When winter has arrived, it simply doesn’t feel like the holidays without a beautiful tree in your home. Whether you usually buy a real tree or own a fake one, visiting a Christmas tree farm is a fun tradition that not only makes the family happy, but also supports your local community.

3 Reasons You Should Visit A Christmas Tree Farm

For beautiful scenery, spend an hour at a local Christmas farm. You don’t have to visit the most popular farm for an incredible experience. We always buy our tree from a lesser known farm. This year, even though we visited on a blustery, cold day, my family enjoyed our time there, and we left successfully with a tree for the holidays.

1. Support local farmers

First, one of the best reasons to go is to support your farming community. Where I live, farming land is at risk of being turned into townhomes, especially as the older generation of farmers pass farms down to their children, who would prefer to sell the land. Our area has excellent schools, which is a major motivation for people to move here, even if they only have a small townhome. The problem with this is that homeowners as well as visitors to the area miss out on the beautiful views.

At the farm we visit, a small local family owns it and upkeeps it. You can even see their beautiful home in the background. Even though a Christmas tree farm sells trees that are slightly more expensive than store bought trees, you can be more enthusiastic about your purchase when you are shopping local from a small business.

When you buy from a farm in or near your neighborhood, you develop a connection to your tree. Knowing where your tree came from and being able to picture where it grew from a tiny baby tree into something big enough to hang ornaments on is a beautiful thing. Children especially love knowing where their tree was raised, but I usually see couples there without children too. Walking down the rows of trees is a merry, joyous activity anyone can enjoy.

Every year, the farm we visit puts forth a lot of effort to upkeep their trees and grow new ones. As we walk up and down the aisles of trees, my daughters enjoy imagining what it would be to live on a Christmas tree farm. The experience is very different from visiting other local farms that have animals. I love looking out and seeing my calm and serene surroundings.

Both of my daughters love that the owners put out fresh hot chocolate and candy canes. We gave them a choice this year of whether to go to a more popular farm that would offer more to do, and they chose this little farm because it offers complimentary hot chocolate. Those small, generous touches are what make memories for families. Since this is such a small, family owned farm, the experience is very personal and friendly, which brings us back year after year.

2. Have the experience and satisfaction of cutting down your tree

For a fun-filled family outing, a trip to a Christmas tree farm brings out a festive spirit in everyone. The experience is very different from grabbing a tree at your local supermarket. Here, you wander past tree after tree, discussing which one is the ideal tree for your home. Simply looking at evergreen trees for an hour fills everyone with Christmas spirit.

From the youngest to the oldest, the entire family enjoys having a say in which tree to select. Sometimes it is tough to agree on which tree to cut down, but usually we let the children have some imput to make it a simpler decision. My three-year old was very engaged in the process and loved helping us find the right one.

Visiting a Christmas tree farm is memorable for all family members. My older daughter even chose a special dress to wear for the occasion, and she couldn’t wait for me to take a few pictures of her in the middle of all of the trees. Since this was our third year to visit this farm, she has excellent memories here.

Running around to search for a tree has a fantastic appeal, especially in the winter, when children need a good excuse to get outside in the cold weather. Even though we visited on one of the coldest days we’ve had so far this year, everyone was smiling and having an excellent time.

When you finally pick out the perfect tree, it’s the most satisfying moment. As soon as we saw the tree, we knew we had to have it. This year, our tree is a moderate size, nicely round, and beautifully green. We simply love it.

3. Check out a wider variety of trees and buy organic

Another advantage of visiting a Christmas tree farm is that you can choose from a larger variety of trees. Unlike the evergreen trees at your local store, which are all one species of tree, farms grow many species to appeal to a wider group of customers. We ended up getting a beautiful Norway Spruce, but we had multiple sections of the farm to explore with different types of trees.

Other options were the White Pine and the Blue Spruce. We selected a tree that was just the right size and shape. If you don’t want one of the freshly grown local trees, you can also select trees that the farm imports from Pennsylvania.

I like that the local, farm-raised trees are all organic. With the tree we picked out, I can bring fewer chemicals into my home, and I am proud that my decision to buy from a local farm supports eco-friendly growing techniques with minimal pesticides.

Do you know where your Christmas tree comes from, or is it a fake tree? Share why you choose the tree you have in the comments.

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