I’m a Mom. You could say I am a very proud Mom of two great kids. Time flies when raising a family – they start as a hope and end up as adults in a blink of an eye. Well, that blink of an eye actually takes over 18 years – 18 plus years of daily attention and nurturing.
Guess what? Raising Fraser Fir trees is a lot like raising children – it takes an act of love, trust, patience and perseverance to go from a little seed to a full grown (adult) freshly cut Christmas tree. Twelve years of constant attention on our farmland to help shape this fresh fir tree into one you will be proud to have in your home. Please indulge me just a little as I take you through the life of one of our own at Shatley Farms.
Day 1: Seed is planted in our nursery. It’s so vulnerable and tiny. We take great care to keep this seedling safe.
Year 1: 1 inch tall. Yes, that’s right O N E inch tall. I guess SLEEP helps growth. It is still quite a vulnerable young seedling.
Year 2: 3 inches tall. This little Fraser fir tree-in-the-making is working so hard to thrive and we do all we can to make sure that happens in the nursery.
Year 3: 6 inches tall and still happily residing in our nursery. We can’t force progress so we watch and wait for moving day.
Year 4: The Kindergarten year. This is when this little one is big enough to be transplanted to another field where it will grow to be about 10 inches tall.
Year 5: Elementary school. Whew. This is the year our natural young fir will CREEP up to 14 to 16 inches tall. Five years have gone by and it has topped the 1 foot mark
Year 6: Finally ready to meet the big kids in Middle/High School (did you cry like I did when I sent that sweet child to school with all those older children?) We now transplant this tree (with all the other rising young fir trees) to the huge farm fields where they will all spend the rest of their growth enjoying the summer sun, cool mountain air, gentle rain (sometimes fog) and yes, beautiful white snowy winter days.
Year 6-12: For up to 6 more years this tree will be groomed and prepared as it grows - LEAPS about 1 foot per year.
Year 12: The Move out! This is it. This is when we say goodbye to this tree – a tree we have spent 12 years making sure it had all it needs to thrive and become the best classically shaped Fraser fir tree for someone – maybe YOU! We hope you enjoy this fresh cut tree – it has been our pleasure to raise it.
As someone once said, it takes a village to raise a child and it sure does take one to raise a perfect (for you) Fraser Fir Christmas tree over those 12 years. We are proud of our team in Ashe County, North Carolina who make this possible!
