Christmas in July
Show notes:
Microsoft Excel: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel
Google Sheets: https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/
Quickbooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/
Google Earth: https://earth.google.com/web/
John Deere: https://www.deere.com/en/
UNH Cooperative Extension: www.extension.unh.edu
Women in Ag Newsletter signup - https://unhoutreach.tfaforms.net/217751?CID=701G0000001AiKCIA0
Kendall Kunelius – kendall.kunelius@unh.edu
Rebecca Dube – rebecca.dube@unh.edu
Transcript:
Kendall Kunelius 00:09
Welcome to this episode of Shared Soil, a podcast dedicated to creating community, honoring challenges, and encouraging personal and professional growth for all people in agriculture. My name is Kendall Kunelius, and I'm a field specialist in the area of agricultural business management.
Rebecca Dube 00:25
And I'm Rebecca Dube, providing administrative and technology support to Extension. Hey, Kendall, is that snow, Santa, and reindeer that I see? No, it's sun, pools, and cookouts!
Kendall Kunelius 00:40
Right! It's that time of year, and while we may be busy baking in the heat and trying to keep our gardens from shriveling and dying, it's hard to imagine that there's still farmers who are already looking ahead to when the snow starts flying and Christmas trees start selling.
Rebecca Dube 00:55
Because planning a Christmas tree harvest happens all year round. So we are presenting Christmas in July, talking to tree farmer Christa Howe of Christa's Christmas Tree Farm in Colebrook, New Hampshire. Now there's a tongue twister!
Kendall Kunelius 01:00
I'm so impressed, Rebecca. So impressed.
Rebecca Dube 01:12
Christa, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your farm?
Christa Howe 01:15
Sure. Good morning. So, as you said, my name is Christa. I've been in the tree farming business since 2008, so 18 years. It was really just a business that started when my late husband and I had decided that we wanted to invest in something that would maybe help put our children through college. And we had always enjoyed making a tradition of going out to the local Christmas tree farm, picking out our tree, bringing the sled, pulling the kids in the sled to pick out our tree, and everything. We really enjoyed focusing on the traditions of Christmas tree farming, and thought it would be a good fit. Plus, we had 20 acres, a good portion of it was field already, so we thought it would be a good fit.
Rebecca Dube 02:01
That always helps!
Christa Howe 02:03
Yeah, definitely. So we started, like I said, planting in 2008. The thing with Christmas tree farming is it's a long-term crop, as most people know, but it is a good eight to 10 years. Especially when you're starting fresh and you've never done it before, it was more like a 10 to 12 year crop, the first planting that we had done. So yeah, so it's definitely a long term crop, like I said. Back to who I am. So I currently have about 20,000 Christmas trees in the ground.
Rebecca Dube 02:37
Wow...
Christa Howe 02:38
And I do wholesale and do the retail choose-and-cut as well. I don't have enough of a customer base yet to be able to sustain everything with just doing the choose-and-cut, so retail is a good way, or excuse me, wholesale is a good way to be able to cut a decent amount of trees and get that money flowing ahead of time and then go into your retail choose-and-cut season.
Rebecca Dube 03:09
What is the typical season for a Christmas tree business?
Christa Howe 03:13
In the winter, there's basically nothing that you need to do on a tree farm, except a lot of book work and you know, Excel spreadsheets and all that fun stuff. I actually have a background - I have a bachelor's in business management, so I do like the financial part of it also, and that I love Excel spreadsheets.
Rebecca Dube 03:33
Me too! Me too, I love them.
Kendall Kunelius 03:35
You're in good company here, yeah.
Christa Howe 03:37
So that's usually what my winters are spent doing. That, and nowadays I mean it's more, a lot more about getting out on social media as well, just kind of getting your name out there and doing some advertising, things like that. So I focus on that in the winter time, and then once spring rolls around, that's when all you know what hits the fan! Once spring rolls around, like I said, we have to start thinking about planting. And the planting itself - usually you have to order your trees the previous year. Some years it's a little more difficult to find the transplants than others. It just depends on how the weather's been, the growers, how their fields are doing - things like that; or their transplant beds are doing, I should say. So normally you have to start thinking about that in the fall of the previous year, but once spring rolls around and the ground is able to be planted, then you need to plant your trees. There's the fertilizing that needs to be done, weed control that needs to be done, and then it's more about weed control pretty much the whole summer. So, on my farm, what I normally do is I will kill the weeds that are just in the in the strip where the trees are growing, and then I mow everything else.
