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A Christmas Tree Farm
#43 Starting A Christmas Tree Farm - Our First 6 Months [RECAP]
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alright hey everyone its Phil and stacy
out here woods tree farm and guess what
it's been six months since we bought
this property can you believe in it now
yeah I can it feels like longer yeah we
have done a lot here in our first six
months so we wanted to do this little
video to celebrate the the milestone and
to recap some of the work that we've
done out here so far we've produced 40
some 1 to 40 something videos so far I
can't and I'm sure you haven't watched
them all but you should go back and
watch them they're great but we'll do a
little recap here of many of the
projects that we've done and then we'll
give you a little insight into what's
next so start it start us off back in
November of last year we came here this
property was overgrown and generally
just kind of neglected for probably a
couple years so first thing we did was
what just cut back everything right
right yeah yeah we bush hog we cut back
limbs around the edge of the property
kind of explore the property to figure
out what we were gonna do next where
we're gonna plant trees clean up around
the pond you know cut some dead trees
down or trees that we just didn't want
in certain areas of the field next we we
had a fit sign that went right down the
middle of the open field area where we
were going to plant trees and um it was
just grown up in between with red cedars
which actually we ended up using some of
those for Christmas trees but it was all
of the what is a bit steep t-post
yeah I was fencing with tipos barb were
just regular fencing so we had to cut it
roll it up we had somebody come and take
it away for scrap metal but and then we
would bush hog in between it really just
open the field up for better views and
more planting yeah and actually a lot of
those Cedars that we took out our knock
down and they're still over there in the
middle okay so that's all
coming up next to do some time we're
gonna pile those up in Verna so the
probably the the first big construction
project was building the fire pit right
actually that's right behind it yeah and
it's not your average fire pit um we
wanted to do more agritourism here at
the farm so long haul we needed a big
fire pit to host a lot of people but
also tall enough we're at little
children or adults wouldn't fall in we
got a lot of extra material from my dad
at his house that he had leftover from a
project so we used that around the fire
pit as the base layer and then we
brought in cinder blocks I got my arm
workout that day and pulled all the
cinder blocks off of the trailer while
still place them in the area and what we
realized was the kids actually worked a
lot with us on that project and that was
kind of a fun family thing to do we need
one of those things we didn't really
notice we were looking at the video and
we could just see they were in the shots
a lot doing right a lot of little things
so Hudson loved helping Caroline too and
even though they're little it was just
great to see them help out around the
farm yeah the next big construction
project was building a bridge we had a
16 foot long footbridge that we built
across one of the little creeks that
feeds the prawn just over here to our
right and that goes over to what we call
the hidden field there's no easy way to
get over to that field without crossing
some sort of muddy area so we've got
this work creek yeah so we built this
bridge and now it's very accessible in
the play houses over there now which is
another thing that's more recent on our
list we bought this little Playhouse and
put it over there and the kids just love
going over there that's their player so
as we were nearing the planting season
we didn't know what the soil was like on
the farm so we reached out to the
Extension Office and got them to come
out they were great they did multiple
soil tests around and it's like a a
multiple selection around the air
to grab all the soil that you want to
test so kind of get a better idea of
what the soil is really like they go
down about 12 inches to get a core and
then send it off to Virginia Tech and
tested it out so then we got fertilizer
brought in because our soil was needed a
lot of nutrients a lot of nutrients very
neglected over the year so we think it's
doing well at this point but that was
super helpful to know ahead of time all
right and if you've been watching our
videos you know at some point since we
bought this property we bought a new
tractor the Kubota L 3901 there's a
bunch of videos with that in it and that
has been an invaluable tool so far we've
gotten a lot of work done many things
that we didn't think we would get to
probably for a couple of years that
tractor has helped us go ahead and get
done so we dug a driveway we expanded
the parking lot we solved some drainage
problems so there's just a number of
videos doing some heavy lifting there
with the with the Kubota and it's easy
to drive it is I think even Hudson could
do it but he hasn't tried yet so after
we built the fire pit one of the things
we needed was benches and we did get a
lot of rain in the spring around here
which is good for the trees but we
needed to do some projects on the off
days or weeknights and we Phil rigged up
a system and their garage and
ended up building a couple benches you
have a couple more to do but they're
sitting right over there at the fire pit
and they hold a couple people super easy
and they even sold some that was uh that
was a good plan that I found online and
for about $32 or so with using treated
lumber you can build these four-foot
benches and I've been able to learn how
to use power tools throughout this whole
process of getting ready for or working
on all the projects which has been fun
yeah
and of course the feature of our
property and the you know purpose of
this property in our business is
Christmas trees so we have several
videos of us planting the trees we don't
have any experience planting trees prior
to this spring so that was a learning
experience and so far so good we'll show
you some of our pine trees are a little
brown I think we're gonna lose a lot of
those but everything else so far is
looking great and we'll post updates on
those here shortly
thanks to those that helped us there
were some people that came out and did a
lot of work yeah appreciate the extra
hands for that hmm one of the things we
needed was branding and Phil that's
right up his alley but we wanted it to
feel very family-oriented and the true
meaning of what our farm is our name is
woods tree farm but we didn't have a
logo and we needed to start getting that
out there we're gonna open for this
Christmas season and we were gonna host
a Spring Fest so I contacted one of my
daughter's teachers who's an artist and
said hey would you do this for us and
she was very patient I'm very picky but
