A Christmas tree farm makes producer and families happy

It's time to look for that perfect tree, and this family is taking advantage of shopping at a Christmas tree farm for the tree of their dreams. -Staff photo by Taylor

November 29, 2001 -- Tucked back in the woods outside Smithville, the Lost Pines are losing ground to 20 acres of Virginia Pines, planted by the Fred F. Nyc II and his family.

Each year for the past 15 years, families have been able to enjoy an outing to pick the family Christmas tree as it stands growing in a field of other trees. Each tree is individual, and each tree appeals to a different family.

The property wasn't always a Christmas tree farm.

"This is old Claiborne Land. It's been in my mother's family for 150 years, and she gave it to me. When I retired out of the Air Force we came out here (to Smithville.)

"The brush was so thick you had to get on your hands and knees to get through it. We had to get in something agricultural so we wouldn't be paying high taxes, so we raised cows for a little while. That was very unsatisfactory, so we looked around for something else that would be fun, too. We came up with Christmas trees," said Nyc.

The Nycs began raising the Virginia Pine trees on one acre and grew them for a couple of years to see if they would survive the soil, climate and bugs. Once this was accomplished, more trees were planted, until they reached the 20 acres they have now.

Between 12-14,000 trees have been planted since then.

"Every time I cut some of them down, we plant right next to the stump. I have good irrigation to help out with the long, hard summers around here," said Nyc.

"We plant about 2500 trees a year."

The season starts shortly after Thanksgiving, and there is a constant stream of people who come from all around the area to experience the fun of finding and cutting their own tree.

"The weekends are very, very busy, and the weekdays are busy, too ... not with Christmas trees, but with children. We may have up to 1200 children out here from little towns in the area." said Nyc.

"They come out here and we have hayrides set up. We take them for a hayride and tell them how we plant the trees. I show them a dibbel that we plant the trees with ... it's kind of like a spade."

He said that the trees aren't naturally pointed at the top, but are trimmed twice a year, in April and in July or August, with a special trimming machine. Right before the season starts, individual branches are trimmed with a sharp "sword."

Once the customers arrive at the farm, they are taken by wagon until they see a tree they want. Once it is cut, they have a special "shaker" which shakes all the dead needles from the center of the tree, since that is the oldest part of the tree and where most of the falling needles come from.

They have a special baler that allows them to compress and bale the larger trees in order to tie them to the tops of vehicles.

While most of the sales are on the weekends, starting right after the Thanksgiving holidays, Nyc said that it is a seven day a week job up until they decide to close for the season.

"We try to stop a few days before Christmas so we can have some Christmas, too," he added.

Growing the trees is the latest of a number of careers for Nyc. After retiring as a pilot from the Air Force in the early 1970s, he was a hospital administrator, a medical research administrator, a teacher and is a published writer.

He said he is ready to sit back and let the younger members of his family take over the harder parts of running the Christmas tree farm so he can travel with his wife and relax.