Balsam Christmas Tree: Better
Most folks do not ponder over the production effort that's involved in growing a Christmas tree. They leave that to us. You see, we live in a part of the country with numerous tree farms. The trees—including the balsam tree—have to be planted, trimmed while growing and harvested. Because of varying growth rates, most tree farmers plant several kinds of trees. The benefit of living so close to a few of the tree farms is: we get to go and cut our own Christmas tree every season.
I have some fond memories of growing up. One of them involved the Norway pines my parents grew on the north end of our property. Our yearly ritual was to cut down one of the trees and my father would trim and shape it, to place in the living room. The prickly problem was that they had long needles, which made it hard to hang the ornaments.
Benefits of the Balsam Christmas Tree
Since then, I've grown up, gotten married and…tried many different types of trees. The balsam Christmas tree is, without a doubt, our favorite one. The runner-up is the blue spruce, but because of it's prickliness, you must wear gloves to place the lights on it. The balsam Christmas tree, on the other hand, has a fantastic fragrance and is much softer on the hands. With short, soft needles and strong branches, decorating the tree is a cushy job. Also, the balsam Christmas tree doesn't shed its needles as much as the other short needle species.
Back to the Balsam Christmas Tree
When we made the trip to cut down our tree last Christmas, we were informed that a previously closed field had just been opened. The new field featured, not only the balsam Christmas tree that we prefer, but also a few Frasier firs. The Frasier fir is purported to be the most fragrant of all evergreen trees and supposedly does not shed. So, we decided to try one. We liked the appearance of the tree and the aroma. There was one sagging problem though: the limbs were limp. The heaviest Christmas ornaments cannot be hung on this weak tree. Needless to say, we would not fork-over the higher price for a Frasier fir again. Back to the balsam tree for me.
If you visit a tree farm this year, you'll probably notice two fairly new services. The first is a 'shaking' service. The freshly cut tree is set in a stand on a motor-powered shaker that helps shake off dead needles and other stuff that may be in the tree. The second is a bagging service. The tree is pushed through an open barrel with netting on the other end. The net is then cut to the length of your tree and tied at both ends. This makes transportation easy and an effortless entry into your home. The tree growers are devising clever ways to assure that acquiring your Christmas tree is more enjoyable. We're excited about going out to buy our balsam Christmas tree this holiday season.