Jim Gehlsen had the idea for a Christmas tree farm on his Nokesville property about 40 years ago. In 1984, he planted the first pine tree seedlings and then, six years later in 1990, he made his first sales at Evergreen Acres.
Now, 31 years later, Evergreen Acres has more than 20,000 trees -- 15,000 white pines and 5,000 Norway spruces -- growing on 97 acres of farmland abutting Cedar Run stream. Gehlsen, 67, and his wife Jean also opened Cedar Run Brewery in 2019, which is located on the property next to the tree farm.
When Gehlsen began planting trees in the 1980s, he had plenty of ambition as well as local competition in the “choose-and-cut” Christmas tree farm business. Gehlsen says he knew of at least three other Christmas tree farmers in the county with “intense operations.”
But over time, each shuttered its operations. Most recently, the Harlan Family Christmas Tree Farm in Nokesville bid farewell to its longtime customers in December 2020, leaving Evergreen Acres the last Christmas tree farm in the county.
Gehlsen, who worked simultaneously as a masonry contractor for 32 years, persisted in the tree farm business with the help of Jean and their five children.
“I had the vision for this business 40 years ago -- seeing people moving out this way -- and it’s coming true. But I didn't expect all of these growers to fall off,” Gehlsen said.
Evergreen Acres, Prince William County’s last remaining Christmas tree farm, is growing about 20,000 trees on about 97 acres in Nokesville.
A tough few years
Farming Christmas trees is a year-round, labor-intensive effort. Gehlsen says that planting and caring for the trees is both an art and a science requiring someone who doesn’t “run out of gas real quick.”
And, Gehlsen says, it has become even more difficult in recent years due to erratic weather patterns, which he thinks are part of global warming.
On a typical year, in March, Gehlsen purchases and plants about 2,000 to 3,000 seedlings in rows about 120 trees long. Making it through the first year is critical to a seedling’s survival while it develops its root system, he said.
In 2018, Gehlsen lost a significant number of trees due to extreme rainfall that resulted in drowned seedlings. To make up for the losses, Gehlsen planted 4,000 seedlings in March 2019. Then, just a few months later that summer, he lost a much larger 80% of those seedlings to drought.
In March 2020, Gehlsen planted another 4,000 seedlings. And again, later that summer, he lost 80% of those seedlings to drought.
At the beginning of this year, forecasting 10 years into the future, Gehlsen started to panic about what his future crop might look like with yet another year of seedling losses. In his decades of tree farming, Gehlsen says he has never had a series of such dramatic and consecutive losses like he had in 2019 and 2020.
In March 2021, Gehlsen planted another 4,000 seedlings. This year, the dreaded drought struck again in July. Gehlsen observed signs of stress on the larger trees -- once upright pine needles were pointing downward. Gehlsen knew from his recent experiences that in a matter of mere days, the newly planted seedlings would turn brown and die just like they had the previous two years.
Fearing another devastating loss, Gehlsen said he thought to himself, “Holy smokes, I’ve got to pump water.” Gehlsen acted fast. He took his tractor, a water pump and piping down to the nearby Cedar Run stream and set up an emergency irrigation system for the first time in his 40 years of tree farming.
“I started pumping 4,000 gallons an hour, 24 hours a day for seven days. And if you do that math, it's about 650,000 gallons of water,” he said.
Three times throughout every 24-hour period, Gehlsen reconfigured about a dozen 30-foot sections of pipe to saturate the entire growing field. Gehlsen said the hydration system “staved off the drought” and saved this year’s seedlings.
It will be 10 years until this year’s seedlings will be ready for sale, and Gehlsen will be 77 years old at that time. Over the next 10 years of growing time, each of those trees will need to be trimmed annually. While the spruces are more forgiving, the white pines have to be trimmed every year at just the right time of year, he said.
