2006 , 2007 & 2008
Trials and Tribulations of a Texas Christmas Tree Farmer
Archives
February 12, 2008
The 2007 Christmas tree selling season is now history. One of the most common questions we get is how are sales? Well, this year sales were excellent with many new and also returning customers . However, it was a very tough selling season.
We were either wet or overwhelmed nearly every day during the selling season! Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we had rain on at least one day of every weekend we were open. As many of you know, a Christmas tree farm is no fun when it is raining. We actually encourage our customers to postpone their visit till weekend days when the sun is shining and the farm can be enjoyed. Usually, we have only one rain day during the four weekends we are open. This year for the first time in over twenty years, we had a rain on all four weekends we were open.
Some farms do close when the weather is bad. We do not close since we do have customers who must come even in the rain and get their tree because of work or family schedules. If you are willing to find your tree in the rain, we will be open and even cut it for you. This is why on rain days we (especially our very good workers) were wet.
Now for the overwhelmed part of the selling season. When it rains, we get very few families. The next day when the sun is shining, everyone and their brother shows up! This is why many of you may have been forced to park in the "far reaches" of the farm . To make matters worse, many also experienced lines at the tree baling, cleaning or the cashier. This is what we call be ing overwhelmed. I must thank our customers for being very understanding of what these unique weather conditions will do. Now for the good news, we did have enough hot dogs during most of the afternoon.
We did notice this year that many of our customers recognized the environmental benefit of getting a real Christmas tree at Mill Hollow. We also noticed that we are continuing to get what we refer to as the second generation of customers. These customers came as children, enjoyed Mill Hollow and are now returning with their own children in tow. This is really what makes us feel good that we are doing something which future generations will remember and hopefully carry on. This is what we call leaving your mark on society!
The Christmas supplies have been put away , the equipment covered , the rutted up roads smoothed over and the picnic area has been cleaned. We have also already planted the Virginia pine and Leyland cypress seedlings. For the next couple of weeks, we can enjoy the farm.
The woodpeckers are attacking the house! As many of you noticed, this last fall, I replaced many of the boards that the woodpeckers "pecked" and created holes. The plan is to paint the house now that the seedlings have been planted.
Well, the woodpeckers are now going after the new pine boards. To make it worse, they like to peck on the boards, real, real early in the morning. This is not the alarm clock I want. I prefer the sound of percolating coffee and the warm morning sun peeking through the east window.
I am not a hunter and have no desire to be a hunter. The army ruined any fascination I might have had of blasting a woodpecker to oblivion. Considering how fast they fly, I doubt if this option would even work unless I shot them on the wood siding. Then, I would have my own shell holes to fix!
I had to find another option so did a little research. I found out that many birds are afraid of owls. Well, we do have owls at the farm but they tend to be down by the creek and not on top of the hill. Every now and then we will see one on the concrete bridge in the evening. I know of no way to convince this bridge sitting owl to come up the hill early in the morning.
I had to consider other options. I went to our local Walmart and found a simple and more importantly cheap possible solution. They had a real looking plastic owl. Even Jude, our petting dog, wondered why it would not fly when he jumped after it! This owl is now on the porch in plain view of any visiting and hungry woodpecker.
This time of the year is when we tend to sit outside and enjoy our morning cup of coffee. What makes this really enjoyable, is seeing all of the wildlife, including woodpeckers, who call Mill Hollow home. This last week, we were visited by one huge doe and a smaller doe (possibly her fawn). These two deer munched their way across our Christmas tree field grass. We also have hawks and vultures soaring and gliding in the winds and many times just clearing the Christmas trees before they pick up another updraft. It is too early for snakes to be out. With the hawks, I am wondering if we even have any snakes left in the Christmas tree field.
The crows are still around but do appear to be spending less time on top of the hill. Again, I think this is related to a territory squabble they got into with the hawks last year. These crows are interesting to watch. Everything we do at the farm, appears to get their noisy inspection. Several years ago, I planted a new field of Christmas trees. Well, the crows had to pull out several of the seedlings before apparently giving their stamp of approval and left the remaining ones alone to grow. They even had to check out the pine boards I replaced on the house.
