Do you get a real tree or a fake one for Christmas?
We get a real one, fake just doesn't seem Christmasty enough.
We get a real one, fake just doesn't seem Christmasty enough.
Originally posted by: KK
I wonder if tree huggers have real trees.
Originally posted by: KK
I wonder if tree huggers have real trees.
The 2007 holiday season might be remembered as the year Americans tried, for the first time, to have a green Christmas.
But how can one reduce, reuse and recycle during a time of year in which the pressure to spend, spend, spend rings from every television, radio and store window beginning before Thanksgiving and incessantly as Dec. 25 approaches?
Surprisingly, for residents of South County, having an ecologically sound and sustainable Christmas starts with the holiday?s most recognizable icon: the Christmas tree.
There are many myths surrounding the Christmas tree and whether the traditional family trip to the local farm to pick and cut a fresh specimen is ecologically friendly. On the outset, chopping down a tree seems like a destructive act. This compels some people to consider buying a fake tree, which won?t shed needles and can be stored in the attic the remainder of the year.
But if you?re serious about reducing your carbon footprint, buying a fake tree is a step in the wrong direction. Made of various plastics and synthetic materials, a fake tree is literally born from a vat of oil and must be packaged and shipped before its global journey ends in your living room.
Thus, it isn?t harmful to buy a tree that was grown and harvested locally. In fact, Christmas tree farms are among the lowest impact forms of agriculture, requiring less resources to grow and leaving less of an impact on the earth than the majority of food and commodity crops such as corn or cabbage.
Here in Rhode Island, trees thrive locally, so it makes sense for locals to take advantage of their presence. In the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the only trees that are available have been hauled in on trucks from the Sierra Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington or even Canada. There, residents should seriously consider foregoing the tree tradition ? or substitute a northern evergreen with a local plant. But here, because there are dozens of local farmers growing trees, it makes a great deal of sense to continue buying a tree.
?Supporting a locally grown tree means supporting open space and I think that?s a big thing,? said Sarah Partyka, a more than 20-year grower of Christmas trees and owner of the Farmer?s Daughter on Route 138 in Wakefield.
Partyka grows her trees in a field off Broad Rock Road where people can wander among the rows in search of an ideal specimen. For many families, the search is a seasonal rite, a pine-scented and prickly milestone that plants the holiday firmly into a household, a commitment to the season, the beginning of the fun.
At the farm, when a tree is cut, two new trees are planted on either side of the new stump.
?For every tree we cut, two are planted,? Partyka said.
A tree is ready for harvest after about 10 years. The result is a cluster of young and growing trees that is always 90 percent intact and only 10 percent is harvested each winter and just one acre of Christmas trees produces enough oxygen for 18 people and removes up to 13 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year.
The common evergreens are relatively hardy and grow without much, if any, watering beyond what Mother Nature provides. And being trees, they don?t require plowed earth; a seedling only needs a slight hole to start. Its roots eventually spread and hold the soil in place, preventing erosion.
?There?s no soil loss when trees are planted,? Partyka said. ?It?s just a continuous cycle of cutting and planting trees. It?s a renewable resource, unlike a plastic tree that requires burning petroleum products and whatever other things that go into them.?
Tree farms are also havens for birds, providing an ideal habitat, especially during cold spells in the middle of the winter. The thick cover of needled branches create a terrific shield to the wind and snow. After a major snowstorm, being a bird perched in a hollow place inside a snow-blanketed tree seems like a cozy place indeed.
?The birds love them,? Partyka said. ?Birds are constantly roosting in them and hanging out in them for protection in the winter because they?re a great bird habitat.?
And a chopped tree?s life doesn?t have to end in vain. Christmas trees can be converted into mulch and used to fertilize flower beds. The state Department of Environmental Management has, in years past, collected a small number of trees from residents to be used for dune management and erosion control.
?A tree can be recycled and turned back into the earth where a plastic tree is just plastic,? Partyka said.
Once the holidays are over, leave the tree somewhere in the back yard to provide winter shelter for small birds. If you really want to attract birds, hang some orange slices from a few branches or spread peanut butter on seed cones. Just be sure to remove all the tinsel and ornaments so they don?t end up in a bird?s stomach.
The foliage from a fir tree can also be cut into small pieces and wrapped in tissue paper or cloth to make small pouches or pillows. Tucked in a sock drawer or left in the back of the closet, the fragrance of the season can linger in the house until spring with a few snippets sprinkled here and there.
Most importantly, buying a locally grown tree puts money back into the local economy and supports the area?s agriculture businesses. Local farmers who can supplement their summer income from vegetables and other products with Christmas trees in the winter have more money to invest in their farms. As a result, they might be more inclined to keep their land undeveloped and farmed.
Just be sure that your tree has been grown locally. The Rhode Island Christmas Tree Growers Association maintains a list of Rhode Island growers on its website at www.richristmastrees.com. Even with many local farms growing trees, there are still many dealers of imported trees that have been harvested in Maine and Canada. Many of these imported trees have been cut weeks in advance of shipping and are much drier and more prone to dropping needles than a freshly cut tree.
Originally posted by: Delita
Fake trees are for intelligent people.
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Originally posted by: Delita
Fake trees are for intelligent people.
When we bought our house in 1999, my wife, who always HATED artificial trees, decided that she didn't want to bring the mess of fallen needles, dripping sap, and the other related messes associated with X-Mas trees into our new house...so, we bought an artificial tree.
Originally posted by: Descartes
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Originally posted by: Delita
Fake trees are for intelligent people.
When we bought our house in 1999, my wife, who always HATED artificial trees, decided that she didn't want to bring the mess of fallen needles, dripping sap, and the other related messes associated with X-Mas trees into our new house...so, we bought an artificial tree.
Hmm. I've never had any of those problems, save for some fallen needles. Nothing major by any means though.
Originally posted by: QurazyQuisp
Originally posted by: Descartes
Originally posted by: BoomerD
Originally posted by: Delita
Fake trees are for intelligent people.
When we bought our house in 1999, my wife, who always HATED artificial trees, decided that she didn't want to bring the mess of fallen needles, dripping sap, and the other related messes associated with X-Mas trees into our new house...so, we bought an artificial tree.
Hmm. I've never had any of those problems, save for some fallen needles. Nothing major by any means though.
it's probably because in california they don't get a nice freeze before they come into the house, as they do in the northern part of the country (or california for that matter).
Firry, green, prickly breasts, oozing thick sap everywhere?Originally posted by: nkgreen
I like my trees how I like my breasts.