Absolutely perfect thick, green, bushy, beautiful balsam fir Christmas trees are coming up for sale at the Christmas Tree Bazaar Farm at 174 Back Meadow Rd., in Nobleboro.
Business owner David Schaible has been raising these trees for 30 years and the effect is stunning. His land looks like a gigantic green garden of fir trees out of a Grant Wood painting. There is a nice little learning piece for the kids who visit. A section of baby trees held in by wood that looks like a sandbox is, of course, the nursery.
“On any weekend after Thanksgiving carloads of parents and kids walk the acres to pick out a tree,” Schaible said. “We give them a saw to cut it down, and then we bale the tree so it’s easy to put in the car. If you’re elderly, we will cut it down for you. “
From the nursery, a good walk takes visitors through the neat rows of different maturities. In the center of the tree farm is an old fir tree planted in 1978. Towering above the rest, the tree stands like a model to which all the other Christmas trees must aspire.
“That was one of the first,” Schaible said. “(It’s) too beautiful to cut down.”
A forester by trade, Schaible began his Christmas trees business 30 years ago as a sideline, to fill in the gaps in early spring and late fall, when forestry work slows down. In the spring, he fertilizes and weeds the rows. In the late fall, he shears the balsams to their picture book shape.
The trees are robust to begin with because Schaible is a member of the Maine Christmas Tree Association, a group organized to supply its members with select seedlings. Trees start at $10 and the standard 8 to 10 footer goes for $35. The bigger trees in the back cost around $60.
Each year Schaible gives a portion of his trees to “Trees for Troops.” This organization gives trees to families of enlisted men.
The Christmas Tree Bazaar Farm is open for business starting the day after Thanksgiving and then Saturday and Sundays only until Christmas Eve, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by chance. For more information call 563-5700 or visit the website: www.christmastreebazaar.com.
