With 16 acres of 11 kinds of evergreen trees, we had a nice long walk at this tree farm before we (I) settled on one to take home. We thought we were looking for a Fraser Fir but none of them seemed right and with the guidance of a helpful employee we finally came home with a lovely Nordmann Fir. I’m in love!
An excellent needle retaining species with soft glossy dark green needles. Nordmann Firs are the preferred Christmas tree of Europeans, with long, full, lush, dark green foliage, similar to a Fraser fir, but soft to the touch and with excellent needle retention. … Their soft and lustrous black-green needles stem from symmetrically arranged branches, producing the ideal pyramidal specimen for a Christmas tree.
~ Pick Your Own Christmas Tree website
We liked the color of the Nordmann better, for some reason we never noticed how yellowy the Fraser was before we saw two, one of each, growing right next to each other. The only thing the Nordmann is missing is fragrance, but we’ll just burn some scented candles to make up for it. 🙂
I was so busy trying to stay six feet away from the young man helping us that I forgot to take a picture of our solstice tree before he cut it down. I have to say, he was very patient to answer all our questions, and my last minute change of mind didn’t faze him in the least. Tim was relieved when the tree was finally cut and loaded into the truck. It was all bundled and ready for us when we returned to the holding area.
On the way back I saw a bluebird! But it was too quick for me and the pictures came out too blurry to use. Sigh… My luck with birds seems to be waning.
There seems to be a shortage of Christmas trees this year, or so I’ve been hearing on the news. More people looking to make their pandemic holiday extra special. Every time we thought we spotted a good looking tree it turned out to be tagged already. Next year we might just pay the extra few dollars to tag a tree before Thanksgiving. But we’re still happy with the one we finally found.
(it will take me a few days)
Since my last post the new guidelines say that those over 65 years old should have their groceries delivered now during this surge. So it’s back to Instacart for us. Staying home except for our walks in the unpopulated woods.
Latest statistics: New London County now has 6,648 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of those, 54 people are currently in the hospital and 180 have lost their lives. That’s 1,980 new cases since November 15 when I last reported.
Connecticut’s positive test rate is now 5.7%. (It was 6.4% on November 15.) It looks like we’re doing better than many other states. Still, we’re hunkering down for the next few months.
Looks like you had fun at the tree farm. Loved your pictures. Covid is terrible everywhere – I do hope someday it gets better.
Thank you, Peggy. It was fun to get out and see actual people again, even if they were six feet away. 🙂 It’s such a bizarre world we’re living in.
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Nice that you got out to Christmas tree shop! Taking that opportunity to learn about the different types of evergreen trees…
Stay safe. Look forward to seeing your decorated tree!
We’re doing our best to stay safe, Jeff, and I hope you are, too. I do worry about you having to let all those workers in to keep fixing your ceiling. Hope they’re all wearing masks. I’m still working on the tree and having loads of fun. I’m glad we decided to go ahead and get one. 🙂
Oh Good! Yes the maintenance guys all wear mask. It’s the residents in the hall ways and elevator that don’t wear mask… I always have mine on, I try to get out during the quieter times during the day…
That’s good about the maintenance guys, not so good about the residents in the elevators. I saw a survey that says only 77% of Americans are wearing their masks consistently. It’s so hard to comprehend…
Looks like you found a beautiful tree. I’m not familiar with that species but I like the color better, too, and soft needles is nice. And, a bluebird! Wow! it is always a happy surprise when I come across one. I’m glad to hear that you are hunkering down. We are being very careful here too.
I had never heard of Nordmann firs before, either. They’re not native to North America but it seems they are very popular in Europe and seem to be coming here. I’m having fun decorting it and it has nice spacing for the ornaments. It was definitley a happy surprise seeing the bluebird! Maybe that’s where the expression the bluebird of happiness comes from. 🙂 Take care, my friend!
Your outing looks like fun, and the tree is beautiful. Covid is bad here, too. The positivity rate for our county is one of the worst in Maryland. Statewide it’s 8.04%. In our county it is now 19.48%, down from almost 25% last week. I wish we had Instacart available here. Or at least the ability to order online for curbside pick-up. We have neither of those options available to us.
Yikes — those numbers are very scary, Robin. I wish you had Instacart or curbside pick-up, too. I hope at least your grocery stores require everyone to wear masks and maintain a six foot distance from each other. Unfortunatley, most of the time our experience with Instacart is less than satisfactory. We kept requesting they start shopping at 9 am when the fish counter in the store opens but they kept shopping at 7 am and delivering to our house by 8 am, leaving out our fish order. Grrrr…
I see that pretty tree and hear Nat King Cole signing in German!