Christa Howe 05:00
I like to keep in between all the trees nicely mowed and manicured. I guess I do that for a couple of reasons. One, I actually really enjoy mowing all summer long, that's all I do is mow. But the other reason is for the retail part of it. During choose-and-cut, yes, the things are starting to die off at that point, obviously, because you're talking about November, December, but it just creates a nice environment, I guess, for people to be able to walk through the fields and pick out their trees and things like that. So that's how I do it. There's some tree farmers that just prefer to kill all of the weeds and not have to mow at all. We're actually just talking about this last night. We had a workshop here at the farm through the Cooperative Extension. We talked about how no two farms do things the same, and it's kind of what works for you. So, you know, there's some local farmers that don't mow at all, but they've also got 100,000 trees in the ground, so it doesn't make sense for them to mow. It's just not.. it wouldn't be feasible. And I'm pretty much my only employee. I do have a couple of people that help me part-time throughout the season, but for the most part, I do a lot of it on my own. So I just know that I'm going to be on a lawnmower all summer long!
Rebecca Dube 05:01
Ahh.
Kendall Kunelius 05:01
If you want somebody to come mow, give me a call!
Christa Howe 05:01
Yeah! So then going along with the season here. I know you asked me about the season, I'm not sure if you meant just Christmas tree season or if you meant how it looks through the whole year?
Kendall Kunelius 05:01
Oh, let's go year round.
Christa Howe 05:47
Oh, okay. So then, depending on the species of Christmas tree, usually starting in July is when the new growth will come out on the trees. And they need to be sheared - once the new growth starts to kind of harden up a little bit. So that's what's going to give them the shape, the nice Christmas tree shape, and it also helps them to fill out. When you're cutting off the tips, it forces all the other growth to fill out the tree, so that's what gives it a nice full shape, and the triangle shape as well, I guess you could say. So usually, like I said, we start shearing in July, and then I do have help shearing. So usually July, August, September, like end of September, beginning of October, we're done shearing just in time to start harvesting for wholesale. Wholesale harvesting is usually done - Most people up here start cutting around Halloween, or the week after Halloween. I try to push it as long as I can, just because I am not a huge wholesaler, so I'm able to push that date out as long as I can. Because you want it to be as cold as it can be when you do harvest, because the trees do sit for a little bit, obviously, before they get into the person's house. So the fresher the better. So it's usually like second week in November that I try to do the wholesale harvest. But then retail and choose-and-cut comes along quite quickly after that. It's beginning to start earlier and earlier every year. I think Covid had a lot to do with that, actually. So typically I open for choose-and-cut the weekend before Thanksgiving. And then it's a very short season as far as the retail end of it goes. It's about a 10-day season, give or take, just depending on when the holidays fall, things like that. But I am only open on the weekends, because I'm the only one here. I don't have the help during the week to be able to keep everything going for the choose-and-cut operation. So I'm only open on the weekends, and it is like I said, it's like a 10-day, eight to 10 day season, and that's quite busy.
Kendall Kunelius 09:02
Sure. Yeah.
Christa Howe 09:04
We do a lot of activities here at the farm. I've definitely been getting into more agritourism, and I really try to focus on the whole traditions part of families coming to get their Christmas tree.
Rebecca Dube 09:18
Nice. Can I ask you, what are the varieties of trees that you grow?
Christa Howe 09:23
So I grow three different species. I grow a Balsam fir, which is your typical Christmas tree that most people think of when they think of a Christmas tree. It's got the scent of what one thinks of as a Christmas tree scent. And then I also grow a Balsam-Fraser cross. I prefer those because they're kind of the best of both worlds. So it's got the traditional Christmas tree scent, but yet you have the sturdier branches of a Fraser. Lots of times you'll have the darker color, maybe, of a Fraser as well. So, like I said, it's kind of the best of both worlds. The problem with a Fraser - they make a very nice tree, but they take a lot longer to grow than a Balsam. It seems to me with the crosses that it doesn't take as long as just a straight Fraser would, so that's definitely helpful too. So, instead of looking at a 10 year growth cycle, you might be looking at a seven to eight year. The other species that I grow is called a Canaan fir, and those are similar to a Balsam, but they, they can grow in a heavier soil. They're more, they don't mind different soils, whereas like the Balsams and the Frasiers tend to be a little pickier where they're growing.
Kendall Kunelius 10:51
And so the cycle, too - I want to go back to what you were saying earlier about using the word transplant. So the life cycle of a tree, in short, you typically don't plant them from seed, right? You said you buy them in as a seedling. So when we say like a seedling, there's this term called 1-0, meaning that tree has been growing in the ground for one year. And they're like these adorable little tiny, like Charlie Brown seedling Christmas trees. They look, they're like a little ugly duckling. And then so a nursery, a tree nursery, might grow those out for two years, so then you'd have a 2-0. And then at that point they will uproot them. They'll harvest those seedlings and then they'll replant them, like you had indicated there. That's how they get their term transplant. They'll space them out, they'll fertilize them differently, they'll treat them differently, so that they have two additional years to continue to grow. That would be what's called a 2-2: two years in their seedling growing, and then two years in transplant bed. And so it's kind of interesting, because when you get a transplant, what do you buy for transplants?
