A historic farm nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains is wrapping up its tenth season growing a different kind of crop: Christmas trees.
The Wilson Glyn Farm looks just like Christmas all year long, with rows of Spruce, Fir and Pine trees planted in swaths across the hills. A small stream flows down a hillside, and rustic farm homes sit here and there between the fields.
“For a time, we thought no one would come,” said Hal Wilson, the farm owner. “Now, all of a sudden, instead of having 40 trees that we need to sell, we need closer to 7-800 trees to sell.”
Wilson says his farm has become a staple in the community, drawing dozens of families and selling hundreds of trees. The farm itself was originally established in 1868, by Wilson’s great, great grandfather, Billy.
“People here had to make their own way, so they raised corn, they ground corn to meal,” Wilson said. “They raised hogs, mostly for what they needed themselves. And then, when tobacco was popular, that was a way to make some extra money.”
That’s largely how the farm was run until Wilson’s father died in 2009. Then, Wilson’s daughter handed him a book which would change everything.
“The tree farm, it sort of happened almost by accident,” Wilson said. “My daughter gave me a book, 'Christmas Trees: For Pleasure or Profit.' So I read it, and I thought I could do that."
Wilson planted some trees, but didn’t expect any success. He said that Christmas trees ordinarily only grow in much higher elevations. But, against all odds, they had success.
“The Lord blessed us with the ability to grow Christmas trees,” Wilson said. “I bathed everything in prayer, and I asked God to bless it, and he did.”
Over the coming years, the operation grew. Originally, Wilson and his wife, Cindy, were the only people growing and cutting the trees. Now, Wilson says he'll plant over 1,200 trees each season to keep up demand. It's so much work, that the rest of the family has pitched in to help.
“It’s more than two people can do,” Wilson said. “Now we have help with all the other wives and grandkids coming. They’ll work and sell, which lets us take care of customers and do the physical part.”
For some customers, part of the fun at Wilson Glyn Farm is doing the physical part. They get to choose their tree, and the farm will even provide them with a hand saw to cut it down themselves. Others, like Knoxville resident Tammy Onusic and her family, can ask for help.
“Every year, I like to come and cut down a fresh Christmas tree, and I’d not done it for several years,” Onusic said. “And I found this little farm here and I wanted to drive all the way out here to cut it down.”
After Onusic picked out a ten-foot tree growing on a hillside, one of Wilson’s brothers grabbed a chainsaw and cut it down for her, packaged it in some netting, and tied it to the roof of her car.
“This might be a new tradition for us,” Onusic said.
The demand for trees on the farm is high, and so it’s usually only open for one or two weekends each year. But Wilson says he’s not in it for the profit.
“You just sort of follow your heart,” Wilson said. “We make a little money off of it, but that’s not why we do it. I’ve found that we would miss it more than the people would.”
That’s what Wilson Glyn farm is all about. Not just providing live trees, but also giving people a small part of their Christmas season. Sometimes Wilson and his family will sing carols to help spread some joy to visitors.
“Every person that comes, there’s a trigger that’s Christmas to them,” Wilson said. “One guy was a soldier in the Korean War. He sat here and we sang ‘Silent Night’ acapella. Tears came into his eyes and he got really quiet. And he said it took him back to when he was in the trenches in Korea, and a lone person started singing silent night.”
And so, Wilson and his family keep on planting, cutting, and singing.
“It's more than getting a real tree,” Wilson said. “You can get a real tree at a lot of the stores, but somehow there's something more to coming out and experiencing it. I call it real life."