We Just Muck: Itty Bitty Christmas Trees

With the help of some great friends, today we planted 500 Christmas trees!

It all started in January 2010 when hubby and I were talking about ideas we have for our property. We noted that there was the potential for a property tax reduction if we had a tree farm.....and so began the research. (Even though in the end the tax component will be minimal, we've really enjoyed dreaming about how we could pull it off....we're always up for a challenge!) At 1st we thought we'd just stick them in the ground and a few years later sell a few trees. As always, I've come to realize that there's much more to it, and hubby still thinks it's pretty simple! Hubby has been doing the earth work prepping our land, and I've been hunting out the best seed sources and species for our geographical area and climate. I've been studying up on pruning, weed control, and pest management. We've both made calculations as to how many will fit this year and in subsequent years. Then as we spoke about it we realized that we wanted to do it ALL. We wanted more than 2 varieties and since they come in a minimum quantity of 100, we ended up with 500 trees of 5 different varieties. I've been a bit worried about how we'd get them all planted in just a weekend! Thanks to some great friends and family we were able to complete the task in about 8 hours! Amazing if you ask me! We were blessed with a mild and sunny day, and rain following the next morning. Luckily now I don't have to water them right away! They were planted with love and are off to a great start! : ) We're looking forward to watching them grow, and eventually helping to create memories for families during the Christmas season!

The boys digging the holes! They're SOOOO Strong! (Really it only took 2 to dig most of the holes, but in this pic the auger was stuck pretty good and it took all 4 guys to get it out!)