Organic Holiday Trees Are a Growing Farming Niche
The buy local and help the farmer movements are expanding nicely for organic foods and all kinds of earth-friendly products. Yet the traditional Christmas tree without pesticide sprays is still a challenge.
- » See also: More Fun with Eye Shadow: Couleur Caramel Gives You 80 Shades to Play With!
- » Get Feelgood Style by RSS or sign up by email.
Six years ago an assignment took me to a Texas farm for a certified organic tree. The next best thing was wild harvested in northern or west coast states. The search was for a Beverly Hills family with a chemically sensitive child. It wasn’t easy then to find a non-sprayed tree in any state, much less a certified organic one.
Fortunately today, the importance of community and farming for sustainable lifestyles led some smart individuals into creating nifty web sites that help. One that integrates holiday trees and wreaths with many other products is Green Promise.
The Green Promise site provides a list of organic Christmas tree farms, including low-spray and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) trees. Some of the farms are certified organic or practice organic methods, but are not yet certified. Sometimes terms are to cut your own, or pick one out and they will cut it for you. All farms in their database are verified. Currently there are organic tree sources listed in 20 states. Compared to six years ago, that’s terrific!
LocalHarvest is primarily an American organic and local food site, but they offer listings for season trees and wreaths as well. Their nationwide directory helps people find products from family farms, local sources of sustainably grown food, and encourages direct contact with local farm managers. Their online store also helps farmers develop markets for their products beyond their home region.
A listing found on LocalHarvest is Christmas Trees 4 Small Spaces, pictured herein. That makes replanting easy, eh? Stylish and practical idea!
RELATED POST:
How to Avoid the Card and Wrap Trap
This is quite helpful - I wanted a real tree but live in a tiny town and the trees available are icky. They have been sprayed with green coloring!
Great. Helpful article. Good references. Could be updated and reposted each November/December. Finding and encouraging locally grown and organic trees is a challenge.
I like those small trees. I would like to get some for my nephews.
I had to tweet this and stir up some attention. If you have any pics of these neat little trees, I would love it if you could create a space in Style Estate and upload them.
Comments appreciated! Yes, this should be addressed each year, & a bit earlier in November. Meanwhile, tree farm managers hopefully take note. Baby organic trees make a lot of sense for celebrating the season!