Nov. 15, 2016 – West Bend, WI – Rick Takacs at Meadowbrook Farm in West Bend spent much of the day Monday unloading fresh balsam and Fraser fir Christmas trees from his truck.
This year Takacs has trees from the same vendor in Oconto County who is supplying the tree to the White House in Washington D.C.
“Ten percent of the trees I grow myself and I also get trees from farms in Oconto, Summit Lake, Clintonville and Shawano,” he said.
The tree selected for the White House came from Dave and Mary Vander Velden’s Whispering Pines Tree Farm.
The couple won the National Christmas Tree Association’s biannual Christmas tree contest.
Tackas said part of his secret to getting the best trees is he gets them specifically from northeast Wisconsin and the vendors cut his last.
“The trees get cut between Nov. 12 – 14 and they cut my trees last and I bring them back the day after they’re cut and I stand them upright so they can pull the moisture from the ground,” he said.
On a warm, sunny November morning a red bearded turkey strolled past the tall stock of aromatic trees. It smelled like you were in a forest on a mountain top called Christmas.
“I trim all the trees up and I put them out in the tree stands,” said Takacs. “I have moist property and I run a drip hose along the ground just to keep them fresh.”
Tackas said he really liked the trees from the Vander Velden’s farm because they’re “tall and have super color.”
Meadowbrook Farm, 1270 Meadowbrook Road, will sell about 1,200 trees this season.
