DUMMERSTON — The mark of a good business is how many repeat customers it has.
There are so many of them at Elysian Hills Tree Farm that they keep an honor roll of the customers that have bought Christmas trees for more than 10 straight seasons. The “tree stars,” as they are called - some of whom have bought trees for 30 straight years - get a free wreath to honor each 10-year milestone.
That's the kind of loyalty shown to Bill and Mary Lou Schmidt, who have run their farm on Knapp Road for 32 years and sell approximately 1,100 trees each holiday season. Patrons from all over New England, New York, and New Jersey make the trip to Dummerston.
They have plenty of local customers, too, and if you see a large Christmas tree on display in Windham County, chances are it came from Elysian Hills. The Brattleboro town tree in Pliny Park came from the Schmidts' farm, and several area businesses also get their trees, garlands and wreaths from them.
According to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Christmas tree farming is a $20 million business in Vermont, and there are 300 tree farms in the state.
But the Schmidts do things a little differently.
First of all, their customers don't cut down the trees. Many of the trees the Schmidts sell are selected in October, when they hold their annual Christmas Tree Tag Days. Customers select the trees they want in the fall and set a time between the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve to retrieve their choices.
“We had 125 trees picked up the first week after Thanksgiving,” said Bill.
For the procrastinators, the Schmidts do offer a select number of pre-cut trees that range from “wee trees” that are 2 feet tall to 16-foot monsters. The price depends on the size and the species: Balsam fir, Canaan fir, white spruce, white pine, and blue spruce.
And, if necessary, they will custom cut a tree to order.
Richard Glejzer said his family just moved to Putney from Chicago, “and we really wanted to have a fresh tree.”
The freshly cut eight-footers in the racks near the road were nice, he said, but his family wanted something bigger.
So they went down the hill and picked out a 10-foot white spruce, which Bill cut down and hauled up the hill for them.
“Our neighbors said this was the place to go,” said Glejzer.
Bob and Sue Francoeur of East Longmeadow, Mass., were also going big. They were bringing back a 13-footer.
“We've been coming here for years,” Bob said.
The tree was so big, it took a winch and a lot of muscle to push it through the netting machine the farm uses to secure trees for travel.
The tagged trees in the pick-up area above the Schmidts' historic 1791 farmhouse were more modestly sized.
Rebecca Seymour of Brattleboro said her daughters, seven-year-old Madeleine and four-year-old Clara, picked out the tree on the weekend after Columbus Day, but the girls were reticent about why they picked this particular one.
Like the Seymours, Steven Meggiolaro and his son Travis of Dummerston are repeat customers. Steven said he liked to get his tree early to use it in the family photo for their Christmas card.
Passing it on
To be a Christmas tree farmer, Bill said, you have to think long term.
The Schmidts grow about 19,000 trees on 20 acres of their property. “We plant about 1,000 each spring,” Bill said. “We used to plant 1,500, but we wanted to cut back a little since it is so much work. Aside from this time of year, we do most of the work ourselves.”
The Schmidts “plant five-year-old seedlings, and it takes another seven or eight years for them to grow to 8 feet tall,” Bill said. “That 13-footer you saw was planted about 17 years ago.”
They also grow an acre of organic heirloom rhubarb.
Bill is 75, and he said Mary Lou will only admit to being in her early 80s. They have begun to plan for the day when the farm will be someone else's responsibility.
As the founding executive director of the Windham Regional Commission and a regional director of the Vermont Land Trust, Bill said it was important to him and to his wife to preserve his land as a working farm.
Since 1995, the farm has operated under a conservation easement from the Vermont Land Trust, which stipulates that the land must remain in active agricultural use.
The farm includes 138 acres of conserved land, including 100 acres of managed woodland.
None of their children were interested in continuing the farm, so the Schmidts put the word out last year that they were looking for successors.
Keri Latiolais and her husband Matt did some vegetable farming in the Burlington area, and were looking for a farm in southern Vermont. Theirs was one of about 30 inquiries about the farm, and now they are working the land alongside the Schmidts.
“Over the next few years, we'll be doing more as they ease out of things,” Keri said. “We hope to run this farm as well as they have.”
Keri grows pumpkins, garlic, and flowers at the farm, but she said it is the Christmas trees that keep it in the black. She hopes to grow more vegetables in the summer and perhaps start a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm.
Keri and Matt's plans suffered a setback last November when Matt, a forester, was badly injured in a fall and suffered a fractured skull and a traumatic brain injury. He has recovered from his injuries, but is still not at full strength.
Keri said that her parents have helped out on the farm during Matt's recovery.
Bill Schmidt is hoping things will work out for the Latiolaises.
“They really value this place and want to keep it as a farm,” he said. “We were looking for stewards for this land, and they will do a good job carrying it on.”