LOOK! HERE is a perfect tree!" said Megan Lawson of Owings Mills to her sister Jessica Ahrens of Waldorf, pointing to a 6 1/2 -foot Douglas fir. Ahrens was skeptical. "Let's keep going," she said and marched on with her mother, Bev Lawson, husband, Clayton Ahrens, and baby Megan.
The group passed from tree to tree on a cold November day at Nicholson's Tree Farm in Bristol. On 100 rolling acres of South County farmland, the Nicholsons have about 17,000 trees, from seedlings to 15-footers, to choose from - and Jessica Ahrens is particularly choosy.
"Last year, it took me two hours," she said. Bev Lawson stood ready with a handsaw to begin cutting when "the tree" was found.
Nicholson's is a "choose and cut" farm. Patrons walk the fields and select their tree. Then they either cut it down or head to the fire barrel and wait for the tree to be cut for them. The farm began as a hobby for Oscar Nicholson Jr., a noted gardener best known for his contributions to the White House Rose Garden. Nicholson's grandson John O'Donnell joined him last year as a partner in the venture.
"It's a wonderful place," said Nicholson from behind the counter. "It gives me something to keep busy. And now John is doing the physical work, and I know this place will continue."
Outside, O'Donnell's three young sons helped customers with wreaths and poinsettias. Nicholson is beginning to see the children of his first customers bringing their own children to select a tree.
"We feel that we are not just selling Christmas trees: We are creating memories," said O'Donnell as he watched two little girls run through the field, shrieking with laughter.
O'Donnell began working at the farm in 1990 while putting himself through school. Now he divides his time between the farm and his landscaping business. The trees are pruned each year to create an even, conical Christmas tree shape. Between 800 and 1,000 trees are cut each year, and an equal number of seedlings must be planted. It takes about 17 years for a tree to grow to Christmas tree size. O'Donnell also removes vines that grow on the trees and mows the fields.
The trees, which stretch across the hills as far as the eye can see, are not sprayed with insecticides. "We let the praying mantis do our insect control," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell said the farm has not suffered from the drought. The trees might been dry, but they are healthy now, thanks to the rains that fell in October. O'Donnell said that's not the case for trees on the lot or cut trees that are shipped to temporary tree stands.
"Those trees are dry. They were cut before the rain, and they are dry this year," he said.
Near the warming hut, large Fraser firs stand pre-cut and ready for sale. These trees have come from Nicholson's wholesale farm in West Virginia.
"The Frasers need a higher altitude to do well, at least 2,000 feet," Nicholson told a customer.
His West Virginia farm was the first to supply trees to the Caribbean. The Department of Agriculture assisted Nicholson in opening the market in Puerto Rico and the other islands where the evergreens don't grow.
As for his own favorite Christmas tree species, Nicholson said: "I would have to say the Douglas fir. From a safety point of view, the Deale Fire Department did a test of the different trees, and the Douglas fir was the most fire-safe tree. It burned, of course, but it did not spread."
Nicholson's Choose and Cut is located on Little Road off of Route 258 east of Route 4 in Bristol-Deale. The farm is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays until Christmas Eve. Information: 301-855-4243.