Wednesday, December 10, 2003
|
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 |
|
Fayette Christmas tree farms fall victim to progress, high land values By J. FRANK LYNCH Finding a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm in the area used to be as simple as jumping in the car and heading into the countryside. As many as seven or eight independent tree farms operated in Fayette County into the late 1990s, easy to find by driving around looking for hand-lettered signs. Of the three tree growers that still operate in Fayette County, just one is listed in an Internet directory of farms compiled by the folks who should know, the Georgia Christmas Tree Association. The National Christmas Tree Association lists five tree farms in Fayetteville, but only two of those are operational. A third working farm isn’t listed at all. The Georgia Forestry Commission has stopped keeping any list. Christmas Forest, Fayette’s oldest cut-your-own tree farm, closed last season. Bulldozers have clear-cut the acreage on Ga. Highway 85 South at Ga. Highway 92, where a new shopping center anchored by Publix will be in business by this time next year. An early player in the cut-your-own experience and the county’s largest tree farm for years was Harp’s Farm Market on Hwy. 92 South. It quit growing trees and now concentrates on growing and selling nursery plants. But Harp’s neighbor in Inman, Rick Minter, is hoping to pick up the slack. “We are planting even more than ever,” said Minter, whose farm on Hill’s Bridge Road off Hwy. 92 backs up to Harp’s acreage. The change in Christmas tree farms is just another sign of the times, said Sheldon Hammond of the Fayette County Cooperative Extension Service. “It’s just more cyclical than anything else,” said Hammond, explaining why society has gone back toward more convenient manufactured trees, which often come in just two or three pieces and have the lights built in. “Besides, the farm market was over-saturated,” he said. “But I’ve got two phone call messages on my desk from people who want to start growing trees.” The obvious concern in Fayette County, Hammond was quick to point out, is the cost of land: Can the Christmas tree farmer afford to wait six or seven years to make a return on an investment that may have cost him well into the six figures initially? “Can I really afford to maintain a tree farm or should I go for the pot of gold and sell to Publix?” Hammond asked. “Plus, it’s not an easy thing to do,” farming trees, Hammond said. The trees must be seeded, feed, watered and trimmed annually just to get that “shape.” “You can make money at it, but do you have the time to invest and the patience to wait?” Hammond asked. Minter, who supplements his income by hosting the annual Inman Farm Heritage Days in the fall and pioneer-themed tours for school kids, agreed. “Growing trees and selling them choose-and-cut to the public is as much a labor of love as anything,” he said, suggesting that the adventure in loading up the kids to go find the perfect specimen is something worth holding on to. “In the post-Sept. 11 environment, people seem to be looking for traditional things to do with the family such as going out to cut a tree, taking a hay-ride and sipping hot apple cider on a cold afternoon,” Minter said. That’s what the Fain family of Fayetteville was looking for on Monday. Greg and Penny Fain, with 4-year-old Mark leading the way, found their “perfect” tree after about 10 minutes of searching. It took even less time for Greg to fell the 10-foot Leyland cypress with a sharpened bow-saw on loan from Minter. The Leyland cypress, which resembles a cedar but has firmer branches, has been the most popular tree to grow and sell in this area for several years. Believed to have its roots in England, the Leyland is popular with farmers because it grows fast with little care. For customers, the Leyland’s complete lack of odor can be a positive or negative trait, depending on allergies. “We’re also growing Carolina Sapphire, which is a nice tree with sort of a minty aroma which is something the Leyland lacks,” said Minter. “We’ve had a great year for tree growth with all the rain during the summer,” said Minter, who estimated he has 20,000 trees spread across 40 acres, though he’s not sure of the exact number. The big retailers like Pike’s, Home Depot and Lowe’s truck in trees daily and have taken some of the local business, Minter acknowledged. “There still are tons of county residents who don’t even know about our farm,” he said. “We’ve had to do things I never thought of when I started doing this in the late ‘80s,” Minter said. His first tree this season was sold to a couple who found the farm on its website (www.inmanfarm.com), then followed up with an e-mail to inmanfarm@aol.com and finally paid with a credit card. “Before, you just put up signs and most all customers paid in cash,” Minter said.
|
||