Spartan Daily

Back at the ranch: Christmas tree farms and the real v. fake debate

When Greg Lahann and his wife began looking for a piece of property 10 years ago, they were looking for land to build a house on, somewhere away from the hustle and noise of the Silicon Valley.

In 2002, Lahann, who works in the venture capital world,  said he found the perfect property: a 60-acre parcel in the Santa Cruz mountains.

“We found it, we love it,” he said. “It’s close enough to town, 10, 15 minutes from Los Gatos, but still far enough out of the way that feel like we’re in the mountains in the wilderness.”

But this property had a special element, something Lahann hadn’t been looking for when he signed the papers in 2004 an element that smells suspiciously evergreen.

“It’s been a working farm since the '50s,” he said. “We didn’t have any intention of running a Christmas tree farm. We actually got talked into by our neighbor who insisted that it would be a terrible shame the all of people who has been coming up here for so many years, not have their favorite place to come.”

Four Winds Christmas tree farm, nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is one of many cut-and-choose farms in the area. Located on Skyline Boulevard, a short drive on Highway 17, then into the hairpin mountain roads, the farm has been in operation since the '20s in some capacity or another.

Lahann said the property was originally wine vineyards, but when when prohibition was passed it was converted to an apple and pear orchard. In the mid-50s, the previous owners thought it would be easier to open a choose-and-cut farm and converted the ranch to Christmas trees.

“The people that come up find this place especially attractive because it’s so large,” said Greg’s father, Jerry Lahann. “It has trees of every size and the people get their choice of any tree they would like.”

According to Greg, the 60-acre ranch has about 30,000 trees total and they offer eight varieties:

1. Douglas Fir
2. Silver Tips
3. Blue Spruce
4. Grand Fir
5. White Fir
6. Sequoia
7. Pines
8. Nobel Fir

"It makes for a really nice setting for the families to come up and there’s so much room for picnics or for them to throw a football around," Jerry said.

Since the Lahann's have taken over Four Winds, Jerry said continuous improvements, including a snack bar, have been made.

Greg's parents work the snack bar, where free coffee, hot chocolate and hot apple cider is offered along with small snack items that are for sale for $1.

Last season, an estimated 1,700 trees were sold and Jerry said pretty much every year sales have been growing.

Customers are responsible for cutting down their own tree at Four Winds.

“It’s part of the charm, part of the experience,” he said.

Customers are given a saw when they come in the gates and asked to return it on their way out.

The busiest weekend at the farm is the first weekend in December, Lahann said adding that the weekend after Thanksgiving is also very busy, but sales are spread out over more days.

Lahann said about 70 percent of all the sales that Four Winds does happens on these two weekends.

Brittany Patterson, Spartan Daily

"If it's a dry season then we'll lose maybe 80 percent of the trees that we plant," he said.

During the off season, Lahann hires a crew that goes around with" very sharp knives" to shape the trees, especially Douglas Firs, into the pretty cone shape the people are so accustomed to.

Real v. Fake debate

Lahann said Four Winds ranch has suffered some from the artificial tree craze.

Brittany Patterson, Spartan Daily

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, a trade union that represents the interests of Christmas tree farmers across America, 85 percent of artificial trees are imported from China. Artificial trees are often made out of PVC, which can be lead based plastics, and take a long time to disintegrate the association said.

Elizabeth Becker, a senior anthropology major said the wastefulness associated with holidays worries her.

"We buy plastic trees with the intent that they will last forever, but they break after the first or second season," she said.  "I would hope people could be more aware that everything you buy and throw away will end up in dumps."

Becker said that her anthropology training has brought significance to her knowledge about the rituals of holidays such as Christmas. She said she learned the roots of Christmas in course reading, class lectures and discussions with other friends.

The ritual of the christmas tree began in Germany as a pagan holiday, she said.

Silver tinsel, for example, represented the economic disparity between upper-class patrons who could afford fancier trees in Victorian England and those of the lower classes.

Proponents of artificial trees say there are negative affects associated with real trees such as fire hazards and insect activity.

"The trees are green, renewable resources," Lahann said.

Customers are asked to leave a stump and layer of branches at the bottom of the tree because in doing so a new tree can grow back.

German Carrasco, a junior economics major said he doesn't think his family would purchase a fake Christmas tree.

"I like that fresh aroma smell at the house," he said.

Lahann said he grew up going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting down a tree with his family.

Although he said he's encountered struggles running the farm, overall it's been a great experience.

"You can hear the kids laughing and running through the trees," he said. "Everybody is really in a Christmas-y mood.”

SIDEBAR 

Links:

• The history channel has a whole multimedia page devoted to Christmas trees.
• The National Christmas Tree Association is a trade union that represents the interests of Christmas tree farmers across America. They have a whole site devoted to all things Christmas.
• Intersted in getting your own real Christmas tree this year? Check out the San Jose Yelp page devoted to Christmas trees.