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have two families investigating start- ing Choose & Cut Farms in Northern Virginia. Both families have taken lengthy tours of our farm. We dis- cussed and they learned about all phases of tree growing and tools used in planting, trimming, spraying, har- vesting, processing, and customer in- teractions. Both families are partici- pating in all phases of the farm. Dur- ing early April the families participate in our annual planting of seedlings. One family has also planted a few seed- lings on their farm. During the summer they also participate in trimming some of the trees and spraying weed killer to maintain the trees in great condition. One the families has also worked through our Christmas sales season. The husband worked in the tree pro- cessing area learning the aspects of shaking, drilling, and baling the trees. The husband also participated in secur- ing the trees on the customer cars for their ride home. The wife and daughter worked in our Christmas shop with all

of the crafts offered plus the wreaths, roping, etc. We also have a third local farmer that started a farm 3 years ago. He is planning to have 20,000 plus trees eventually. Both the family and the farmer that is shooting for 20,000 trees worked on days where we sold 500 trees in one day. That was an eye opener for both groups. They now understand that there are some serious logistics in moving 500 vehicles onto the farm, through processing, loading cars, and helping them exit the farm. A great deal of planning needs to be done in traffic management for the larger choose and cut operations. If you are going to plan to be a successful tree farmer, you need to be prepared to sell 1/8th of your trees each year no matter how big or small you are. During the mentoring program the apprentice farmers are not paid dur- ing most of the year. They are compen- sated during the sales season. The ap- prentice farmers are receiving valuable training and guidance in all phases of the Christmas tree farm. The Mentoring farmer is happy to help the apprentice

farmer and does get some free labor during the process. In summary , creating and operating a Choose & Cut farm has been personally very rewarding. It is very satisfying to plant seedlings, nurture them, and watch them grow into desirable Christ- mas trees. But most importantly, it has provided us the opportunity to meet some of the nicest people in the world, our Christmas tree customers. We do not believe you can find another busi- ness with such a great set of customers. You can contact VCTGA to get connected with the potential mentors in your area. secretary@VirginiaChristmasTrees.org 540-382-7310, www.VirginiaChristmasTrees.org Written by Paris Rasnic, Moose Apple Christmas Tree Farm, prasnic@rocketmail.com

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VCTGA News Journal ‒ Winter 2019 VCTGA News Journal – Winter 2019

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