“Right now, I've got about 15,000 white pines. I've got a 30-day window to trim them out. That means I've got to trim 500 trees a day from June 8th to July 8th,” he said, explaining that if he trims too soon, the traditional Christmas tree shape won’t set. If he trims too late, he’ll inadvertently cut off new buds, and the tree will no longer grow, “turning it into a permanent bonsai tree.”
All of it is a lot of work, and Gehlsen said he hasn’t had a vacation in the last five years.
Booming sales
Now that Evergreen Acres is the closest Christmas tree farm to the beltway, Gehlsen says he welcomes customers from all over the region during Christmas tree season who want to pick out and cut down their own trees. A visit to Evergreen Acres is a long-held holiday tradition for many local families.
For 30 years, Black Friday was the unofficial kickoff to Christmas tree season at Evergreen Acres. But last year, Gehlsen pushed back his opening day one week in the face of extremely high demand due to more people celebrating at home and staying local as a result of COVID-19.
Evergreen Acres’ current supply of trees is limited by what Gehlsen planted eight to 12 years ago.
“If Home Depot is running out of trees, they can get on the phone and order another truck load. I can't do that. So I have pretty much got two tools in my toolbox: One, check the price and two, shorten the [sales] season,” he said.
Opening the tree farm later last year didn’t hurt sales. In fact, last year was Evergreen Acres’ busiest year ever. The farm sold 1,100 trees in less than two weeks, raking in about $70,000 in sales. The farm also set its best single day selling record of 464 trees sold on Dec. 6, 2020, the first Saturday of the selling season, Gehlsen said.
With the increased demand and extra work required over the last few years, Gehlsen is raising his prices this year, upping the price of his white pines from $60 to $80. His Norway spruces were “a steal” last year at $80, Gehlsen said. This year, he increased them to $120 for 7-foot-tall spruces and $150 for those over 7 feet tall, to more closely match the prices of his closest competitors, he said.
“I had it backwards. I was just so out of the pricing cycle,” Gehlsen explained, adding: “I did some searching of the few remaining farms between here Winchester, and even though I’m closest to the beltway, I was rock-solid the very cheapest. I even saw posts online saying ‘Everybody go to Evergreen Acres -- they are giving trees away. They’re dirt cheap.’ Well, the one closest to the beltway should be highest, generally, with agricultural products. The further you go away from the beltway, the cheaper it gets.”
Gehlsen will again open for sales this year on Saturday Dec. 4. He’ll have a crew of eight to help him with the first weekend rush. After his price adjustments, Gehlsen projects his total sales may jump to more than $100,000 this year.
No plans to retire
Gehlsen is partially disabled, having had part of one of his feet amputated. After farming trees for more than four decades, he said he’s given serious thought to taking a break from planting new seedlings in preparation for eventually retiring. He even recently told his wife he would cease planting but has since decided against it -- mostly because he’s able to charge more for his trees.
Given the higher prices, Gehlsen can plant more trees, allowing a potential profit margin that “makes sense,” he said. “My wife said, ‘I thought you were done.’ And I said, ‘Not at over a hundred bucks a tree!’”
Growing green
Last year was not just Evergreen Acres’ best year for sales, it was also a record year for live tree sales nationwide. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, there are approximately 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees sold in the U.S. every year, a number that’s trending upward. Considering the rising demand for live trees and his ability to produce the local supply, Gehlsen said the profit margins are just too alluring.
“It will be very attractive because the way it looks right now; what I see is there won't be any Christmas tree farms in Prince William. But if I keep planting, then somebody with a little bit of vision and appreciation and some fairly deep pockets could say, ‘Oh, I think I'd like to get into that business,’ because in 10 years, the Norway Spruce will be selling easily for $200,” Gehlsen said.
Gazing out over his serene tree farm and breathing in the crisp pine scent on a recent afternoon, Gehlsen said the farm defines who he is and that he’s proud of his life’s work.
“What should I retire for? So I can die? I can do that out here on the farm. … If I fall over dead out in the trees and somebody finds me, and the buzzards have already picked my eyes out, I’m all right with that.”
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For local Christmas tree farmer, sales are ever green - Prince William Times
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