Farm caters to pining families
^ize, snape
affect choice
By Alan Phelps
Senior Editor _
On a blustery, gray November day,
Dennis Lueder wandered through the
Pinecrest Christmas Tree Farm near
Blue Springs. His wife, Beryl, led the
way, far ahead of Lueder and their
grandson, Dusty.
“We’re so confused,” Lueder said,
a small army of 6- to 8-foot Scotch
pines camping on the hillside around
him.
As Beryl Lueder inspected tree
after tree, Dennis Lueder spoke of
how his family, like the many others
who come here annually, has made
the 25-acrc, 25,000-ircc farm a 15
year Christmas tradition.
“My wife likes the trees down here.
We argue, fight, look and look until
we get so disgusted we just take some
thing,” he said. “But it’s kind of fun.”
The Lucdcrs are the type of cus
tomers Charles and Barbara MacLean,
owners of one of the state’s oldest
surviving tree farms, enjoy. Charles
MacLean, a retired U.S. Department
of Agriculture soil conservation
worker,and his wife plan ted their first
Christmas trees in 1964. Since then,
the business 15 miles south of Beau-ice
literally has been growing as the
MacLcans planted more trees and
bought more acres.
“It’s my life,” Charles MacLean
said.
While the Lueders and others
searched for that special tree,
MacLcan drove his pickup around the
farm, culling down selections. Many
of MacLcan’s customers pick out a
tree far in advance of culling time.
Some stop by closer to the holidays
and take their trees with them.
“A lot of families have made this a
family tradition,” MacLcan said.
“Somcof them never miss. They come
here every year.”
One of MacLcan’s favorite cus
tomers, he said, is a woman who picks
out 15 or 20 trees a year for her
friends.
“She makes a two- or three-day
effort out of it. She has a ball.”
The pine trees that make their way
into customer’s homes have been
watched over carefully by the
MacLeans. About 5,000 trees arc
planted every year. During the ncxi
six years of a tree’s life, the MacLeans
prune and limit growth to one fool
annually to nudge the tree into the
conical Christmas shape.
Only about one-fourth of the seed
lings planted will ever sccomamcnts.
Others d ic or arc used to make wreaths.
Once purchased, the trees are stripped
of dead branches, shaken down and
baled up with wire for the customer tc
take home. It costs about $30 for a
farm-fresh Pinecrcsl tree, Barbara
MacLean said, depending on size and
how closely the tree fils the ideal
shape.
“They’re kind of like people,”
Charles MacLean said. “You got tall
people, you got short people.”
Size seemed to be one of the decid
ing factors for those meandering
through the branches.
Lee and Marlene Snyder of
Beatrice, both graduate students at
the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln,
strolled the hillside with their son,
Kevin.
“We havea fun time arguing,” Lee
Snyder said.
“Kevin looks for the tallest, I look
for the right shape and dad looks to sec
if we can afford it,” Marlene Snyder
clarified.
Denn is Lueder also cited size as an
important part of the decision.
“My wife always gets something
too big,” he said. “That’s what we
usually argue about. Then we can’t
get the angel or something on top of
it."
Clockwise from top: Ten-year-old Dusty Smith hauls some
branches as he helps his grandparents search for the perfect
tree at the Pinecrest Christmas Tree Farm, near Blue Springs.
Lee Snyder, a graduate student at UNL, wanders through tne
farm’s hundreds of trees searching for the perfect Christmas
t ree
Melvin “Shorty” Ames, a Pinecrest worker, cleans the dead
branches from a tree before it is wrapped and sent off to be
decorated for the holiday.
Photos by
Julia Mikolajcjk/DN