Jude, our petting dog, also likes to explore and find anything unusual. Well, one of our younger customers lost their two socks. (We gave up long time ago trying to figure out the clothing being left in the Christmas tree fields.) Jude has found them and considers them his property now! I suspect he likes the smell. He proudly prances around with them and keeps them with his precious ball. Obviously, these socks will not make it into our lost and found. Jude is a believer in "finders, keepers" especially with smelly items. If you lost the socks, you can try to convince Jude to give up this precious find when you make it up to the farm this year.
November 14, 2007
The Christmas trees continue to look great with them putting on their final fall growth with the current warm weather. Right now, we are hoping for a very cold couple of days before we open in a week for Choose and Cut. A cold snap makes it feel like winter. More importantly, a couple of days with the temperature well below freezing at night will kill any insects in the tree. After all, this is Texas. Bugs do thrive here probably 10 months out of the year. The other two months if we do not get a killing freeze, they are more or less dormant. With Christmas trees, the warmth of a room could cause a dormant bug to become alive! This is why we tell our customers who have a fear of bugs to spray the inside of a tree with a household insecticide before bringing it in and decorating.
The October Outing has been completed with perfect weather. The Mill Hollow Annual Invitational Down Hill Tire Rolling Contest was held on two separate weekends this year. As you may recall from past writings, this competition started back in the early 1990's with the need to tire out three very energetic young boys before the car ride home. Every year since, we have had at least one of thee boys back to the farm to see who could roll a tire the farthest! This year, two of the brothers showed up on separate weekends. It made no difference. Alice, a friend of one of the brothers, was again in the competition this year. As last year, her tire rolled the farthest and was obviously the winner of the tire rolls during the two weekends! Obviously, I need to talk to the three brothers and see if we should amend the rules to give Alice a ten, twenty or maybe thirty feet handicap. She is obviously either very good or very lucky! As you can see, traditions and memories have a way of being started at Mill Hollow and will continue for decades.
When you come up to the farm, you will see some minor changes in the layout. We have moved the tricycles to near the entry to the picnic area and away from the tree swing area. This was done so our younger customers would have access to them. With them located out of sight by the tree swing, these tricycles would migrate to the four corners of the farm! I never knew teenagers love tricycles so much. Again, I suspect tricycles are part of the memories created and continued here at Mill Hollow. Oh yes, the badminton are has also moved closer to the picnic area and is now shaded in the afternoon sun.
I was planning on adding a few attractions this year. The major one was going to be a "duck race". Well, I had a few problems with China which forced this attraction on hold. This duck race consisted of pumping water down trough to move a floating rubber duck. The first rubber duck to float pass the finish line wins.
You are probably wondering how China could have cause me to delay this attraction. Well, all rubber ducks appear to be made in China. They are also be recalled because of lead paint! Hopefully next year, this problem will have been resolved and a "duck race" with safe lead free ducks can be enjoyed by all.
I have made up another brew of vino. This year, I beat all of the area critters to the vineyard and got most of the grapes. The vino is in the final stages of fermenting and will probably be bottled in the next few days. I reduced the time that the juice was on the skins in order to reduce the tannins . This should make the wine taste better sooner.
September 15, 2007
The Christmas trees look great. We had plenty of rain this year. More importantly, it came at the right time and in the right amount. Based on 24 years of growing Christmas trees, this year has been the best we have ever seen with existing tree growth and seedling survival. We should have plenty of Christmas of beautiful trees in the 6-10 foot range for your family to check out. As one man said, this makes it tough on the wife and keeps the kids and I away from the free hot dogs, tire rolling and the trails!
Our Christmas tree growing at Mill Hollow appears ideal for most weather conditions. If we get a drought, we have clay below the sand to keep the tree roots alive. We may not get much growth but based on past droughts, the Christmas trees will survive.
Christmas trees do not like wet roots and could die if the ground is too wet for too long.. If we get an abnormally wet year like this, the hills help regulate the amount of water available to the Christmas trees. If we get too much rain in a short time period, it will run down the hill and away from the Christmas trees.