Christa Howe 11:53
So normally I do get the 2-2s,
Kendall Kunelius 11:56
A 2-2, okay.
Christa Howe 11:57
occasionally I'll buy a 3-2, if that's what's available. I prefer the 2-2s, just because they're easier to plant. They don't have quite such a long root to them. The roots are easier to get into the ground, so I definitely prefer a 2-2. I was just speaking with Nigel Manley last night, and he was saying that he's been getting a plug plus 2, which is actually interesting. I think I might look into that myself, actually. It starts out as a plug, and then it's in the transplant bed for two years. So the nice part about those is you have a nice beautiful transplant, like the green part of it, but then the root base isn't unmanageable, like it's easier to plant. And he even, I think he had said he might even do some light plug plus 3s, or something like that. And typically I think how they start those is in more of like a greenhouse-type setting, instead of out in the field or a seed bed.
Kendall Kunelius 13:04
Yeah, I think where I wanted to go with that, when you were saying, like, it's a 10 year crop for some of these varieties. By the time that tree gets to you, it's four years old. So it's really interesting to look at, you know, we think about the longevity of Christmas trees as a crop as a whole, but when we say longevity, we really mean like longevity, like long time, right? Those seedlings really have to be at the nursery for four years, unless it's like the plug you were saying, that's a kind of a different scenario. Plus, then it gets to you and it grows for x amount of years. So the variety selection, I think, is a really important question, and an interesting question, because there are a lot of different varieties. And there's some folks who do specialty things. What are the ones that smell like oranges? Concolor furs!
Christa Howe 13:49
Yeah.
Kendall Kunelius 13:50
Yeah, like a Concolor, and some other varieties.
Christa Howe 13:53
Yeah, there's some that a lot of people in this area are starting to get into too, which I do have a few planted there, a Korean-Balsam cross. And those are nice, because I think the Koreans will typically grow anywhere as well, kind of like the Canaans, but they do have that cross with the Balsam. They still have a nice Balsam smell, and some of the traits of the Balsam as well. And they're fast-growing as well. The only tricky part with those, and it's kind of the same with any different once you start getting into different species, is the shearing techniques tend to be different.
Kendall Kunelius 14:32
Oh, interesting.
Christa Howe 14:33
So, with the Koreans, I've not had a ton of experience with them, but I have had a little bit. And I do know that the shearing definitely has to be kept tighter, because they will just - you'll end up with a tree that looks more like a ...
Kendall Kunelius 14:48
A chocolate chip!
Christa Howe 14:50
Yeah, there you go, like a chocolate, yeah! So yeah, you definitely have to shear tighter, and the tops are taken care of differently as well. Yeah, it's definitely a consideration when you're thinking about planting: what your time frame is, and the experience you might have, or the learning that you might need in order to be able to shear them properly and get a nice product out of it.
Kendall Kunelius 15:17
Yeah, and that gets us into the next question really nicely. So, I always love chatting with you, because I feel like we could talk about anything forever, like there's so much to touch on, right? But the business stuff, as a business person myself, I love kind of digging into these little nuances. I think that there's a lot of new farmers who are interested in Christmas tree sales, like thinking about that, as you know, an opportunity. Like you said, you have land there, it's kind of a, you know, it seems like an easy entry-level thing, if you're not a livestock person. If you don't want to use that land for grazing and pasture, you want to use it and keep it open or manage it a little bit. And Christmas trees can be a good fit, like you're saying, if you have the right piece of land and the right amount of space. But I think ultimately going back to those numbers; and Rebecca, this is making me think of our Depreciation Demystified, our taxes episode with Sam Stoddard from Farm Credit East. The investment that you're putting in upfront, though, knowing that you won't be getting that money back or you won't be making a return on that product for let's just say 10 years, for ease of numbers and rounding, 10 years is your return. So you said you love Excel, but for those folks who are thinking about getting into a Christmas tree business, what are some of the best record-keeping methods you use, and what you would recommend to other folks getting into this, knowing that those records you're going to need those for 10 years on that certain stand?
Christa Howe 16:38
Right, right. I do things, I do a lot on the computer, but I also do a little bit of old school record-keeping. Basically, because it's a lot easier to carry around a little - I get one of those like cardstock notebook things, so it's just cardstock; or not cardstock, like index cards, the index. And what I do is I use that to be able to write down, like, okay, in this field (and I name all my fields), so in X field, I planted this many transplants. And then I put the date, and things like that. And then I can do the same thing when I'm fertilizing as well. So I like to keep track of how much fertilizer I put down in each section of each field. So that's kind of the - for me at that time, because I mean I've got gloves on, I've got, you know; this week when I was fertilizing, I had on all my winter gear and my rain gear and everything.
Kendall Kunelius 17:36
What was that about pools and cookouts?
