Tree Farms Take Fresh Approach to Tradition

Wandering amid the two acres of live Monterey pine at the Orange Christmas Farm on a recent sunny day, Keith Kenney was looking for the perfect tree.

Kenney and his two daughters Dana, 6, and Erin, 8, had set out to surprise Mom--Grace Kenney, a registered nurse who was cooped up studying for refresher courses--by bringing home a special Christmas tree.

“She’s always wanted this type,” said Kenney amid the forest of living pines.

He knew that choosing a tree from a farm was a little more expensive than taking home a pre-cut one from a lot--in fact, twice the amount he says he usually pays for a tree. But the 33-year-old engineer said this had been a special year.

“With school and working--it’s been a real strain, so this will be a real special Christmas for us.”

Sentimental holiday enthusiasts, longing for the look and scent of a fresh evergreen to fill their homes this Christmas season, have been abundant during recent weekends, searching the county’s live tree farms for the pine of choice.

“Last year we had to take our tree down the day after Christmas; it was so dry, it was a fire hazard,” said Cynthia Kareem of Yorba Linda, as her husband, two children, a friend and a next-door neighbor roamed among 5,000 pines at the Bailey-Findley lot in Yorba Linda. “Hopefully it will be fresh.”

Most customers visiting one of the more than a dozen farms throughout the county defer to staff workers to do the chopping. But a few brave souls, including 8-year-old Omar Kareem and his neighbor, Scott Woodward, 9, prefer to take saw in hand.

“Now if you cut it, you have to carry it too,” Jim Bailey, part-owner of the lot, told the boys after they had felled a six-foot Monterey pine, which is the type offered at most lots because they grow so well in the county’s climate.

Not only did the twosome carry the pine from deep inside the farm to the parking lot, they heaved it over the side of the Kareem family’s Jeep.

“It’s not that heavy,” Omar said. “It was fun.”

Scott said his parents aren’t buying a tree this year because of the fire hazard, but he was sure that he would spend time enjoying the tree at his neighbor’s house.

“I’ve always been wishing I could have a great, big Christmas tree high as the clouds,” he said as he nestled in the back of the Jeep with Omar and the tree.

At Santa’s Forest, also in Yorba Linda, where wooden bridges take shoppers from the jam-packed parking lot off Yorba Linda Boulevard into a serene and shady five acres of evergreens, some buyers found the freshness of just-cut trees a worthy investment.

“You don’t see any dead stuff in here,” said Stan Jablecki of Brea as he moved aside the branches of a pine, revealing a nearly perfect green tree. “The last thing you want is a fire. No matter what the cost, what’s the cost of your home? It’s a lot more than a Christmas tree.”

He and his wife Sue said they have been buying fresh-cut trees for about 13 years.

“We’ve got pictures of little Elizabeth standing on the trunk” of the chopped tree, said Sue Jablecki, referring to the couple’s now 16-year-old daughter.

Dick Holmes, who has worked at the Santa’s Forest lot for 16 years, says that even fresh-cut trees need special care.

He suggests that buyers chop off the bottom of the trunk just before they put the tree in water, and add fresh water every few days.

Bailey, who has sold Christmas trees for 20 years, said the trend is for 7- and 7 1/2-foot trees, and especially ones that are full, fat and perfectly shaped. But he said everyone has a particular preference.