The bad news with hills is finding available all weather parking. The top and side of the hills are ideal for growing Christmas trees and also for parking cars. The bottom of the hills are too wet for trees. If we tried parking cars at the bottom of the hills, I suspect several would be up to the axle in wet sand on a wet weekend.
Is there a better crop for Mill Hollow besides Christmas trees? In doing limited research on the history of the area, I found they have tried everything from cotton to corn. The problem with this area is what happens if you plow the hill sides for row crops. Rains will carry the top sand layer down the hill and eventually the clay will also be eroded away. This has happened on our farm and can be seen by the grassland gully near to the "dead end maze". Trees appear to be the best crop for this area since it does not require plowing and the roots hold the existing sand/clay in place.
The one weather condition we worry about is a direct hit from a hurricane. We have seen with Alicia which passed 60 miles to the west and with Rita which passed 60 miles to the east that Christmas trees can not stand a long duration of very high winds and rain. They will be laid flat on the ground. This will cause roots to be broken and eventually will cause the tree to die.
Obviously, we watch the weather very closely during the June through October period for hurricanes. A direct hit could be the deciding event of whether timber may be a better crop than Christmas trees at Mill Hollow.
You may have noticed on the first page how our Christmas trees are good for the environment and reduces global warming. The link will provide you with more information on this rational. I did put this information on the web site since I suspect many people feel guilty about cutting a live Christmas tree. Well, it is a crop like corn and must pay the bills. If we did not cut and sell our Christmas trees, the best economic option would be to subdivide Mill Hollow into a subdivision which is already happening in the area.
With Christmas trees, we maintain roughly 800 trees per acre with all of them removing global warming carbon dioxide and sequestering it as wood, needles and roots. If you look at the subdivisions being developed, you will notice that an acre will contain at most 7 lots and probably have two or three trees each or only 14 to 21 trees per acre!
Obviously we believe that 800 growing trees per acre is more environmentally right than 21 trees per acre in the alternative development of the farm as a subdivision.
It is our customers who buy our Christmas trees who we must thank for keeping us a forested farm. We also believe that you are the ones who deserve the carbon credit related to this operation.
You have helped the environment with a Christmas tree from Mill Hollow. A carbon credit is the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide being reduced by our sustainable Christmas tree growing operation and adjacent forests and is conservatively calculated to be over 120 lbs per tree sold. From Houston, the amount of carbon dioxide generated by the gasoline you will use to come to Mill Hollow is less than the amount your Christmas tree has sequestered during its growing life. In the process, you have generated a carbon credit, helped the environment and had a very fun time!
Do keep in mind that an artificial tree consumed oxygen and generated carbon dioxide when manufactured and was shipped to your neighborhood store. In addition unlike a real Christmas tree, it will never convert one molecule of carbon dioxide to carbon, will never generate any oxygen and is not accepted for recycle by most Houston and probably nationwide recycling operations!
We look at our customers as being part of the solution and not of the problem! We thank you and also suspect Mother Earth thanks you.
Mill Hollow Breaking News-August 1, 2007
A tree fell on the wooden bridge on our trail to Maze Hill from high winds during a Texas thunderstorm. The fallen tree has been removed and the bridge repaired.
June 15, 2007
We have completed our first of two yearly Christmas tree shearing of the year. Each shearing requires me to walk around each tree with a 40 pound reciprocating blade and engine on my back. Shearing the farm once is equivalent to walking 75 miles. I will have roughly two months rest before I do my final shearing of the year in mid August. Why do we shear? This is what makes a Virginia pine and Leyland cypress into a beautiful full Christmas tree. In addition, it is my health club! I would sooner walk around these trees then go a gym to lift weights and then walk or run around an indoor air conditioned track. This is boring! In the Christmas trees, I do not get bored and am able to take in all of the bird, animal and snake life who call the farm home on this 75 mile journey.
