Ashley Pereira carries the saw the family used to cut down the Christmas tree they selected at Castle Rock Tree Farm in the hills above Saratoga.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Ever Green
Tree farmers in the Santa Cruz Mountains grow a popular seasonal crop
By Shari Kaplan
Photographs by Paul Myers
The smell of fresh pine and fir needles fills the cold mountain air while the sounds of saws cutting through wood echo along the ridge. Also heard are shouts of triumph from warmly bundled children who have discovered just the tree for their family to take home and decorate this year. The only thing missing is snow, although even that has been known to fall on occasion in this area.
Such idealized scenes are actually commonplace in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where they appear each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Along the mountains' wooded backroads is a veritable forest of independently owned Christmas tree farms, some spanning several generations of the same family.
Like a fairy-ring of toadstools, these magical places only spring up where conditions are just right. Fortunately for residents of Los Gatos, Saratoga and elsewhere in the Santa Clara Valley, the Santa Cruz Mountains--and the people who live there--have just what it takes to farm and sell this popular winter crop.
Although the Saratoga News does not possess an all-inclusive list of mountainous tree farms, we think we've found a pretty diverse harvest. All of the following farms provide saws and allow visitors to choose and cut their own trees. Most also provide restrooms and picnic tables; some offer free cider and firewood. When in doubt, check with a particular farm.
Castle Rock Tree Farm
This family-run farm has a Saratoga telephone prefix, a Los Gatos ZIP code and a location next to dual-county Castle Rock State Park, which leaves footprints in both Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
Technicalities didn't matter much back in the 1960s, however, when Alice Whalen first got the farm going. Using land that was once home to pear and apple orchards, Whalen began planting various types of evergreens after her interest was piqued by an article on Christmas tree farming in an agricultural publication.
"We tried and didn't succeed," she says. Later, some neighbors tried the same thing and did succeed, which encouraged Whalen to try again. This time, the endeavor took off. "We learned as we went along," she reflects. Although now in her 80s, Whalen still takes care of sales, while her son Robert handles planting. They also have a small staff of hired help who trim trees and do other chores.
Their current crop is made up of Douglas fir, white fir, Scotch pine and sequoia--"only certain people like them," she says of the latter. Although the Whalens and many of their tree-farming colleagues once grew Monterey pines as well, that tree is very vulnerable to several diseases, she says, making it a riskier investment than almost any other evergreen.
Keeping both the growth and health of the trees steady is one of the main concerns of a tree farmer. "You always worry about whether the new ones will do well," Whalen says. "If people say they'd like to get into the business, I tell them that it's a lot more work than they might think."
Whalen says she enjoys living on and working at the farm, and has no immediate plans to stop. "We really enjoy selling the trees, and we like seeing people. It's a very happy harvest."
Castle Rock Christmas Tree Farm, 15435 Skyline Blvd., 408.867.9334.
Gist Tree Farm
Sometimes called Gist All-Fir Farm because of its concentration of Douglas firs--with a few white firs for good measure--this farm on Gist Road is a multigenerational affair. Debbie Livingstone, 46, who runs the business with her husband and two sons, began working as a Christmas tree farmer at the age of 6, when her father began planting the trees.
"It's kind of like my dad was Johnny Tree Seed," she says of her tree-loving father's penchant for planting evergreens throughout their mountain property.
"I've never really had a 'Christmas' Christmas, where you all go and cut down a tree, because I live here," she adds. "But I love working outside; I love not being stuck behind a desk."
The one thing she doesn't love, however, is the mercurial nature of mountain weather. "The rain just kills us," she says.
The farm, which begins each season with approximately 28,000 trees, is a full-time job for the Livingstones, who also have three additional employees. When the couple's teenage sons aren't in school, they also work on the farm, selling candy, soda, holiday wreaths and even mistletoe.
The family has connections with several other farms as well: the Livingstones also run Summit Tree Farm; Debbie's sister runs Skyline Tree Farm; and her brother-in-law runs Alpine Tree Farm. Each specializes in different types of evergreens.
Call 408.354.3595 for directions to any of the four farms.
Photograph by Paul Myers
The Pereira family, (from left) Bruce, Ashley and Sue, tromp through the mud and rain at Castle Rock Tree Farm, searching for their Christmas tree. 'It is the thrill of the hunt that keeps us coming back,' Bruce says, with a chuckle. 'You can still go out, track something down and kill it.'
Raccoon Gulch Christmas Tree Farm
Tree farming is an old tradition for Karen Fishback, who owns Raccoon Gulch Christmas Tree Farm with her husband, Jeff. Members of Karen's family have lived on the property since 1883.
