Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: News

Steve Swart, owner of Swart Tree Farm, 6400 S. Crawford Road, cuts down a tree in the back of his property. Swart has been selling Christmas trees for nine years. [Click to enlarge]

Maybe it's the pine smell.

Or it could be a holiday tradition.

For many families, a tree is more than something to put gifts under; it's an event, as they go out to a tree farm to get their pick.

"It was fun to go out and cut it down," said Rich Gillard, who traveled with his family to his Bay City home with a tree tied to the roof of their minivan.

Steve Swart, owner of Swart Tree Farm, has some idea of why families choose to get real trees.

"It's somewhat mythical, they want to have an adventure," he said.

The Swart Tree Farm, 6400 S. Crawford Road, is one of the closest tree farms to Central Michigan University, about two miles south of the Cabin, 930 W. Broomfield St.

The Swarts have been selling Christmas tress for nine years on their farm. In a good year, they sell more than 100 trees, Swart said.

The family started growing the trees mainly as "dug trees," trees to be grown, then dug up and transplanted for use as landscaping by construction companies.

"There was a time about 15 years ago where people thought they would be popular and planted too many trees as dug trees for construction," Swart said.

While a bad real estate market has slowed that demand, the trees remain popular at this time of year.

Growing Christmas trees takes longer than most crops; the trees only grow about a foot each year. Blue Spruce trees, like the ones sold at the Swart farm, also take about a year to gain their bluish tint, according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

Over the last few years sales of real trees have gone down as more people switch to artificial ones. But many families still choose to use the real thing for traditional or visual purposes.

"Real trees just look better and smell better," said Kyle Braun, an employee at Vander Sys Tree Farm on Pickard Street.

The Vander Sys Tree Farm Nursery, 1350 N. Coldwater Road in Weidman, offers several different varieties of trees including Scotch Pine, Fraser Fir and Grand Fir as well as Blue Spruce.

Each tree has its own benefits.

The Fraser Fir has soft needles and does not shed as much as other trees, according to the Arbor Day Foundation.

Trees are not allowed on campus because of the potential fire hazard.



news@cm-life.com

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