Since March, we have had more than our usual amount of rain. This has resulted in lots of Christmas tree growth and excellent survival on our newly planted seedlings. The bad news is that this rain has also caused our grass to grow and means more mowing. Oh well, this is better than being in a drought.
This rain is also helping the vineyard. The vines are loaded with small grapes which in a couple months will be big, juicy and sweet. I am not the only one checking out the progress of the grapes. We have noticed deer passing through the vineyard. I suspect they are also waiting for their chance to nibble on something juicy and sweet. Right now, I am trying to come up with a realistic method of keeping all of this fruit to myself. I do need to make some vino!
During a walk in the woods past the maze hill a few weeks ago , we found a creeping thorn filled vine of blooming small pink roses. We did check with an expert at the Antique Rose Emporium by Independence. Based on our description and the fact that mill families lived in the area, he guessed that these roses were what they called the Seven Sisters. They were very popular in the very late 1800's and early 1900's and was the time that the Oakhurst mill community was prospering. The major question we have is whether these roses decorated someone's front yard or an old forest grave! Obviously, we will let this mystery remain and let a "sleeping dog lie".
Marge did get a cutting of this rose and is attempting to root it. So far in a glass of water, it is forming the needed roots. In another couple of weeks, we will transplant it and see if it will continue to grow. If successful, the question remains where to plant it. We just may put it at the flag pole where our long departed petting dog, Brandon, and petting rabbits, Babs, are buried.
Is global warming real and disastrous for the future? Everyone has their own opinion. However, a real Christmas tree from Mill Hollow is an easy step for your family to directionally reduce global warming.
The consensus of the climate experts is that global warming is caused by more than normal amounts of carbon as carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere. For twenty three years, we have been growing Christmas trees. We also replant a Christmas tree seedling on the stump of any cut or dead tree.
Why do real Christmas trees reduce Global Warming? A live or real Christmas tree as it grows converts atmospheric carbon dioxide to oxygen and sequesters the removed carbon as wood, needles and roots. In contrast, an artificial tree resulted in carbon dioxide being generated and put into the atmosphere during its manufacture and transport from overseas. This results in a net increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Unlike a real Christmas tree, a fake tree only directionally worsened and will never reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Do not burn your Christmas tree. Even after Christmas, a real discarded Christmas tree still sequesters this carbon if not burned. A real Christmas tree if recycled for mulch will result in soil microbes converting and sequestering most of this wood carbon into a soil nutrient. Even a real Christmas tree to be taken with the trash to the dump would still be sequestering and eventually recycling this carbon to a future useful product. In a landfill, the pressure, temperature and microbes would convert this wood to methane. With current technologies, this landfill methane at many landfills would be returned to you as natural gas to heat the house and cook your meals.
Do you want to recycle your fake Christmas tree? Interestingly, most recycling operations will not accept fake trees since many contain Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) plastic mixed with other materials and just not possible to economically recycle. Even in a landfill, PVC is so stable that it will take a long time , if ever, for the contained carbon to be converted to methane.
Hopefully before this year's selling season, I will have quantified how much carbon your Christmas tree from Mill Hollow has sequestered. As part of this effort, I will also quantify the amount of carbon dioxide generated during the manufacture and movement of a fake tree to your local Walmart.
I believe our customers should feel good about the small things they do to help the environment. This includes getting a real Christmas tree from Mill Hollow and helping to directionally reduce global warming. After all, it is the small things we do that determines what happens in the future.
March 15, 2007
The books have been closed, taxes paid and most importantly the seedlings planted where a tree was cut or died. These seedlings should turn into beautiful Christmas trees in five years or 2012! As many of our customers noted last year, we have added a major new field for the beautiful Leyland cypress. This and next year we will be expanding this field to make sure we have enough Leylands for not only 2012 but the years beyond.
We have started on our yearly effort to create new fun activities for the children. Last year it was the very popular tire rolling contest. This year we have already completed what we call the "bug monster". It is tires buried in the ground and looks like a huge four legged ant! This attraction is based on our observation that young children love to climb. Instead of the prohibited climbing on the outside of the log cabin playhouse, they can climb to their hearts content on the bug monster.
