Soon dozens of children will scamper from row to row as their families search for the perfect Christmas tree.
Mike Collins said his family can hardly wait.
“Everybody who comes out here, it's all about family,” he said. “It turns into a tradition. That is what really keeps you going, too. They are happy coming out here. Everybody looks forward to it.”
Collins and his family owns All Pine Products, a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm, located on Mustang Road just south SW 15th Street. The family started raising Christmas trees 20 years ago and moved to their 10-acre farm in the mid-1990s.
Nurturing a small Virginia pine sapling into a Christmas tree takes years of care, and all the while farmers are battling pests. Tree moths assault the saplings from above, gophers gnaw at the roots from below, and deer rub their antlers against the boughs.
The family also sprays trees with a colorant several times a year to protect boughs from sun bleaching to a yellow-green.
Virginia pines grow at an average rate of 1 foot per year, so it takes several seasons before a plant is ready to be sculpted into a Christmas tree.
Although Christmas tree tending is a lot of work, Collins said it brings his whole family together. As the weather cools, they gather to prune the trees into a conical shape, set up their shop and begin piecing together wreathes.
Collins' family started raising Christmas trees when he was a teenager. Now he watches his own children run and play among the rows of trees.
“I think I would be lost if we stopped doing it,” he said.
Several return customers have already staked claim to their favorite trees even days before Thanksgiving, but the real rush will hit on Friday as families stroll up and down rows, marking trees with scarves, hats and gloves.
“They come out and take pictures next to the trees for Christmas cards,” he said. “That's really fun to watch them do that, too. The kids really enjoy it.”
The tree farm is open in snowy and icy weather. Collins said work and school being canceled usually gives families the perfect time to pick out their tree.
“There is nothing prettier than seeing the field when the trees are holding snow on them,” he said.
Trees cost about $7 per foot, and the family is ordering precut Noble, Grand, Nordmann and Frasier firs. Collins said their order is cut after trees for the big box retailers are shipped.
“The benefit is our trees are cut last so they are potentially fresher,” he said.
Workers can help customers cut down their tree, shake out loose needles, bundle them and load it into their vehicle. They also offer a tree preservative, but Collins said it isn't necessary if the tree is watered properly.