Christmas tree farming is a year-round business in Sonoma County

The search for the perfect tree at the Garlock Christmas Tree Farm in Sebastopol isn’t just about chopping it down and strapping it to the top of your car. It’s about meeting Santa with a real beard and belly, petting farm animals, riding a horse drawn carriage through seven acres of Douglas fir, white fir, Scotch pine and Monterey pine and, of course, finding the tree that smells just right.

“On the tractor-drawn hay ride, I’ll cut off sprigs of trees and crush them in my fingers, just like herbs,” said owner Keith Garlock, whose family has run the farm for 50 years this season. “Which one smells like Christmas? Probably whatever you grew up with.”

Christmas is a big deal in the Garlock family. Keith’s father, Bob, bought their 10-acre farm property on Bloomfield Road in 1951.

He ran a successful chicken farm and egg delivery business with clients from Marin to Mendocino County for many years but, eventually, he wanted to diversify. On the advice of a friend, he took out a few apple trees and started planting Christmas trees. By 1979, the chickens were completely gone.

It was - and still is - a family affair, with Keith’s mom Sally working seven days a week in the early days, from Thanksgiving until Christmas, while his dad delivered eggs and Keith and his two siblings helped out. Bob worked until 2000 when, one day, as Keith described, he declared that he was done.

“That was his succession plan,” said Garlock.

The farm was left to him, his brother Bill and his sister Debbie Garavaglia, although Bill and Debbie have since started their own nearby tree farms, Frosty Mountain and Reindeer Ridge. Keith’s wife, Becky, and their three daughters, Caitlyn, Meghan and Erin, have all worked on the Garlock farm, with the kids getting promoted as they grew up from bouncy-house attendant to gift store cashier. Presumably, between the three sisters and their four cousins, the tree farms will all be passed down to the next generation.

There used to be about 40 Christmas tree farms in the Sebastopol area. Today there are about 15 - including Tresenrider Christmas Tree Farm (owned by a Garlock cousin), Grandma Buddy’s Christmas Trees, Santa’s Trees, Spirit of Christmas, Celesta Farms and the Graton Fire Protection District’s tree farm.

Some of the reasons for the decline are familiar to farmers of all types. It’s hard work for a relatively small profit, Garlock explained. And while there is a definitive season for selling Christmas trees, the work of growing happens all year.

“That’s the way agriculture works,” said Keith. “There is no time to rest after the holidays to get the farm ready to plant.”

In January, Garlock walks through each row of trees, clearing out the brush, stumps and unsuccessful trees with a chainsaw and chipping them all into a big pile.

Seedlings are planted in February, fertilized while it’s still rainy, and equipment is maintained and repaired in time for spring, when the entire farm is rototilled.

Every tree is hand-pruned between May and August, sometimes more than once. In fact, summer is the busiest time of year on the farm, as many of the trees have growth spurts and need to be shaped and cut back to help encourage the classic Christmas tree look.

There’s a short period of time in September and early October when Keith can slip away for a fishing trip, but in mid to late October, they buckle down again and begin setting up the farm for the holidays - starting the season’s cycle again.

There are multiple successions growing at a time, as it takes an average of six years to grow one tree. While Keith hires a crew to do some of the work, he does most of it himself, working until midnight some days (in addition to his full-time ?job in insurance) to guarantee his trees are in premium condition.

“Every tree that goes out of here is a reflection of you (the farmer),” he said.

In addition to the labor needed to run the farm, there are other challenges such as pests and drought.

On a hill beyond the converted chicken barns overflowing with wreaths and the picnic area that welcomes returning families year after year, there is still a sparse area of growth with stunted, spindly trees that suffered when the first rain didn’t arrive until February a few years ago.

Keith does not irrigate the trees, so they are entirely dependent on nature to satisfy their energy needs. And because these trees are on a six-year cycle, he won’t even know how the lack of rain will affect his future business.

“Ask me in about three or four years from now,” he said.

But probably the biggest threat to the Christmas tree farm business is the rise in popularity of artificial trees. According to the Christmas Tree Promotion Board, 31 percent of Christmas tree buyers typically have a real tree, while 30 percent have an artificial one.

“It makes a huge dent in real Christmas tree sales,” said Garlock.

It’s a threat that the Promotion Board and trade organizations like the National Christmas Tree Association take seriously. They require their members to pay a 13 cent tax on each tree they sell and they sponsor a campaign with the tagline, “It’s Christmas, keep it real.”

However, Garlock said, the artificial tree threat primarily impacts growers in states like Oregon, where the wholesale market for Christmas trees is king. Small farms like his are actually not in competition with retailers like Home Depot or Safeway because, he said, consumers are looking for an entirely different experience when they come to a cut-your-own tree farm.

In fact, after heeding the lessons from his siblings who added Christmas activities to their farms like hayrides and visits from Santa, Garlock is having a record-breaking year with customers coming from all over the Bay Area.

He has to bring in pre-cut Noble fir trees from Oregon, which he keeps fresh in water, to supplement his stock because he can’t grow enough trees to meet the demand. And he has been able to create an experience on his farm that keeps people returning year after year. When the farm is bustling with babies, families and dogs in Christmas sweaters searching for the perfect tree, something special happens.

“When there’s so much going on in the world that’s negative,” he said, “here you get to see the best side of people.”