The remaining attraction yet to be built is a duck racing track! This duck racing will be done in a water sluice with a hand pump providing the water. The duck will be a small bathtub type duck which will float in the sluice and move with the flowing water. Obviously, the more water you pump, the faster the water flows in the sluice and consequently the faster the rubber ducky will move! With the rolling tires, we got many requests of children to buy the winning tire! With the rubber ducky, we will let them do it! I am sure the parents will be more willing to take a rubber ducky home instead of a used tire!
We have also moved the volley ball/ badminton net to a new area. It is now along the hay ride road leading to the tree swings. The bug monster is adjacent to it. The reasons for this move are many. Most importantly, we will be planting Leyland cypress Christmas trees where it was previously. In addition, the new location will be shaded from the hot afternoon sun. This should make for more comfortable play especially on a hot sunny day during our October Outing event.
As is normal, the birds are back. Marge and I sit out in the morning and evening and just take in the activities of the variety of birds which make their spring home at Mill Hollow. Right now, we have a lot of robins, blue birds and red cardinals and many more we do not know what they are. In addition we have our native birds, the crows, vultures, owls, woodpeckers and hawks who make room for these migrating northern "snow birds".
Jude, or famous petting dog is a bird dog. He also watches over these birds and makes sure they do not get too close on the ground. If they are on the ground and get within twenty feet, he will chase them until they fly . He apparently thinks that the only good bird is a flying bird.
Mill Hollow Breaking News-December 1, 2006
Mark and Elizabeth became engaged at the romantic Mill Hollow's Engagement Tree after dark on the Moonlight Adventure night of Friday, December 1.
December 1, 2006
Take a crisp, starry moonlit night, a romantic young man, his special girl, and a Christmas tree. The scene was set for a very unique and romantic marriage proposal.
The plan was hatched back in August when Mark visited Mill Hollow Christmas Tree Farm. Since his girlfriend, Elizabeth, loved the Christmas season, he figured what better place to propose then in a Christmas tree field next to a glowing tree. It took place during Mill Hollow's annual Moonlight Adventure on Friday, December 1.
The couple ventured into the dark Christmas tree field armed with only a flashlight. As they strolled near the designated tree, it suddenly lit up, Mark went down on his knee and proposed. Did she accept? You bet she did! The wedding is set for December 1, 2007.
Mill Hollow Breaking News-November 15, 2006
A Tire Rolling Contest area for the children has been set up, tested during the October Outing and proved to be very popular. The rules are simple. You must yell "Tire Rolling", not touch the tire after the red line and must return the tire to the start line. The tire which rolls the farthest is the winner. The winning tire during the October Outing was sent on its way by a four year old girl!
October 21, 2006
The eighteenth "Mill Hollow Annual Invitational Down Hill Tire Rolling Contest" was again held the first day on the first weekend of the October Outing. Justin or I did not win. Alice, a friend of Justin, and a student at Texas A&M whipped both of us! She won the distance on two of the three rolls. This was even with Justin's special low profile, slick tire and my diligent practicing to find the best line down the hill. What is really worse for Justin and I, this is Alice's second year in a row to win the contest. It must be the theoretical analysis class on tire rolling at Texas A&M she is rumored to have taken. As Justin and I said as we left the Tire Rolling Hill Side, wait until next year Alice!
Rebal is still alive and in a pasture with other "over the hill" horses. As you may recall, last year she lost weight due to her very old age. She has put on weight but is still underweight and not able to give children horse rides. We continue to hope to have her come out of retirement for one more season of a "farewell ride" for the children but it does not appear likely. We will keep you informed on her status.
Mill Hollow Breaking News-October 1, 2006
Mill Hollow has not experienced the drought affecting other parts of Texas.
The normal fall rains have occurred making this one of the best years ever for growing Christmas trees at Mill Hollow. In the last two weeks, four rains have occurred . These showers resulted in 4-5 inches of rain which nearly all soaked into the ground.