this is a big deal it's the start of our
business from a branding perspective and
we came up with an awesome logo I think
she drew it by hand we got it digitized
and now it's on like hats like this
which tree part and then then she
painted a four by three foot sign and we
put it up at the front of our property
to welcome everybody in so it's
been nice to see that as we drive in now
yeah
so what do you think of that hats I
haven't really pointed those out in many
videos but yeah we've got these
embroidered hats with our logo on it
a trucker style hat with the ventilation
around the back a number of people have
asked if we're gonna sell those I don't
know if there's really that much
interest but if you're interested in
getting a hat put a det post out in the
comments
dad you want a hat I think we would have
to sell them for around 20 25 bucks
including shipping so if you think
you're interested in that let me know
I'm gonna be putting in another order
for hats real soon we're gonna do a
spring event and one of the features of
that spring event is certainly hay rides
so we had to get the hay wagon ready I
bought a used hay wagon off of
Craigslist it did not have sides on it
when we bought it so we spent a weekend
putting sides on that and getting it all
ready and I also had to put new tires on
it though I never got any video of that
but that was a little project and itself
fixing the hay wagon up and getting it
all ready and of course we had our
spring event a few weeks ago and it was
a hit and we fit I counted as many as 22
people on there one second
a lot of small kids yeah but I think you
could see it at least 14 or so adults on
there comfortably and if you're mixing
kids in there you know many more humans
so up to 22 it was that was a full ride
yeah yeah so as we've mentioned we had a
Spring Fest it was kind of a soft
opening for us to figure out flow of
things but also just to introduce the
the public to the farm we had about a
hundred people that came and what we had
to do to get ready was you know the hay
wagon the benches all of those things
but other little projects that you just
don't think of that really make a
difference in my perspective so I did a
little a few signs that had like crafts
or hayride or fireside fun nature trail
to put around the farm so people kind of
knew where stuff was you know you come
to this open space and you don't really
know where to go and it's kind of
overwhelming if you haven't been here
before so
you know we had a sign for games over
the hidden field the kids really got
into it helped us with a bubble station
which was a huge hit we went through
three gallons of bubble missions as well
as you know the Playhouse we have over
there I also made a homemade ring toss
painted some bottles and and got some
rope together the kids had fun with that
Phil made cornhole so we have a lot of
things just for people to enjoy being
outside at the farm and that's kind of
you know besides the trees and getting
families together that but that's the
whole essence of what what we're trying
to do here what's next yeah so what is
next what's on the horizon I think
through the summer probably gonna back
off the heavy work projects right too
hot just too hot
yeah we're gonna enjoy the farm a little
bit even today was hot we're hot it's
humid yeah and it's only May yeah
so some of the upcoming trainings may be
to keep us out of the Sun a little bit
would be building a bridge on the trail
in the woods so we did cut a trail
preliminary trail through the woods to
have some hiking trail experience so
we'll build a bridge much like we did
that goes over to the hidden field and
then we'll cut some more trail if we can
through the woods to have a couple more
hiking opportunities well so obviously
we have to keep up with the property and
just keep the grass back keep weeds from
overtaking the trees so there's gonna be
a lot of general maintenance around the
property mowing mulching Stacey learn
how to drive that this morning actually
so yeah you can pitch in with that
that's welcome and then beyond that
we've got to start planning for the next
seasons so we want to do a fall event
much like our spring event and now to
require some prep work and then we need
to order three pre-cut trees to sell
this Christmas we need to order
seedlings for next year and that's
what's on the horizon I'm sure that'll
be here before we know it
all right well as far as our first six
months here and closing
this has been a blessing and a treat for
our family
you know everyone just is shocked that
we're doing this but you know as many of
you already know this is a really big
side say business hustle hobby for now
it's kind of not a business because it
takes you know five years or so to start
making money before we start selling our
trees so right now it's just a lot of
work and it's a big hobby and it's a lot
of fun to be out here and do do the work
and see the return of our efforts you
know by making improvements to the
property into the land and seeing the
trees grow and all of that so it's also
fun seeing the kids grow on the property
as well with the trees but just
experiencing new and different things
that they never would have been able to
experience before and also our family
and friends they get to come out that
wouldn't have the opportunity otherwise
that just means so much to me yeah yeah
so all right well that's it for today
thanks for watching we'll have plenty
more videos coming your way showing
everything that we're doing around here
even if we do slow down a little bit
through the summer but for now that's it
thanks for watching and if you got any
questions or comments leave them below
make sure you subscribe and hit that
Bell icon so you can get notified of
future videos that's it for today I'll
see ya do that whole line just do that
whole line again we have a whole way got
a bunch of material for me too and those
house ready wait need a pause so I can
edit we got a lot of extra material from
my dad at his house that he had leftover
to helmet on at a time and there's a
video about that sorry there's also a
video about that that we did with the
Extension Office yeah so all of these
things were talking about I think we
have videos I'll post a link down in the
description to all of the videos that we
mentioned and you know you can go back
and watch any of those that you have
interests in probably not gonna say that
subscribe here you do it okay
I've build benches fine and Springfest
left on
or working on all the projects which has
been fun yeah sign and Springfest we
haven't you have planting treats it's
nice okay that's good that's perfect
I'm gonna do actually do the hay wagon
next hmm
or we can do planting trees trees here I
go Spring Fest and of course alright so
something just jumped in the water it
behind us probably a frog okay so you
have a lot of what uh any final words
about our about our first six months
here
Stacey's really happy
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