Thank You!

Thank you so much to all of our customers who supported us this Christmas Tree season. It was not the most beautiful season and yet you all still came to get a tree and continue a family tradition. We appreciate your dedication to support a small family business.

Happy New Year! See you in 2012.
We will be open on Friday November 23, 2012

You can call in the fall if you wish to pre-pay and tag a tree!

What do a horse an umbrella and a bug all have in common?

Kaleidoscope Farms! We love our customers and their dedication.

This is what we call a dedicated customer! Rain and high winds could
not keep him away from the perfect Christmas Tree.

Do to all the rain and flooding we needed to use some real horse power
to get the trees out of the field.

Each year we wait for the "Bug" and Dave Crosser to come get a tree. No matter what the weather conditions
this car is at our farm to get a tree. It is a timeless classic and now a tradition for us to tie a tree on top.

The weather is frightful but our trees are delightful!

Although the weather may be frightful the Christmas trees are still delightful. Rain won’t stop Santa from donning his suit so get out your rain coat and put on your boots. Rains may come and rains may go but we pretend the mud is snow!


-Matt Reese

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The 2011 Christmas tree season is off to a start! We hope to see many of you at the farm this weekend. We are excited to see all of our usual customers and hope to meet many new families too. It looks like a great day so bundle up, put on your boots and bring some merry cheer our way!
Come hungry too! Word has it there are over 800 cut-out cookies so if that is your tradition there should be a good supply this year. If you want to add to your family tradition there should be plenty for you too.

Jingle all the way to Kaleidoscope Farms

“Jingle-bells, Jingle-bells, Jingle all the way,


Oh, what fun it is to ride a one-horse open sleigh…”

“Wait, mom, wait. What is a one-horse open sleigh?”

“Oh, well, I think it means that one horse is pulling a sleigh with an open top.”

“Oh, OK.”

“O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way

Bells on bobtail ring…”

“Mom, what is a bellsonbob-tail?”

“Ummm…Well…Uh…I’m not really sure. You know what, let’s load up and go to Kaleidoscope Farms, I bet they’ll know there. They have horses and a sleigh with bells.”

“Alright mom, that sounds great!”

Kaleidoscope Farms offers all of the charm of an old fashioned Christmas, complete with a horse drawn open sleigh when the snow falls and bells ringing on their bobbed tails. The country charm is easy to see in the beautiful rural Hancock county setting for the farm and the rows of carefully manicured Christmas trees spreading out in every direction. After a pleasant winter stroll, guests are welcome to warm up in the cozy, wood fired warm gift shop that has been dramatically expanded and remodeled for 2011. There are more shopping options than ever before along with our hand made wreaths and greens, home baked cookies and cinnamon rolls and complimentary hot cider.

“We want the people who take time to come out here and share the holidays with our family to find the wonderful Christmas atmosphere they usually can only sing about in all of the old Christmas carols,” said Dave Reese, owner of Kaleidoscope Farms. “Out here they won’t find a shopping mall or a traffic jam, just a simple country Christmas experience on the farm. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we’ll even have some snow for the horses to pull the sleigh.”

Kaleidoscope Farms offers 10 varieties of fir, pine and spruce trees, dug trees, tree delivery and plenty of decorations to Deck the Halls. Celebrate the First Noel this year with a White Christmas in the Winter Wonderland at the farm complete with Jingle Bells, Silver Bells and Holly and the Ivy.

Veteran's Day and Operation Evergreen

We get to celebrate Veteran’s Day in a special way on my family’s Christmas tree farm in Hancock County. We participate in the Operation Evergreen Program that sends around 300 Christmas trees, complete with handmade ornaments, to troops stationed overseas for the holidays. On the Sunday prior to Veteran’s Day, we invite area veterans to come and select three or four Christmas trees from the farm to cut for this purpose. Local elementary students, high schools students and community groups also visited the farm to present the ornaments they have made to the veterans. This year there were well over 3,000 ornaments brought to the farm. The trees and ornaments then go from our farm to the Ohio Department of Agriculture where they are inspected and shipped off to Iraq, Afghanistan or wherever else U.S. troops are serving.

Each year we have done this, our Grandpa Franklin Deeds has been a part of the ceremony. He served in World War II in the Invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge and, throughout our lives he has demonstrated the epitome of a soldier’s sacrifice in everything he has done. He mostly remains quiet about the horrors of war that he saw in his service to our country, preferring to spend his time working on the farm and helping friends and family with anything asked of him.

With so much sacrifice from so many veterans in this country, it is an honor to play a small part in the Operation Evergreen program that offers just a simple reminder of home for those currently serving.

And, on this Veteran’s Day, we want to say thank you Grandpa, and all veterans, for your incredible sacrifice for this wonderful country.