These fall rains are a continuation of the showers seen at Mill Hollow throughout the summer. Nearly all of the seedlings planted in January survived. The growing Christmas trees are also looking great with very minimal losses. This appears to be the best year since we started in 1983 for growing Christmas trees. With rain, it is most effective when it comes at the right time and the right amount. Too little rain or infrequent rain will cause seedlings and trees to die. Excessive rain or too frequent rains will also cause seedlings and trees to die because of "wet feet".
Mill Hollow Breaking News-August 15, 2006
Some two legged and four legged critters have absconded with this year's bumper crop of sweet muscadine grapes. The critters are believed to be the local crows and possibly one or more of the newly arrived deer herd. These critters got past the flashing shiny disks rumored to keep critters away and also penetrated the protective bird netting over the vines.
It is believed that the crows used the protective bird nets as perches to get to the berries immediately below the net from the split and discarding the grape skins caught in the net and on the ground. Based on nearby excretions containing grape skins, it appears the deer reached up into the grapes below the net and out of reach of the crows!
As estimated one quart of berries has been salvaged out of an estimated ten to twenty gallons of grapes originally on the vines. Obviously, no wine is to be made again this year!
However, Mill Hollow's wild life population is fat and happy.
Mill Hollow Breaking News-August 1, 2006
Mill Hollow has completed the repair of damage and removal of the downed trees and branches from last year's Hurricane Rita in the Christmas tree fields and play areas. The last load of oak was split , removed and stacked.
The only remaining evidence of Hurricane Rita are are few 12 to 16 foot Christmas trees leaning from the 120 mph winds. These will be converted into fresh Texas Christmas tree wreaths during our upcoming selling season.
July 15, 2006
We are seeing a change in the wild animal population around the farm. The vultures have left and are around Lake Livingston. Suspect this is related to the low lake level and the availability of dead fish. They do still come by to check out the fields but have not nested in the area this year.
With the vultures gone, we have now three hawks making their home in the big trees at the east side of the Christmas tree fields. Unlike the vultures who prefer dead and rotting animals, these hawks are hunters and very good at it. I have seen them several times flying over with their captured and still living prey in their talons. I have no problems when they are making lunch of a rat, rabbit or squirrel. However, twice now I have seen them fly low over me with wiggling snakes! The thought does pass on how many times do they drop a snake in flight? It is interesting to note that we have not yet seen a snake this year in or near the Christmas tree fields.
These hawks also appear to be very territorial or do not like or noisy crows. One morning, the hawks and crows had a very vocal and loud disagreement in the open area near to the tree swing. I do not know who won this argument but did find a lot of crow feathers in the area. Also, I have noticed that the crows are staying close to the big perimeter trees and away from their normal stomping ground of the flag pole, picnic area and Christmas tree fields!
It appears that the feral hogs, domestic pigs gone wild, have moved on. When they came many years ago, we stopped seeing deer. These feral hogs are noisy, kill the underbrush needed by deer for food and protection and nearly impossible to get rid of.
We now are routinely seeing deer with the hogs gone. A family of deer, two does and a six point buck, are now routinely feeding in the Christmas tree fields. They come out of the woods nearly every morning and night and spend a half hour or so munching on the grass between the Christmas trees.
I am sure someone will ask if they can set up a deer stand. The answer is "no"! I am not against hunting but do not want to explain to some six year old customer why a hunter is carrying out a dead deer from the woods. I would rather explain to this six year old customer why we let snakes live!
Rebal the quarter horse is still relaxing and enjoying retirement with the other over the hill horses. Jude, the petting dog, is getting older, sleeping more and tossing the can less!
The Christmas trees are looking really good with the rains we have received over the last several months. Mill Hollow, unlike most of Texas, has received it normal rains and definitely is not under drought conditions! If anything, I have spent more time on the tractor mowing grass than I have in most other years.
The major concern we have is if we have another hurricane. Having seen the damaged caused by hurricanes Alicia (passed sixty miles to the west around 1984)) and Rita (passed sixty miles to the east in 2005), we are hoping not to have another hurricane in the area this year and maybe not for many more years!
