Saws are provided for U-Cut or the customer may bring their own. Her husband plans to have a wooden toy shop ready within the next few years and hopes to offer adult wreath-making classes one day. Christmas tree farm coloring books, crayons and candy canes are given to the children who visit the shop. Wooden snow people, wooden deer and wreaths are sold, as well. Children can make a small wooden deer for a fee. There is a table dedicated to Nolan’s Nest, where handmade soaps, lip balm, wax melts, lotions and many more products made by a young man with cerebral palsy and his mom are sold. She sells her in-law’s maple syrup, a friend’s knitted hats and other gift items. Krenzer runs the shop, which was built by Mr. A short distance away is a corral where a herd of wooden deer await. The tree procurement experience begins as the customer drives up the snow people-lined driveway. They leave with a smile and they come back.” We don’t necessarily just sell the tree,” he saud. We want to help people enjoy Christmas,” Christine Krenzer said.
He uses older equipment and repairs it as needed, which has enabled him to learn how to do that. Because of this, we can sell trees cheaper.” This means instead of planting 15,000 trees, we’re planting 300. We use the money from our jobs to support it,” he states, “We can sell for whatever price we want because of no overhead. We have never borrowed money for the business. “I would love to go big, but the debt isn’t worth it. Owners of tree lots and garden centers have contacted Krenzer asking if he could supply trees for them. “I’m surrounded by some very good people.” “Some of the guys even bring their own pick-up trucks to haul the trees,” he said. My kids never complain, so I give my credit to my family.”Ī few teachers from his school volunteer when it is time to cut the trees. He also tends to get the most tips.”Īll of the children attend Falconer Central School, with this being Joseph’s last year. He’s an entertainer, very energetic and not always focused on work, but he may take a customer’s child on the sled. She’s my people person and the best salesperson. She is a workhorse and is very business-minded,” he said. He runs the chainsaw and does everything I can do. The father of four stresses the farm is a family business, because all of his children help in whatever way they can. “When I am asked how old the trees are, I take a look at my watch.”
His family cuts a few trees a couple of days ahead of opening to do the initial set-up, but then he analyzes what is needed at the end of each day and takes the kids to the lot the next morning at the crack of dawn. “When people buy trees from places that sell pre-cut trees, they are usually cut before November first and set up the week before Thanksgiving,” said the teacher. If you plant 50 fir trees and the deer eat them, plant something different or put up a fence. “Some of the varieties are more attractive to deer. “There are good characteristics to all trees,” he said when referring to the eleven varieties grown on his properties. Between the two lots, he currently has about 2,000 trees in different stages from 6-inches to 15-feet, as well as a few trees that measure as tall as 18-feet. The purple, white and blue painted trees are not in great supply due to the weather conditions having to be just right and the surrounding trees must to covered to avoid overspray. The trees grown near his home are sold for U-Cut and some are used to paint. He cuts these trees to take to his Hanson Road property. In recent years he has started another 5-acre tree lot on Route 62 near Ellington. His family planted 100 more each year, until most of the acreage was full. After 10 years, he decided to put a sign by the road and began selling a few trees.
At that time, he had no intention of selling the trees, but thought he may use them for his family’s Christmas trees.
Krenzer got started by getting some trees from the county Cooperative Extension Agency.