Karen's father and uncle began farming trees as a retirement business, pulling out acres of old plum and cherry orchards in the process. "It was an idea whose time was long overdue. It was a new idea with enough population to support it," she says of the farm's 1960s opening. "We still get all the business we can handle. More and more people are finding out about the opportunities to come and cut their own trees. It's a real adventure for people," she adds.
Racoon Gulch grows Scotch pines, Douglas firs and a handful of Noble, red and white firs. Although many Californians may think Douglas firs are the most popular Christmas tree, Fishback says the tops in the nation are actually Scotch pines. Douglas firs grow well only on the West Coast.
Although business has always been good, the Fishbacks had maintained jobs not dependent on fickle weather or soil: Karen is retired from the Union School District, while Jeff is nearing retirement at Cupertino High School.
"It's always been part of our Christmas," Karen says of tree farming. Before they went off to college, Karen's children Tim and Jeanne got involved, too, helping make and sell wreaths. She also fashions "spice angels" from fragrant materials like cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. The wreaths began as a joke, Karen reveals, when she took a scraggly creosote bush--also called greasewood--and fashioned a wreath as a gag gift. "Everybody who came along said, 'How much for the wreath?' so I decided to sell them," she recalls. Today's wreaths do not contain greasewood.
Although the Fishback children are now in college, both have expressed interest in carrying on the family business, Karen says with pride. It's not an easy job, she adds, but its challenges make it rewarding.
"A lot of people think you just poke the trees in the soil and in five years you're rich," she says, laughing. "But if we don't pay attention to the trees, we'll lose everything we've got. The biggest agricultural problems are pests and diseases. The soil also has to be kept in the proper condition."
Raccoon Gulch Christmas Tree Farm, 19240 Black Road, 408.354.2555.
Black Road Christmas Tree Farms
Not far from the Fishbacks is Robert Criswell's Black Road Christmas Tree Farms, which is made up of one upper farm and two lower ones. Between the trio, he grows some 50,000 Douglas firs, grand firs, Sierra redwoods and Bishop pines.
"A Christmas tree is something that's a psychological idea in someone's head, and that's something you shouldn't mess with," he says regarding the idea of what makes a good Christmas tree.
A former biology teacher, Criswell planted his first evergreens in 1966 and has devoted himself to it full-time since. "I'm amazed at the lack of understanding of some people in this business," says Criswell, whose academic emphasis was botany. "But they're probably better on a tractor than I am," he adds with a chuckle.
The lure of Christmas tree farming came after he began seeing people driving down from a neighbor's tree farm. "They were getting $5 a tree, while we were getting a penny a pound for our prunes," he recalls of the orchard-based income his property used to provide.
Criswell began by purchasing seedlings from a California Department of Forestry nursery. He now has other sources, from which he buys approximately 10,000 seedlings each year.
Along with various types of Christmas trees, the farm also sells three different sizes of wreaths, an operation coordinated by Criswell's ex-wife. One of the employees also brings in fresh, "extra-strength" mistletoe.
Black Road Christmas Tree Farms, 20070 Black Road, 408.354.8472.
Patchen California Christmas Tree Farm
Located high in the mountains where the old town of Patchen once stood, this is one of the few farms that produces Monterey pines. It also grows Sierra redwoods and the ever-popular Douglas firs.
Another attribute that sets this farm apart from its neighbors are the relics from Patchen's heyday, including a water supply reservoir, a historical landmark plaque and remnants of a bar and hotel.
"I started buying little pieces of land in the 1960s," says owner Jim Beck, who ran the farm with his son and daughter, Steve and Kelley, until Steve moved out of state.
"My original motivation was because there was a lot of explosive growth in the mountains and I didn't want to see all that development going on around me," he explains.
"I considered growing wine grapes or kiwis, but I decided on Christmas trees. This is like an overgrown hobby for me," the retired high-tech engineer says.
What Beck likes best about his hobby is the chance to meet so many people. "People come back year after year. Sometimes a young family will come up to me and one of [the parents] will say, 'You probably don't remember, but I was in my mother's arms when we got our first tree here,'" Beck says.
Visitors can cut trees at whatever size they wish, according to Beck. "We figure when a tree is the right size, somebody will want it. Before that, it'll just get overlooked," he says.
Despite the diseases and pests that can threaten trees in any given year, Beck says he is constantly worried about fires, since they're capable of the greatest destruction in the shortest time. In the mid-1980s, in fact, he remembers a forest fire so close to his farm that he could feel hot wind on his face. He rewarded the firefighters who put it out with free Christmas trees for life.
Patchen California Christmas Tree Farm, 22217 Old Santa Cruz Highway, 408.353.1615.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
