NEWS FOR 2012-written on July 26
This is the first day in a long time that rain has caused outside work to be vetoed, making it a good time to write the news.
Last year’s Christmas season (2011) went well. Nice trees, nice customers, nice weather, hard work and the proper rewards. The best part of Christmas is always the kids, especially those in the 4 to 9 age group who get excited about my tractor, helping their Dad with the sawing of the tree, giggle at watching the tree shaker, and express appreciation in receiving a candy cane or little ornament when they are leaving the farm.
We also appreciate the letters and emails we get from our mail order customers praising their tree or wreath, or both…that also gives us great satisfaction. We had only one or two minor shipping glitches with FedEx. UPS had one chance and they beat up the one box we sent with them. We stay with FedEx and pass on the discounts they give us to you.
Speaking of shipping, it goes up every year and fuel surcharges are high. Unfortunately, the shipping of a 7 foot tree to California is almost as much as the tree, and for a 9 foot tree, the shipping is more than the tree! Please understand that we have little control of shipping prices because we are not Amazon.com or one of the others who offer free shipping because they have mega-deals with shippers.
Get this: (to California from here in Vermont for a 9 foot tree) Oversize charge for the large box = $55, dimensional shipping charges= $88.48, fuel surcharges = $12.42, residential charge = $2.55, Total $158.45 We will charge you only $130.
Back to chronological news. The winter of 2011-2012 was very mild by Vermont standards and the snow totals were low. It was an easy winter that ended early. We had a week of 80 degree weather in March. I think the warmth of that week brought out the bugs early, and then they were killed by the freezing weather after that, because there have been fewer pests, except for ticks, this year.
Christmas trees broke bud a little early and that is also worrisome because they could have been frost damaged, but that didn’t happen. THEY LOOK GREAT! So far this summer has been too warm (for me) and drier than the last several years. I think the trees appreciate not having wet feet all the time and are rewarding us with good looks. We are fortunate in that we are not getting the severe drought that is happening in much of the rest of the country.
Seedling sales and the growth of our seedling business have also been good and rewarding for us. We are busy all day, year around and kind of like that!
This year we started our 6th crop of plug seedlings. Every year we learn a little more about what to do and what to not do. For example, algae and moss inhibitor I applied last year was toxic to the Fraser firs and killed most of them. Why only them? Don’t know, but I won’t be using that product again. By germinating different seed in different places within the greenhouse, we’re learning what seedling likes it where (there are wet spots, hot spots, and brighter spots because of the sun angles and ventilation) I’m learning that some seeds need stratification as suggested by the seed supplier and that some don’t. Anyway, we’ve gotten to the point after the first few years where we can grow some really nice seedlings!
What else? I’m going to mention again in case you all out there didn’t know this. Steph and I are the only ones who do all the work here. When you buy trees, wreaths, or seedlings from us, we grew it, made it, taken your order, packed it, and so on. We have right sized this farm to the point where we can do all the work and thus, control the quality of everything.
We are very small and only want to make enough to keep things going and give our good customers a fair price. Therefore our web site and shopping cart do not have all the bells and whistles that the big guys may have. Apologies for that…we do the very best we can.
It’s only five months to Christmas and we still have fair season to go. I’ve sheared about ¼ of the 10,000 or so Christmas trees we grow and again, they are looking good…better than normal! Hopefully the weather the rest of the year will be as good as it has been.
We will no doubt win blue ribbons at many of the Vermont fairs. We now only have time to participate fully in the very nearby Tunbridge World’s Fair. Steph spends a week of long hours as the Superintendent of Vegetables and I spend the four days of the fair promoting the Christmas tree industry and our farm in a booth inside Steph’s Gilman building. We have a nice tree and wreath display and competition outside the same building.
Is this what you’ve been looking for? You can get 10% off any Christmas tree and holiday season related item by using the code EARLY10 when you check out of the shopping cart. This coupon code will good through October 30th, 2012 for early Christmas orders. Fromm November 1st and through November 20th you can still get 5% off your Christmas order by using the coupon code LATER5.
Like every year, those that order early get our very best trees.
This is the 10th year of operating Redrock Farm after retiring from the US Navy. It will be the 22nd year that Redrock Farm has been shipping trees in boxes to your door!