Kaleidoscope Farms New Gift Shop Grand Opening

We have finally added on to our Tree Barn! We would love to invite all of our customers and their guests out to get a sneak peak of the expanded Tree Barn. We will have the gift shop open with many great gift items to jump start your Christmas shopping. We have many new items that make great gifts any time of year. Feel free to tag your Christmas Tree so you are sure to get the one you want. We will be open Saturday November 5 from 10-5:30 pm and Sunday Nov. 6 from 3-5:30. See you then!

The Reese Family

Kaleidoscope Farms continues the Operation Evergreen tradition

American patriotism, agriculture and Christmas spirit will all be present on Sunday Nov. 6 at 2:00 p.m. when Kaleidoscope Farms once again holds a ceremony to honor veterans while serving those who serve their country.

Through the Ohio Christmas Tree Association’s Operation Evergreen Program, local veterans will gather at the farm to pick out Christmas trees that will be shipped to troops overseas for their holidays spent far from home and their loved ones. Elected officials and area veterans groups have been invited to attend the event.

“This program is so special because it gives us a chance to give just a little to those who are giving so much to us through their service to our country,” said Dave Reese, owner of Kaleidoscope Farms. “We hear back from troops every year telling us that they really appreciate what we’re doing for them. It is very hard to be away from their families over Christmas, and any little reminder of home is very important to them.”

Also at the farm will be students from Cory-Rawson Schools and other area schools and representatives from Kiwanis Village in Tiffin who made decorations to send with the trees. Once the veterans select the Christmas trees for harvest from Kaleidoscope Farms and other farms around the state, they are delivered to the Ohio Department of Agriculture for inspection and then shipped to U.S. military posts around the world. Operation Evergreen was developed by Ohio Christmas Tree Association members in 1995 to bring Christmas cheer to military units serving overseas. This year Kaleidoscope Farms will be sending four of the more than 300 Ohio Christmas trees to troops.

For more information about the event or the Operation Evergreen program, contact Reese at 419-722-1154.

Pa Pa's Paw Paws

This is what the leaf of a paw paw looks like.

The Christmas tree farm is an environmentalist's dream. Not only do we have over 30,ooo Christmas Trees we also have many acres of wetlands, CREP conservation areas and even a Paw Paw patch. We sell paw paws to a restaurant when in season and several private individuals. The going rate for paw paws is $10.00 per pound. The paw paw is a native fruit to Ohio. It is full of nutrients and even more nutritious than a banana. It is said that this fruit can help with stomach indigestion and digestion. It is a fleshy fruit and is only ripe for a very short period of time. It has lots of seeds inside.
Our natural paw paw patch is along our creek bed and is very wet most of the time. They spread through their root system and take over very easily. The tricky part of raising paw paws is that the animals love them just as much as people. When ripe, they fall from the trees, this is what the animals count on. We go out and shake the tree, when fruit falls it is almost ripe. The skin will be soft and turn a darker color as it ripens.

The taste is similar to a banana or a mango. Most either love it or could leave it. There are many recipes out there that are good and most say the less you heat or cook a paw paw the better. This is a delicate fruit that needs to be used within a short window or you will not like the results.

The Reese grandkids call Matt's Dad "PaPa" and he takes great joy in harvesting the native crop with his grandchildren and even daughter-in-laws like me. We think the name PaPa’s Paw Paws is here to stay.

This is what the fruit  looks like on the tree.

You can see the typical size of the fruit when harvested.

We have trees of all sizes but this is
the average size of our fruiting trees.

Ohio Hosts the National Christmas Tree Convention

It is official, the National Christmas Tree Convention is underway in Ohio. What an honor to host this convention. Ohio is making the Christmas Tree industry proud. David was a two term president of the Ohio Christmas Tree Association and now serves as the VP. We are already finding new things to bring back for you our customers. How does a mat that will protect your flooring if you over flow your tree stand with too much water sound? I know Matt and Kristin Reese already have one ready for use this tree season. No more wet flooring in our house!
The Reese family will be taking turns at the convention learning new ways to make our farm an even better experience for you and your family and friends. This year marks the 50th year of the Ohio Christmas Tree Association (OCTA).

Let the Shearing Begin

The Reese men and women are busy getting the trees sheared and mowed so that you will have the perfect Christmas Tree in a few months. Christmas is less than 6 months away! Each tree would not have its perfect shape if it was not sheared each year. The trees we planted this spring will not be seared but everything else will be sheared by hand using a very sharp knife. Enjoy these photos of before and after.

 This is a white pine in the field with out being sheared.

 This is the same white pine after is was sheared.

Dave Reese the shearing pro works at shaping the tree. This takes years of practice and a strong shoulder.

Tree Planting 2011

The trees were picked up in these boxes in the morning.

Each tree has a hole drilled by this auger.

Campbell is learning how the whole process works from the expert "PaPa" Dave Reese.

You can see how large the roots of this sapling are. Good soil, healthy roots and the perfect amount of rain will make this little tree grow about 1 foot each year. The first year the growth will be a less as the little sapling puts all its energy into survival.

      By the end of the weekend over  2,800 new trees have been planted by big and little hands. In about 7 years these trees will be ready for our customers.