Winter has arrived, and with it comes snow, ice skating, warm fuzzy coats, and of course, the Christmas season. You’re probably starting to hang up your stockings, mistletoe, wreaths, and your Christmas tree, with all of it’s bright lights and ornaments. The smell of pine probably wafts throughout your house while you’re sitting on your couch in a warm blanket with a mug of hot cocoa in your hand. All of these things kind of scream Christmas in the way that multicolored leaves scream fall. But in the spirit of Christmas, I visited Allen Hill Farm, a business in Connecticut that is notorious for it’s Christmas trees. I interviewed Charlie, who works at the farm, to learn a little bit more about it and the history.
The Allen Hill Farm Business has been in the family since 1891 and originally started as a dairy farm. But, the people working on the dairy farm didn’t enjoy milking the cows and turned it into a tree farm. The tree farm started in 1980, but they couldn’t sell trees until 1988 because the trees weren’t mature enough to be sold. The trees at Allen Hill Farm are planted as a five year old in the spring and can take anywhere from eight to twelve years to mature, depending on what kind of tree it is. The farm has around seven or eight different kinds of trees that are mostly fur including Douglas fur, Trojan fur, Korean fur, blue spruce, and many others. When growing the trees, they focus on the needle retention, which is how long the needles last on a tree. They try to have the best needle retention possible because the Christmas season is longer than it was a few years ago, and they want the trees to last until the end of the season. Allen Hill Farm sells thousands of trees each year, all different kinds and sizes. It’s a really fun place to visit, and it’s amazing to see all of the trees, but impossible to make a decision!
Agriculture Weekly 