We do not have to worry about hurricane storm surge being 100 hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico. However, these hurricane winds and accompanying tornados can snap huge old oaks and old growth pine even 100 miles inland. Nearly a year after hurricane Rita, I am still cleaning up the fallen trees and branches!
I am still amazed on how our local political officials can not understand why people will evacuate when they are outside the storm surge area. Maybe the next time we have a hurricane, they should stay and not evacuate. We stayed during hurricane Alicia in our house in Cypress. It is surrounded by huge pines and oaks. We will never do that again. The sound of a wind induced creaking house accentuated with the loud snap and then roar of falling trees convinced me that Mother Nature is all powerful. When "She expresses her fury", I leave.
Yes, I will get out of a hurricanes path, even if this means sitting on the freeway jammed with evacuating cars. Being in the army, I did learn that retreating to live and fight another day can be the smart thing to do!
April 19, 2006
As you can see from our breaking news, we have another critter who has taken up residence at Mill Hollow Christmas Tree Farm. As you can probably guess, our philosophy with these critters (except for the wild hogs) is to "live and let live". It does make for a very relaxing morning when we are sitting out on the porch, drinking our morning coffee and see these critters whether a woodpecker, deer or a turkey off doing their thing.
We are waiting to see what happens when our petting dog Jude comes across this turkey. Jude is a golden retriever and consequently is very interested in birds. It is obvious that he believes all birds should be flying and will chase them until they do! Unlike the other birds at the farm, this turkey is big and really impressive when it spreads it wings if threatened! It will not necessarily run unlike the other birds at the farm.
We did have an amusing event a few weeks ago with Jude and his determination to keep all birds in the air over the Christmas tree fields. On this day, the vultures were playing with him. They would swope low until he came out and chased them away. Well, we had a very low flying airplane come over the farm. Jude took one look and bounded off and chased this plane all the way across the field. Jude was very proud when he came back as if to confirm that this huge noisy bird did not land in the field.
We are slowly cleaning up the damage from last year's Hurricane Rita. The old oak tree snapped in the east field has been cut up. The question remains what to do with all of this wood. For some history, this oak tree based on ring count was approximately 150 years old and four feet in diameter when it was snapped by Hurricane Rita approximately five feet above the ground. The wood is very dense and heavy. Even by cutting up the chunks into one foot slices, I was unable to easily move them because of the weight. With the tree being in the middle of a Christmas tree field, it also was not possible to bring in heavy equipment to take these chunks out without taking out a major portion of the field. Therefore, the only workable option was to split the slices and take it out as chunks.
I have in the past used an ax to split wood and know the effort required. With this huge oak tree and also the major snapped branch from the tree swing to deal with, I decided that manually splitting this amount of dense wood was just too much exercise! So, my Christmas present from Marge last Christmas was a real gasoline powered wood splitter! It really works great and gives you the feeling of "power". More importantly, Marge even loves operating the controls to split the wood. It is something about the sound and smell of fresh oak being split.
I am debating on making some of this oak available for our customers as fire wood this year at a very reasonable price. I suspect a fire in the fireplace when putting up a real Christmas tree may be a perfect match. All I have to do is figure out some way to package the oak chunks so it can be easily handled by our workers and also by our customers. We will not deliver firewood. We are in the Christmas tree business and not the firewood business. My thoughts are if any of our customers want to take home a few chunks of firewood with their Christmas, we will have it available.
For those keeping track of our horse, Rebal, she is still enjoying retirement with the other over the hill horses in her pasture. Her weight is a little better but still has ribs showing. We are hoping the green grass of spring will continue to allow her to put on weight to get her over this next winter.
Mill Hollow Breaking News - April 15, 2006
A turkey has taken up residence in Mill Hollow's Christmas tree fields.
It does magically materialize when it hears the tractor and will come within eight feet of it. It does not like it when the driver gets off of the tractor and retreats and in some cases will even hide in the adjacent woods until the human threat is back on the tractor. This could be a wild turkey since they were released in East Texas twenty years ago. Alternatively, this could be a turkey which escaped being the centerpiece for Thanksgiving! Regardless, it appears to be quite comfortable living in the Christmas tree fields with plenty of seeds and grass and protected from possible predators by the electric fence used to keep the wild pigs out.
