From the Fields - Robert Criswell
By Robert Criswell, Santa Clara County Christmas tree farmer
I sold a lot of trees. A lot of people came out and had a lot of fun. We raised our price $10, but we’re still $20 below the national average for choose-and-cut farms. The weather was cooperative because we had dry weekends. I had the best selling crew I’ve ever had. I am going to stay in touch with them so they’ll come back next year.
At times we could have had up to 400 or 500 people on the property at a time. The vast majority are well behaved. We had loads of Russians and Ukrainians. I talked to people from about four or five different parts of Russia, including Siberia. They celebrate Christmas on the 12th of January, so they’re coming out and getting a tree towards the end of my normal selling time.
I think I sold my last tree a little bit before 3:30 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. I left a couple of saws and put (the farm) on self-serve to where people can go out and cut a tree and then pass their payment through a slot in the window. Most people are very honest. A lot of people paid extra. I charged $80 a tree and often they would pay $100, which makes up for checks that were written on closed accounts or not sufficient funds.
I made pages of notes and diagrams on how to improve things for next year. I used to think about starting to plant again in late January, early February, but I no longer have the space, and because I’ll be 80 years old in less than a month, I would be in my 90s by the time those trees got big enough to sell.
If it weren’t raining, I’d be out collecting signs and putting them away. Instead, I’m playing hooky. I’m pretty dead tired. I usually take the whole month of January to relax and recharge.