Our Homegrown Christmas Tree

 This year, we didn't buy a pre-cut tree for our Christmas tree.  Neither did we go to a tree farm and cut one down.

Instead, we went to the front of our property, and culled a spruce tree that needed to be removed because it had been planted (by us) too closely to some other trees.  Now, about 18 years ago, when we planted it as a 12" seedling bought from the local garden club for 25 cents just before Earth Day that year, we had thought we were planting those seedlings far enough apart for them to grow forever and become a screen between our property and the road right of way.  

About four years ago, those trees took a big growth spurt (seems like trees planted at this little place here struggle and grow really slowly for the first 8-12 years, then finally get their tap root through the incredibly dense clay into nicer soil and grow like crazy after that).  Three of them were definitely too close to each other.  Plus, volunteer maple trees had sprouted on either side of that clump of three spruce, and we wanted to keep the maples growing rather than chop them down.  I tried, that fall, to contact local tree companies and see if any of them could/would dig up two of the spruces and transplant them via tree spade.  Only one company called me back, just to request photos of the trees and their immediate location, then ghost me.

Late last winter, DH and I sadly admitted that those trees were definitely too tall to successfully transplant now, even if we could find a company that had that capability.  And so, we decided to cull them by turning two of them into Christmas trees.  One this year, and the other for Christmas 2023.

The Sunday before Christmas, DH hooked the wood hauler trailer to the 4-wheeler, and we drove out to the front of the property where we choose this year's cull.  With one quick cut of the chainsaw, DH felled it right onto the trailer.  From there, we drove it up to the front porch where DH measured from the top to the length we wanted the tree to be in order to fit into the living room, and trimmed it to size.

In the house, it looked much bigger than it had outside!  We were happily surprised to find that it had a really good symmetry for a tree that had grown however it wanted rather than being groomed and trimmed into proper Christmas tree thickness and shape for years.

Not bad for something we'd invested an entire quarter in.