JB's blog: Growing up on a Christmas Tree Farm by "Happy" Tree and JB

GROWING UP ON ROBLYN CHRISTMAS TREE FARM
BY
"HAPPY" TREE
(and JB)

Little buds were popping in the big trees. It was Spring and I found myself being put into a big box with hundreds of my other little tree friends here in Western Pennsylvania. The box was sealed and we were loaded into a big truck and began our long trip. We were wondering where we were going. We stayed quiet for a long time and then the truck began to move.
We were bounced around and thrown around for days. My roots were getting dry and my friends were smashed against me and I was one unhappy little fir tree. I thought I was going to die for sure. Then the big truck stopped and we felt our box being taken out and dropped on the ground. The driver asked someone if this was 305 Wrightstown Sykesville Rd. Wrightstown, New Jersey, and the person said yes it is. So he put us down on the ground and I heard him pull away. I was glad to be on solid ground at last. We waited for a few hours, we had very little water left on our roots and it was stuffy in the box.
Much to our delight, the box was opened and we saw daylight again. Soon a man gently began to pick us up and drop us roots first in a big white bucket of cool, fresh water. It was great having a drink again. Then, another man, began taking us out of the bucket one at a time and trimming our roots with sharp clippers. It did not hurt, in fact getting all the straggly stuff off felt good. I knew then I was at my new home and I was really glad. I could hardly wait to see what was going to happen next.
My tree friends and I were now laid in the bucket of the front end loader with some water to keep us from getting thirsty. Soon we began to move and we were taken to a big beautifully prepared field. It was marked with little orange flags spaced evenly apart in rows. It was in full sun and just a perfect location for us to be placed and left to grow into beautiful Christmas Trees.






I was about 12 inches tall after my roots were planted and covered. I stayed that way for a long time. With the changing seasons, my little branches began to get stronger and bigger and my little needles began to form and were really pretty and smelled so good.
I noticed as time passed I was bigger and it felt so good to be able to spread out and look around. All my tree friends were there with me and we would make tree chatter among us. The little birds and butterflies began to sit on us and enjoy our sweet tasting sap.
One day I felt something digging in the soil near my trunk and saw a Mommy Bunny making a nest close to my trunk under the branches where she would not be disturbed. She had four baby bunnies in her nest and as they got older they would play safely under my branches and scamper around staying close to their nest until they grew older and could outrun any predators. One by one they went off on their own and I would see them scampering about among the trees, playing and jumping and eating the clover in the middle of our rows.
All this time I am growing taller, my branches are getting stronger and my needles are getting a beautiful color and longer. The man who planted us has sprayed us to keep insects and worms from getting in our trunks and branches. He also fertilizes the soil so we have plenty of nourishment. We are feeling cared for and loved and that is really what it takes to make us happy.

Time passed, winters were sometimes snowy and icy. One time I looked like an ice cube. The rain turned to ice and all my needles were icy and stiff. I was glad when the sun came out and melted it.






As the seasons change and the holidays come, we notice the farm becomes really busy after Thanksgiving Day. Our field is quiet, but the other fields are full of children running and playing, families having pictures taken standing in front of the bigger trees, people playing in the snow, trees being cut down and loaded on cars to be taken away to their new homes. It was really exciting to think one day it will be my turn. We are still not big enough. It takes between 5 and 7 years or more for people to notice us and begin to take interest in our size and shape.






Wow, I just had a new experience. I am being trimmed with a long trimmer. My straggly growth is all gone, my top is cut and trimmed and then it dawned on me. I AM OLD ENOUGH TO BE A CHRISTMAS TREE. I am now about 7 feet tall and still growing, and I am beautiful. I can hardly wait until the seasons change again and our field is open to the public.
Then it happened, the leaves began to fall off the big trees by the lane, the grass did not grow, the summer birds left and the winter birds were busy eating and singing. Big red bows were put on the top of some of us who can be seen from the road. Our farm sign, Roblyn Farm, had big red bows on it and I knew then, this year it was for sure, my field would be open to the public.
If I am lucky, someone will pick me to go home with them and I will be trimmed and decorated and make some little ones very happy when Santa comes and puts the gifts under my branches. Now, all I need to do is look beautiful and wait.

The weeks are going by and people are picking the taller trees. Here I am, waiting to make some kids happy and no one wants me. Now that makes me very sad. I was about to give up hope for this year, when I noticed two little girls and their daddy. The littlest girl was pulling a cart with a saw and gloves on it, coming into my field. They are getting closer, yes, they are stopping.




I feel someone touching my branches and gently feeling my needles. I am so excited! They put something on the ground under my branches and I knew then, they had picked me.






The older girl got down on the pad and began to saw into my trunk. I was so excited I was afraid I would drop all my needles. Wow, I am going home with them!




They put me on the cart and took me over to the barn where two men put the bottom of my trunk in the hole of this tall thing they call Mr. Shakey and held me by my top and then it happened. I was shaking all over and the old tree leaves that were stuck in my branches went flying out and all my old dead needles went all over the place. They shook me until nothing more could fly out of my branches. Wow, what a wild ride that was!




When that was finished they covered me with some really pretty red and white netting and loaded me into the back of their truck. At last, my dream will come true. I am going to a home to be decorated and Santa will put all the presents under my branches on Christmas morning.
I AM NOW A REAL CHRISTMAS TREE!








The end!

Merry Christmas from all of us at Roblyn Farm. The pictures of their girls are printed with permission of Dawn and Ray Goeke, taken from one of their annual trips to the farm. May God Bless you all and may your Christmas be filled with peace, joy and love.

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