MOOSE JAW – They’re only open for one month a year, but Henri and Aline O’Reilly work all year to make Christmas pay.
Unlike most farmers, the O’Reillys make their customers harvest the crop.
“Christmas trees, our Christmas trees, are an experience rather than a commodity. And that’s what we sell, the experience of people getting their trees,” said Henri O’Reilly.
The retired Moose Jaw couple began planting coniferous trees on a rocky 160-acre parcel of land 15 minutes east of that city about 25 years ago.
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“Trees are a crop that takes time. We opened to the public seven years ago,” he said.
In 2005 the couple sent more than 600 families past the reindeer corral into the Come See Come Saw Christmas Tree Farm plantation to cut their own trees.
Aline O’Reilly said the experience of cutting the tree by Swede saw and hauling it back to the store on a sleigh is a family event and has already become a tradition for many of their customers.
She operates the farm’s store, where the customers can enjoy hot chocolate and sugar cookies and buy gifts and popcorn to feed the seven reindeer while waiting for Henri or one of the seasonal staff to shake the loose needles from the trees.
The two tree shakers that automate needle removal and the 20 tree sleds made from discarded downhill skis were designed and built by Henri O’Reilly.
“We’ve kept costs down where we can, but kept in mind this is in part an aesthetic experience,” he said.
The tree farm is a second career for the couple, who grew up in the ranching country of Saskatchewan’s southwest.
“We both worked in education and once our own kids were older we knew we could retire from that career and do something that involved farming. And here we are,” he said, noting they both have income from pensions.
The O’Reillys’s farm, like most agricultural businesses, has had its setbacks and learning experiences.
“We planted Russian wild rye along with the first crop of trees. We wanted to be environmentally sensitive. Control wind erosion. That sort of thing,” said Henri.
“When I Rounduped the whole thing two years later, I was of the opinion that healthy grass doesn’t mean healthy trees.”
Gylphosate remains an O’Reilly staple for weed control within the plantation’s 12,000 trees. Originally they planted Scots pines but have been replacing them with balsam firs that don’t require fall “dye jobs” to ensure a green colour for Christmas.
The Scots pines also have a tendency to shift their shallow roots in the strong prairie wind, causing the trees to try to straighten themselves through new growth. The result is crooked trunks. Balsams also have a wider seasonal window for pruning, reducing the workload pressure during the summer.
The balsams take an additional two to three years more than the 10-year maturity of the Scots pines, but the couple say the balsams will more than make up for the extra time through less work.
Drip irrigation from the couple’s two large dugouts provides water to this dryland farm.
Two-inch main line feeds one-inch manifolds that, in turn, feed smaller irrigation lines that send six gallons of water weekly to the trees.
“We lose a few to disease or insects and some to other causes, but we are continually planting more than we harvest,” he said of the 1,200 new seedlings they put in the soil each year.
Summers are spent tending to the newest seedlings and pruning.
The trees require basal pruning to ensure a clear trunk and shearing to create the traditional Christmas tree shape and develop buds that fill in the plant nearer the main stem.
“We are open from the last weekend in November until Dec. 23 each year, but the work goes on all year,” said Aline.