Mill Hollow Breaking New - February 1, 2006
The neighborhood woodpecker who has been slowly pecking away at the siding on the house for many years ended up in the wood burning stove. This was a very lucky woodpecker. The stove was not fired. The lost woodpecker was found by the racket it was making. When the stove door was opening, it immediately flew to an open window. At the window with safety a step away, it did take its time to perch on the window sill, look around and in its own way say thank you for finding me.
This woodpecker still continues to routinely comes by each morning around 8:30 AM for breakfast from our pine siding on the house but does stay clear of the chimney vent.
February 1, 2006
Marge and I are taking the time now to reflect on what went great this last selling season and what new should we add for next year. The one major change you will notice is that we are telling customers and potential customers about our very scenic farm. Sometimes one is so close to something that you do not realize what you have!
Emergency planning is another area we will focus on in future years especially in training our workers. As some of you may know, the Saturday after Thanksgiving weekend we had extremely high winds from the Southeast. These winds were pushing a forest fire approximately two miles from our farm and more importantly towards our farm! As many of you may know, Hurricane Rita and its 117 MPH winds not only snapped trees but also loaded up the forest floor with broken branches and pine needles. The last major rain we had was also three months earlier also from Hurricane Rita. The East Texas forests were a tinder box.
The Texas Forest Service and several of the area fire departments were deployed on Felix Currie Road between the fire and our farm in an attempt to stop it there. If it jumped this road, we would have evacuated the farm since there was nothing between this road and our farm but two miles of fuel loaded forests. Realistically, the next fire defense perimeter would have been the southern edge of our Christmas tree fields! We did have a member of the fire department at the farm monitoring the progress of the fire fighting and would have given us the evacuation order if needed. The fire was held at the road.
You may wonder why we have a bell by the covered hay stack. Well, this is our warning alarm to get everyone's attention. If evacuation was necessary, we would have used it . This is why I try to keep the bell rope tied off high and out of reach of the children and even some adults.
We have completed our yearly task of replanting Christmas trees which died or were cut for a family's Christmas tree. This year, we have expanded our planting of the much demanded Leyland cypress into the volleyball, badminton and tricycle area by the tree swings. Based on the experimental planting in this area last year, this black clay gumbo appears to be ideal for Leyland cypress.
Now all we have to do is find somewhere to put the displaced volleyball and badminton court and also the tricycles. Tentatively we will still keep the volleyball and badminton court near to the tree swing since many families members are taking in a game while others are enjoying a relaxing swing. The major problem is that we do not have a flat area but will have to place it on a slight hill. If room permits, we will probably also keep the tricycles in the same area. If too congested, the tricycles may end up at the Maze Hill.
We have cut a new trial from the wooden bridge to Maze Hill. It is longer than the current trail but more scenic. Our rational for this new trail is our customers would not mind taking a different way back from Maze Hill than the one that brought them there.
I am still contemplating putting in a tire rolling competition area. As many of you know, tire rolling has been done on an informal basis at Mill Hollow since the late 1980's. The nice aspect about a tire rolling contest is that a four year old has an equal chance of winning as his 40 year old dad or 60 year old grandmother! My major problem with this activity is on educating the children on how to do it and more importantly you must bring your tire back up the hill! I do have several sites including the one between the house and the port-a-potties for this activity. Obviously, we have accumulated many tires over the years so this will not be a problem. The major task is preparing the signage and also marking the winning tire for others to envy and attempt to beat.
Rebal the Quarter horse is doing quite well in her retirement. She has not put on much weight but is definitely enjoying herself with the other "over the hill " horses. Because of her age, we will not be bringing her back. As many of you asked, we also will not be getting another horse. It would be nearly impossible to find another loving and gentle old horse like Rebal. We will let Jude, the petting dog, take over keeping the children happy. He is very good at it.