Organic Christmas trees – safe for the holidays 

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

Dwayne Somerville, owner of Texas Organic Nursery and Christmas Tree Farm in Mexia, shows a beautiful Virginia Pine tree that he has grown. The farm is a certified organic farm, making each tree that is picked out for the holiday season, fresh and safe. � Photo by Mindy Poehl�

Dec. 1, 2005 - Christmas tree season is here, and Texas Organic Nursery and Christmas Tree Farm in Mexia is abounding with all tree sizes. From tall and broad trees to short and thick trees, Texas Organic Nursery sells certified organic trees.

"I don't claim to have the prettiest trees, but I do claim to have the safest trees," said owner, Dwayne Somerville.

As only one of three certified organic nurseries in the United States, people were skeptic of Somerville when he wanted to switch his operation to an organic one.

"All of the experts said I couldn't do it," Somerville said. "They said organically growing Christmas trees was too intensive." 

Dwayne and his wife, Lea Anne, opened the nursery in 1988. 

"For the first five years, it was only me and my wife working here. The  planting weather for Christmas trees is overcast, 40 degrees and misting - you know perfect weather for being outside. I swear my wife was ready to divorce me," Somerville sarcastically said. "At first we grew trees conventionally, but you have to maintain them. I was spraying stuff every two weeks. I live here on the farm, with three boys, and they play an integral part of this."

Somerville wanted the farm to be safe for his family, so he turned his farming into an organic operation. His eight-year-old son drives the tractor and his 13-year-old and 10-year-old sons cut trees for customers.

The Somerville's have four varieties of Christmas trees: Virginia Pine, which has needles; Leyland Cyprus, which has leaflets and is a hybrid and does not pollinate, so it does not cause allergic reactions; Carolina Sapphire, which grows the tallest; and Blue Ice, which grows more slowly and tighter than Carolina Sapphires.

"Blue Ice is almost identical to Carolina Sapphire, but Blue Ice has more of a blue, rather than green tint. Carolina Sapphire has more of a citrus mint smell," explained Somerville.

One thousand to 2,000 trees are planted at the nursery each year. And it takes a tree 4 to 6 years to grow. 

"We have irrigation, we push trees and keep them alive," Somerville explained. "If we didn't have irrigation, we would have lost most of our trees during Hurricane Rita. We had 35 mph winds for eight hours at 90 degrees. Luckily, I watered two days in advance. A few tips of some of the trees were burned by the wind, though.

Each tree on the farm is tagged with the price and the height. The trees are sold for $5.50 per foot. Although Somerville has already been selling trees, Christmas tree season usually kicks off on Thanksgiving and the first weekend in December. 

"We basically have 30 days to sell our trees," Somerville said. "Our business is extremely weather dependent."

Texas Organic Nursery and Christmas Tree Farm has plenty of fun activities to keep kids and families busy. They have a mule-drawn wagon, a sand box, a life-size maze, kid's tractors to ride, as well as choosing trees.

"Families come and make an outing of picking a tree," Somerville said. "When people come here, they are getting a farm fresh, family atmosphere."

The nursery also holds a pumpkin festival during the two mid-weekends in October. And tours of the farm are held from mid October-November.

"We usually get around 1,000 to 2,000 kids touring this place each year," Somerville said. "It cost $5 per head, but they get to take home a pumpkin or a Christmas tree seedling."

Somerville also performs a lot of consulting for tree farms, as well as teaching people how to live organically outdoors, indoors and for their personal health.

Organically grown trees are not only good for the environment, but they are also safe.

"I get calls asking, 'My cat is drinking water out of the Christmas tree bowl. Is it okay?' Yes, it won't harm the cat," Somerville said. "The Fort Worth Zoo takes the trees we don't sell and puts them in their bear and primate exhibits. They take our trees because if the animals chew on the trees, they won't be harmed."

When buying a fresh-cut tree from the organic nursery, it should last 4 to 8 weeks, if you cut a 1/2 inch off of the bottom before placing it in the tree stand and "never let it run out of water," Somerville stated. "It depends on where it is placed in the house, but the more you run the heat, the more moisture is robbed from the tree. That's why it always needs to have enough water."

To contact the Texas Organic Nursery and Christmas Tree Farm, call 254-562-6306 and enjoy some "outdoor clean family farm fun," as Somerville likes to say.