Tradition that’s key to one farm’s preservation

For some people leading out to a grower’s farm and cutting down their own Christmas tree is an annual tradition. One New Jersey farmer says it’s a tradition that’s keeping his farm alive.

For some people leading out to a grower’s farm and cutting down their own Christmas tree is an annual tradition. One New Jersey farmer says it’s a tradition that’s keeping his farm alive.

Joe Keris is the owner of Keris Christmas Tree Farm in Allentown, New Jersey. His grandfather started a vegetable farm decades ago at the 34 acre site where Keris now grows and sells Christmas trees. It’s a crop he says that allows him to stay in the farming business.

Keris: If people didn’t come out and cut a tree down, there’d probably be houses here like everywhere else. The farm has been here since the 20s and my children are in their early 20s now they want to carry on. So as long as people continue to support we’ll continue to grow them.

Keris says environmentally conscious younger people are becoming more interested in getting those live trees for the holiday instead of buying an artificial one. He says business is down a bit this year, not as a result of the recession, but because of the nasty weather that kept people away on many of the weekends this month.