“O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!”
That tune keeps going through my head, too, in many different languages. 🙂
What a pretty tree you picked out! Because of my allergies, I do better with the artificial varieties. I can remember as a kid going to tree farms to pick out our tree, though, and it was a magical time. COVID is still raging here in Illinois, too — sigh.
I have to laugh, we bought an artificial tree once, thinking it would save us money over the years, but touching it to assemble it and decorate it made my arms break out in a huge rash. So the next year we asked our son to put it up and the same thing happened to his arms. So we finally donated it to Goodwill. It’s a good thing there are different options for all of us! Sorry to hear your numbers in Illinois aren’t good. Please stay safe, Debbie!
Sweet little fir. I like that the tree farm people seemed to want to keep people off Santa’s naughty list, and to point us back toward the joy that is permanent. <3
I loved the messages on those signs, too, and it was so reassuring to know we were in a safe place. I’m glad after all that Tim wanted to get a tree this year, I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea… Wishing you much joy, Kathy! 💙
I chuckled at the humor on the signs. What a special day it must have been. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for your lovely comment, and welcome to my blog! It was a wonderful day and the signs brought us so much comfort and joy.
“Christmas Joy is Permanent” Ahhhhh
Yes, for sure! Wishing you much joy, Leelah! 💙
I really enjoyed reading this post Barbara. I am so glad you did the post as you told me about going to the tree farm last week. Having never been to a tree farms, I enjoyed seeing how it is done from arrival to leaving with it strapped on your car. I thought it was interesting you can tag a tree to order it ahead of time. Your tree is beautiful and perfectly shaped too. The signs are colorful and the store itself with the wreaths hanging on the front is quaint. Enjoy your tree – will you be posting photos of it decorated?
So glad you enjoyed our little excursion to the tree farm, Linda. 🙂 I had no idea we could reserve a tree for the first four days of the season, probably because we usually get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. But this year we were trying to avoid the crowds and I think we succeeded in that, although it was slim pickings by the day we got there! I’ve been decorating it and will post a picture when I finish. Missing having my sister here to collaborate with, although I’ve been sending her pictures and getting some advice along the way. 🙂
I think it is fun that it is a tradition for you Barbara, plus you said others do so too as you told me before you count cars with trees on top (in the past, I guess when you went right after Thanksgiving). Yes, do post a picture when you all done with decorating – I am sure it will be beautiful and you’ll light scented candles for ambiance. I didn’t know evergreens did not smell so I learned something.
Actually, most evergreens are fragrant — not sure why the Nordmann isn’t. The most popular one, Balsam, smells the best. I’ve got a candle with the scent, though, so we’re good. 🙂
It has been many years since our family had a real Christmas tree. I have some black-and-white pictures sitting on the floor next to the tree on Christmas morning when I was very young. We had an aluminum tree with blue bulbs around 1965 as I posed with our poodle in front of it the year before we moved here. I guess that silver tree was the end of “the real deal” – good you can still capture the scent with a candle. 🙂
Apparently the trend now is away from real trees. I decided to do a little research and found these statistics: The percentage of real holiday trees in US households dropped from 47 percent in 1989 to 21 percent in 2018!!! I had no idea… But I guess if I was paying attention I would have noticed that my son and my niece have been using artificial trees… Oh well, I wonder how long we will cling to this tradition. Probably as long as I can get up and down off the floor to water the tree. 🙂
Oh, look at that, Barbara, you’re only approximately 9980 miles away from me … 😉
I have been seeing so many of my friends in the USA choosing and taking home live trees to decorate for Christmas. We used to do the same, many years ago, but in more recent year it has become illegal to chop down trees. So our tree is artificial, but still pretty. It just doesn’t have the scent of a lovely pine Christmas tree. I look forward to seeing photos of your decorated tree. 🙂
🙂 We can round that off to 10,000 miles — wow! Since the circumference of the earth is 24,901 miles that’s about as far away as possible it would be to get from a place!
That’s too bad you can’t have a live tree but perhaps a scented candle could be used? Evergreens are so abundant here but like anything else we might be over-harvesting them. This is the first year I’ve heard anything about shortages. It takes 5+ years to grow a tree, depending on how tall it will be when harvested, and it’s fun to see all the trees growing in the field at different heights. Tree farmers are working all year.
PS – We don’t waste them. In January the town picks up all the trees left curbside and turns them into mulch, free for anyone to pick up at the transfer station.