A Mercer County farm family is planning a Christmas tree venue that will allow their customers a place to watch, learn and participate.

BURGIN, Ky. – While December is the prime month for the Christmas tree business, the actual process by which these trees are grown takes year-round care and multiple years to harvest that first crop.

But for those in this specialized sector, the rewards are worth the effort it takes to go from a seedling to a harvestable tree. And, like most farms in Kentucky, Christmas tree farms are primarily family-owned and operated.

Sherwood Acres Farm, nestled on the banks of Herrington Lake, is a prime example of that, and while this tree farm is in its infancy, owners Jon and Sylvia Bednarski have big plans for its future.

With deep agricultural roots in the cattle industry, the Bednarskis together with their daughter Kristin Rover, her husband, William, and their children, Madison and Chase, along with Jon’s sister, Karen, and her husband, David Yount, are transferring their previous farming knowledge and new research to this not-so-typical crop.

“We have a 55-acre farm here that we purchased about eight years ago to have as a beef farm,” Jon said. “We have had a direct-to-consumer beef business for 18 years selling in multiple farmers markets all those years.”

It is that direct-to-consumer model that will fit well with this new farming operation once trees are mature enough to cut and sell, he added.

“It started about two-and-a-half or three years ago when we all had a discussion about Christmas trees and how it was an interest to the family,” Jon said. “We joined the Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) Certified Farm Market program in 2006, and that's proven to be very successful for us on the beef side. So, we saw this as an opportunity to do something with Christmas trees and it was a great segue to just continue that direct marketing but with a different product.”

The family immediately joined the Kentucky Christmas Tree Association because they wanted to surround themselves with people who had been in this business for a while.

"They have been helpful in figuring out what tree varieties would work in this area and the group has just been tremendously helpful in terms of mentoring us,” Jon said. “While we’re only going to have people here on the farm maybe three or four weekends a year, it is a year-round commitment as far as growing and caring for the trees. And our trees are now just getting to a point where we're starting to do some tree correction and pruning, another part of this process. So, it's been a learning experience.”

Even though the farm is a few years from having harvestable trees, this family is planning on moving forward with their business plan sooner, rather than later.

“Our plan going forward would be that we'll purchase some cut trees from some growers, maybe in Kentucky if we can find the supplier that can handle us, or in a surrounding state and bring those trees in for the Christmas of 2024,” Jon said. “We'll have our gift shop open and services in there as well.”

The whole idea is to get customers acquainted with Sherwood Acres Farm which will include the choose-and-cut part of the operation along with things like pictures with Santa or their big red antique Christmas tree truck. Customers will also be able to make a Christmas wreath or a centerpiece for the table. A gift shop renovation is currently taking place in a converted tobacco barn on the property.

David said all the planned activities on the farm are a part of the overall future of the farm.

“It falls in line with our whole business plan and centers around it being a family experience, not just the Christmas trees," he said. "And that's what we want; people to come out to experience the farm, not just see the trees, but see the cows and see the gift shop, have some hot chocolate, and take hayrides. We want it to be an experience for the whole family, unlike just running into the store and getting a tree.”

David is using his nearby Rask Farm not only to plant some of the trees but to conduct research and discover ways to make sure the planted trees have a good chance of making it to the harvest.

“My farm is kind of the sister farm to Sherwood Acres and the backend of the operation, where I focus mostly on figuring out how we can best raise the trees, maybe not from a seed, but perhaps from a seedling, get them into a greenhouse and get them mature enough to go into the field,” he said.

David is a veteran having served active duty in the Air Force and also serving in the Army Reserves. He is participating in the Homegrown by Heroes program and received a grant from the Farmer Veteran Coalition, in partnership with Tractor Supply to put in a small greenhouse on his farm where seedlings can get their start before transferring to the field. 

“We're going to start putting seedlings in the greenhouse in the spring and see how that works for us, instead of going directly to the field,” he said. “The plan is that the seedlings will go through the greenhouse for a year until they are mature enough to go into the field. I think it'll also help us to experiment with different tree varieties. If we can get them to do well in the greenhouse, then hopefully that translates to the field.”

Typically, Christmas tree growers can expect to lose a percentage of trees throughout the growing process depending on issues related to things like weather conditions, disease pressures, or animal depredation.

And while some challenges are unavoidable, David added that by giving the trees a good start, their hope is they will have a better chance to reach maturity. And the more trees they have to cut, the more trees they will have to sell.   

“You're probably always going to worry about losses, and so hopefully we're going to decrease the amount of loss we have by babysitting those for a year or two inside,” Jon said. “As a beginning beef farmer, 18 or 19 years ago, I feel I’m in that start over mode again, and that's part of it that I like and enjoy the learning. And you deal with the failures, and you enjoy the successes.”

Part of the success of this and many farming operations today depends on education and getting the word out to the public and prospective customers. Kristin, with a background in communications and journalism, is helping with that side of the operation.

“It's definitely important to have communications as part of the plan when you're building the business,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot of businesses including family farms do a great job of showing the behind-the-scenes workings and so I’ve been thinking of how to show the public just what it takes to run a Christmas tree farm.

Kristin added that by showing the farm online or on social media, they can share what they have learned in moving forward with the farm as well as gain information from others in the same sector.

“My goal is to continue putting out information whether it's behind-the-scenes things, or work that everybody's doing on the farm, to the things that we're learning along the way,” she said. “Also, my children love to run around on the farm collecting buckets or helping plant the trees so, we want to show that this is truly a family farm.”

As part of that learning experience for children, David said having school groups come to the farm is a part of the plan, as well,

“It's about sharing the journey, and, as a year-round business, we want people to enjoy it with us,” he said. “It's not just our journey. We want to share it with others so they can come along for the ride.”

While most people think of Christmas as a seasonal thing, the Sherwood Acres Christmas Tree farm family sees it as a year-round venture.

“We are so excited about the whole Christmas tree thing because our family loves Christmas,” Kristin said. “As a family, we've almost always been together during the holidays. And there's just something special about the holiday season. We’re looking forward to having people come out, seeing the look on their faces, watching their kids get excited to go pick out a tree, and experiencing the warmth of the holiday season.”