It takes a long time to produce a crop of trees, and a bit of a gamble. Rossview planted 500 trees in 1989 in hopes of adding the product to its other seasonal sales, but did not sell its first one until 1997.

“It’s a long-term investment,” said Ross. “It’s about 10 years in investment before you get your first return. You’ve got to guess your market 10 years in advance.”

Luckily, the Rosses guessed right. The farm has been so popular that most years there are not enough trees to satisfy all the families that stop by looking for one.

The trees that Ross plants are four to five years old at the time and take, on average, eight to 10 years before reaching the right stage to appear in your living room. That means, the tree you decorate this year is anywhere from 12 to 15 years old.

It costs about $10 per tree the first year, including the cost of the actual tree, preparing the land, planting and maintenance. Each year after that, Ross figures another $5 is required for upkeep.

“If I can sell a tree for $50, that’s break even for the amount of work I put into it,” said Ross.

But Rossview isn’t one of those farms where it’s a one price fits all. Each tree is inpidual in Ross’s mind and has its own value. It all depends on which one strikes your fancy as you trudge through the rows of needily goodness.

Ross has the farm set up in blocks. Each block contains eight rows that can fit about 125 trees, and it allows him to keep the ready ones and the maturing ones separate. Although that doesn’t keep people from asking about a specific tree, even if it is not in the available block. Can you believe the nerve of some people?

And while you will inevitably see that one perfect tree that is not for sale, there are still quite a few available for purchase.

While it started out with just 500 trees in the first planting, that number has more than doubled in recent years.

“I’m at the point where I plant 1,200 each year,” said Ross.

But not all of those trees will make it. Between deer, natural deaths and ones that just don’t develop, Ross usually has enough to satisfy a lot of his potential customers. Yet each year, he still has to say no to some pretty sad faces. And that cannot be easy with all those Christmas loving kids out there
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“If you plant 1,000 trees and in 10 years you’ve got 700, you’ve done something good,” said Ross
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Overall, Rossview Farm had close to 9,000 trees in the ground prior to this year’s cutting season. That’s a lot of free oxygen floating around District Five Road.

And when this year’s season is over in the next week or so, the planning for that block begins. In the spring, after turning over the soil and removing all the stumps, Ross plants a seasonal crop for the growing season. It isn’t until next fall or even the following spring that more trees are planted in that area.

“You want to take the time to prepare the land before you plant any crop,” said Ross.

The most important part of the first few years is making sure that there is only one top per tree. As Ross described it, “there can only be one chief in the tribe.”

By the time the fourth and fifth years after planting roll around, the main goal is to prune it for a good shape to hang ornaments on.

“You have to feel what the tree is telling you and work from there,” said Ross.

Everybody has an idea of what they want their perfect Christmas tree to look like and most years Ross will have it. But since this year’s tagging began the day after Thanksgiving and cutting has been going on ever since, the number of trees is getting smaller (much like the available sizes).

“A lot of people want real tall trees, but I haven’t been able to hold on to my trees long enough to grow then that tall,” said Ross.

It is a long process to get each tree to the point where it can be cut. That is why Ross likes for each customer to cut down their own.

“The purpose is not to just provide a product, but its to provide an experience,” said Ross. “It’s almost like I get to celebrate Christmas with every customer.”

That’s why people keep coming back each holiday season. And it’s why Ross spends all that time planting all those trees year after year.