Planting the next generation

The roots are almost as large as the tree!

 It was a long and cold winter, but we were very fortunate to have the most beautiful few days of the year to get the 2014 crop of Christmas trees planted. So far we have planted around 2,000 trees including Canaan fir, White Pine, and Norway Spruce. We are planting some Scotch Pine as well, but as of last week they were still frozen in at the nursery! 

We dig a hole with an auger and then carefully place the
little tree in the hole.

We had the next generation of tree planters at work "helping" to get a great batch of trees started for you to cut in the next 7 to 10 years. We use a six-inch auger to drill holes into the ground and carefully plant the trees in the hole, making sure to pack in the dirt around the trees. When planting in the open field, we can use a tree planter pulled behind a tractor, but this year we were filling in fields that already had trees planted in them so these were all planted by hand. It is hard work, but we try to have some family fun too. Hopefully, with a good growing season, this will be another great crop of Christmas trees at Kaleidoscope Farms. 

Then we pack the dirt around the little tree and it is ready to grow!
We did this 2,000 times!