KENASTON, Sask. – People bundled into woollen hats and warm coats ambled through the rows of balsam fir and Scots pine at the Mason U-cut Christmas tree farm.
One family from Stettler, Alta., drags two trees to their horse trailer after stopping here on the way home from Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
A couple from Dundurn wants to avoid the frozen bundles of trees found in store lots, while a young couple and their boys from Glenside are incorporating the outing into their annual Christmas traditions.
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Bob Mason, Cora Greer and their two daughters, Vanessa, 13, and Kat-rina, 24, started this enterprise more than a decade ago on their 11-quarter grain farm in central Saskatchewan. They planted 4,000 trees and began selling them in 1997, first in retail outlets and now entirely as a U-cut on the farm.
Piles of dismantled fences lie near the lines of trees, a reminder of the 1,000 ewes that once roamed here.
Mason, a farmer’s son from Tessier, who started farming after completing his agriculture degree at the University of Saskatchewan, sought a less travelled path.
“Sheep was something you could get into and get return from the same year,” he said.
“I’ve always done things a little differently than most people,” he said. “I never was much of one to socialize so I was not following a crowd.”
He farmed here with his parents from the mid-1960s, splitting time between farm life and a home in Moose Jaw. Greer worked for 25 years as director of the Palliser Regional Library.
This windy winter day, she dons a green-bibbed apron, red shirt and floor-length skirt to dole out handsaws and maps to a steady stream of customers.
Mason, in a red flannel shirt, tops it off with a Santa’ hat for a visit to the plantation.
Catrina prepares hot chocolate and refills plates of home-made Christmas cookies for those popping in to warm up in the kitchen of the family’s 1912 farm home.
The room is filled with laminated posters of how the trees are grown, shelves of preserves and handicrafts for sale, a decorated Christmas tree and a handful of tables. It’s a small-scale version of what the family would like to see in a heritage barn now being restored in the yard, said Greer.
Other plans include orchards of saskatoons, apples and blue honeysuckle, expected to be in full production within a few years. They are also growing poplar for a lumber crop.
Admittedly there is much work yet to be done here, said Mason.
“I think we have overstretched ourselves and are trying to do too many things,” he said.
He also grows oilseeds and cereals in rotation on a 90-acre irrigated field. He uses zero till rotation to conserve moisture and prevent erosion.
“Summerfallow doesn’t seem to be what nature would do,” said Mason.
Each summer, they hire up to 10 students to shape, straighten, weed and tint the trees they sell. Trees typically become dormant and yellow off for the winter, so growers tint them to keep their green colour.
They use mulch to keep the weeds down and the moisture in, fences to reduce deer damage to young trees and drip irrigation from a creek-fed dam on their property. Trees or seedlings are purchased and started in the greenhouse.
The farm has seen increases in sales of 10 percent each year, selling more than 300 trees and breaking even in 2003.
“We will get to the point where we make money on the other things in our barn,” said Mason, who advertises with flyers in area mailboxes, by word of mouth, and with a prominent sign on the Saskatoon-Regina highway.
Mason and Greer value other returns from the business, including planting trees that are good for the environment, providing employment for youth and a rural experience for families.
They love growing trees but it is a long-term commitment, they say.
During the Christmas season, the couple reap the fruits of their labours.
“It’s a really nice time of year to meet some people. Everyone is in a good mood,” said Mason.
Added Greer: “People come and have a good time. It’s a family day for them.”
Much of what they’ve learned has been through trial and error, poring over the latest research and information on their business. They share that with others by hosting field days and serving on the executive of the 21-member Saskatchewan Christmas Tree Growers Association.
“We don’t want to take and not give back,” said Mason.
They plan to leave their farm to the University of Saskatchewan for research, but will continue to live and work on their projects here.
