O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Yesterday was the BIG day. The day we got our Christmas tree! My friend Richard has a tree farm out in Transylvania County and it has become our tradition to go out to Richard's and get one of his trees. He grows Frasier Firs and they are beautiful. We go out there before Thanksgiving and pick out our tree in the field and tag it. Then we go back to get it later-fresh cut and longlasting.
Last year was the first year that we did this.. we were so excited to get our tree. I think that Rebecca expected a big fanfare with lots of drama when the tree was cut. Much to her dismay, one slice of the chainsaw and it was done. Last year we brought the camera but didn't take a picture.. it was simply over too fast.. this year, prepared for the moment, I thought we'd get a picture.. but forgot the camera.. Three is a charm.. maybe next year we'll get an actual picture to document the event.
What I really like about this new family tradition is that we get to stay connected with where our tree comes from. We are so focused in our family about were our food comes from, and our clothes and other stuff... being more connected to our Christmas/Solstice Traditions is a good thing. It makes for a fuller experience all around.
As we gather around our tree though the holidays, we remember the hunt, walking through the field of trees, out in nature, chatting with Richard about how he plants and cares for these trees, listening to his stories of trees long forgotten and Indians who once camped on his land. We remember the excitement of discovering that perfect tree and staking our claim. Rebecca loves to be the one to tag the tree with that bright red tag with her name on it. We remember arriving to get that tree weeks later... will we be able to find it again.. where was it, and then awe when we realize how much the field has changed in the last few weeks as others have been chosen and taken away.
We gather that tree up and take it home and David works his magic with lights and ornaments from Christmases past. We are each of us filled with that child-like awe, inspired by the magic of the season once more.
And as in other things that we bring home, I wonder about what we will do with this tree when it has served it's high purpose as our Yule tree.
I have plans for that tree. The branches will be pruned off and placed around my blueberry bushes as the blueberries like acid soil and the pine boughs will add acid to the patch.
I plan to use the thick part of the trunk to create an edging at the downhill edge of the blueberries to establish a border and help to retain the mulch.
The remainder of the trunk, I will put into my compost fence where it will slowly decompose and eventually become part of the soil.
There are many great ideas of how to use your tree after the holidays. Start now to think about what you will do with your tree.

“The Christmas spirit that goes out with the dried-up Christmas tree is just as worthless”

I suggest that we find ways to keep the Spirit AND the tree!

A Recap of the First Year

So it all began over a pot of tea in December of 2005. J. had just moved from Atlanta and was living in an apartment just down the road from me. She was happy to be in Asheville but complaining that living in an apartment she didn't even have ground for a tomato plant... Me, I commiserated that while I had plenty of land to garden, I had no energy to get it started. We decided to pool our time and resources to get a garden going together.
We made our lists of what we wanted to grow and ordered seed from the Cooks Garden Seed Company in short order. By February we started our seeds...tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, leeks...it was SO exciting!
We spread 4' X 4' squares of old carpet out on the lawn to begin killing the grass. On Easter Sunday we rented a tiller and had a tilling party. We tilled a 47' X 24' area right out in the front yard. As well as a large bed to plant the strawberry plants I had gotten on Freecycle!
There was a post on Freecycle that week by a woman who said that she was tired of the weeding and up-keep on her strawberry bed and would someone please come and dig them up!
Well I got about 75 June-bearing plants. They transplanted well and are thriving.
We also planted our first 25 Asparagus crowns. Following instructions in one of our many gardening books, we prepared our asparagus bed deep to really establish healthy plants. As I planted each crown I said, "You will feed my family for the next 20 years! Thank you!" There was a real sense of ritual in planting asparagus. I had read that Thomas Jefferson's Asparagus Beds were still producing! That is inspiring.
So in the end we had 50 tomato plants and had an amazing harvest. The frozen and dried tomatoes fed us throughout the winter and until the harvest began again! We had lots of peppers and even a good crop of eggplants. The seeds from Cooks Garden were great. They offer great mixes of seed variety packs so we were able to grow a wide variety of both sweet and hot peppers without having to purchase lots of seed to get the variety. I really like that.
By the end of that first season I had planted 5 blueberry bushes: Patriot, Jersey and Bluecrop. We did battle with the rabbits and a few ground hogs, installed a fence and I built a number of raised beds. I also accidentally got an extended season....growing well into the winter with kale, arugula, swiss chard and a few hardy lettuce varieties. I still had these things growing and used some row covers to keep them going. We had greens from the garden all winter-long.