HISTORY OF PAUL’S TREE FARM

In 1948 when Paul was 6 years old, his grandfather, Clayton McNitt, planted the first pine trees on this farm which later became Paul’s Tree Farm.

The first trees were not planted with the intention of selling them as Christmas trees. They were planted as windbreaks to prevent wind erosion of the sandy soil on the farm. A few years later when the trees reached the 5’ to 6’ size, Harry Sauer, a Christmas tree retailer from Brodhead, WI noticed the pines and wanted to purchase some of them to sell as Christmas trees. The trees were mostly Jack Pine and Norway (Red) Pine, and had not been sheared. As a result of this business transaction with Harry Sauer, we were now in the Christmas tree business! Harry continued purchasing trees for many years, selling them at his location at the A & W Root Beer stand in Brodhead, WI.

Due to Harry’s interest in our Christmas trees, we began planting seedlings annually for the purpose of Christmas tree production. The first trees were planted with an old modified tobacco planter. In the mid 1950’s, a tree planter that was designed and built by Stan Knight of Knight Mfg. of Brodhead, WI was purchased for planting the seedlings. This planter has been used to plant hundreds of thousands of seedlings & is still being used today!

The most popular tree in the early 1950’s was the Norway Pine. By the mid to late 1950’s the Scotch Pine was introduced and soon became the #1 seller, with White Pine soon becoming a close 2^nd. The popularity of the Norway Pine dropped off considerably. We had thousands of these Norway Pines planted and virtually no market for them. Therefore they were left to grow as timber. These are the large Norway Pines that you see as you drive down through our land to cut your Christmas tree. They were planted during the years of 1955 to 1957.

With the fast growing popularity of the Scotch Pine, growers started shearing the trees to ensure a full and "perfect" shape. When Paul was about 14 years old, he began to help work in the Christmas trees. Paul helped with the planting on the weekends and with the shearing during the summer. After Paul graduated from Brodhead High School in 1960, he assumed most of the responsibility for the operation of the Christmas tree plantation.

Paul and his Dad, Duane Schilling, also operated a dairy and hog farm located across the road from Paul’s Tree Farm. In 1963 when Paul and Helen were married, they took up residence in the home they are still in today.

In the beginning years, Christmas trees were wholesaled only, with a few retailed at Clayton’s Avon Lumber Co. located on the family farm. Approximately 6000 trees were wholesaled each year. Trees went to lots in Brodhead, Monticello, Argyle, New Glarus, Beloit, Janesville, Monroe, Milton, Freeport & Winnebago.

By the mid 1970’s, the wholesale price for trees dropped very low and we decided to phase out the tree farm. Seedlings were not planted for two years. Then Paul had an idea! He wondered if customers would enjoy cutting their own Christmas tree! A small advertisement was placed in several local newspapers and to Paul & Helen’s surprise they sold several hundred trees the first selling season. And they were able to get more than twice the wholesale price for the trees, with much less work involved on their part!

Due to that successful selling season, Paul started planting seedlings again. We gradually phased out the wholesale business, becoming one of the first Choose & Cut farms in this area.

When Paul & Helen’s children, Chris & Lorie, were old enough to help out on the tree farm they did so. Chris began shearing trees at the age of ten, and both Chris & Lorie popped and sold popcorn while we sold Christmas trees. Eventually they have both helped sell trees also. It has become a tradition to have the freshly popped corn available for sale. Many customers enter the sales room and mention that they can smell the popcorn all the way out to the drive!

Today the Scotch and White Pine are still very popular trees, but the shorter needled Spruce and Fir are increasing in popularity at a very fast rate.

At one time, while wholesaling only, we had 100 acres in Christmas tree production. The trees were cut, then shook out by hand. They were then baled and hauled to a central loading area where they were piled in the shade to wait for the tree buyers to arrive with their trucks or semis and haul the trees to their retail lots.

We currently have 65 acres in the Choose & Cut operation with the following varieties: Scotch Pine, White Pine, Norway Pine, White Spruce, Norway Spruce, Black Hills Spruce, Blue Spruce, Serbian Spruce, Balsam Fir, Fraser Fir, Concolor Fir & Caanan Fir. Some of these varieties are not available for cutting this year, but will be in the near future.

As a result of planting the Christmas trees, we have provided habitat for many varieties of wildlife. Deer, turkey and rabbit flourish on our farm now. Also many kinds of birds nest in the pine trees. We have red tail hawks and owls which help keep the mouse and mole population under control.

From 1967 to 1978, Paul also operated a Hi-Fi sales and service business from their home. It was very successful and brought in customers from miles around. Paul sold and repaired all of the major Hi-Fi name brands and car stereos. There was hardly a car in the area that didn’t have a stereo from Paul’s Radio Service!

For a few years our son, Chris, while still in school, sold Estes Model Rockets as they were a popular item at that time. Perhaps some of you may remember the large display of model rockets Chris had for sale in our craft shop.

Our daughter, Lorie, has been making Christmas tree ornaments to sell in our craft shop since she was a young girl. For the past few years, she has been making teddy bears under the label of "Heart Cherished Bears," which are sold here in the craft shop. She also does counted cross stitch on sweatshirts, etc. Along with a lot of crafts and the "Sugar River Bears" made by Helen & all the woodcraft items made by Paul, a few other crafts have been taken in on consignment and sold through our craft shop over the past few years.

Over the years we have provided part time work for several hundred high school students. They would help shear the trees in the summer, and help cut, bale and pile the trees at harvest time when we were wholesaling. They would also help in cutting brush, planting seedlings, helping to sell trees and working in the craft shop after the Choose & Cut operation was started. For many of these young people, working at Paul’s Tree Farm was their first job experience.

We would like to thank all of our loyal customers who keep returning to Paul’s Tree Farm year after year to purchase their Christmas tree. It is always a pleasure to see your familiar faces every year!