Christa Howe 17:38
So, it was just easier to use that little notebook-type thing to just make make quick notesAand then I can transfer that information to my computer afterwards. So I do like to use, like we mentioned, the Excel spreadsheets, or I have been getting more into the Google Sheets, I guess it is now. Just because that can be updated from anywhere, and you can update it from your phone. It's a little small sometimes to be able to get into a detailed spreadsheet, but it is nice once you are able to look at it on your computer and everything. And other than that, I feel like the biggest thing, as far as being able to keep track of the finance, the financial part of it, is definitely something like a QuickBooks. I am a big QuickBooks fan. I've been using QuickBooks for probably 20 something, I don't know, 25 years or something like that. So you are a little bit limited as to what you can keep track of, as far as maybe your inventory. Although you can track inventory in QuickBooks, I have not done that on my tree farm. That's when I lean on the Excel spreadsheets. But it's nice to be able to generate a cash flow statement or a profit and loss statement or anything like that using QuickBooks. And basically it just takes that information from what you feed into it and generates a really nice report for you. So that's the one that I lean on the most, I guess. Recently I started using the Google Earth to keep track of field size and take notes on all the separate fields and things like that. So that's actually gotten to be I found really helpful this season, because I'm still using my little note cards, but I'm also using my Google Earth, and I'm bringing it up while I'm out in the field to help me figure out: okay, so this section of this field is one acre, so I need to put down this much fertilizer per acre, so I know exactly like how much fertilizer to put in that in that section.
Kendall Kunelius 19:48
Yeah, and I'm gonna say to your exact point here: fertilizer, pesticide spraying, mowing, diesel, getting those costs together? This seems to me like the kind of thing where over those 10 years, this is a precision farming moment, regardless of if it's a year or 10 years in, right? Because every little dollar that you can save by not over-applying fertilizer, not over-applying spray, like you're saying, not mowing more than you have to, that really does make a difference in your cost per tree over that time frame. So to me, there's two components about keeping track of the amount of the volume of land that you're spraying, mowing, et cetera, et cetera. You want to make sure that you're putting out the correct rate, because we don't want to be losing money because we're over-applying, and we don't want to be getting reduced effects because we're under-applying. And I'm not going to go too far into that, but I think that this is a great example, exactly what you're talking about, of where those numbers for what you're doing in the field. Like I'm looking at a bag of fertilizer and pouring it into my fertilizer spreader, and where does that number, that 59-99 or whatever, show up then on your record keeping sheets, or on your financial sheet? That's kind of a rhetorical question for everyone listening, but it's really that question of: I'm going to plug that number in 10 years in a row, you know, or x amount of years in a row. So, how am I going to keep track of my costs? What trends am I seeing? So, I think what I'm saying, there's really two veins here: there's the numerical, the financial veins, and there's like you're saying your QuickBooks, your Excel sheets, and the Google Earth that all complement and act as a check and balance system for those financial sheets.
Christa Howe 21:30
Yes, that's correct. I mean, I think you pretty much summarized it. They all complement each other. You kind of need each piece to be able to get the whole picture.
Kendall Kunelius 21:40
But I want to quickly go back to what you were saying about a cash flow statement. So, this type of crop is highly seasonal. One of the things that we touched on at our Diversified Farming episode; planning your enterprises to complement each other for seasonality. So, just as one season is ramping up: maybe you're spending a little more money on XYZ, maybe you have to buy broiler chicks in February. Is there something else that, like a beef cow that you had harvested back in December, that you're selling that meat, so that you have some income to offset it? Christmas trees, you just said you're like, what, 10 days for retail? I think Nigel said eight to 10 days is what you get to really make the bulk of that cash if you're a choose-and-cut, like a retail operation like you were saying, versus that wholesale. But ultimately there's maybe, I don't know, an opportunity for two months out of the year where that cash would be coming in to offset the cash going out. So I mean, I don't know that I have a question there necessarily. You as a business person, do you want to touch on how did you approach that from a mindset and budgeting perspective?
Christa Howe 22:44
Sure, it's definitely not for someone - it's not the best crop for someone who is not good at budgeting, so you definitely want to have that budgeting mindset going into it. Knowing that, I mean, first of all, if it's the first time you plant this crop, knowing that it's going to be a good eight years before you see any return on your money. So you need to think of it as an investment for sure. For me, I start wholesaling in like July, so I start getting my orders in for my wholesale customers in July. At that point usually they send a deposit towards the number of trees that they're going to be getting in November, so that kind of helps with the cash flow. So, if you are able to do a wholesale, it's nice to be able to kind of help out with your budget throughout the season. And then the biggest thing is you need to make sure that you've got the money set aside to be able to purchase your fertilizer, purchase your transplants, pay for any other labor that you might need: additional labor, fuel expenses, you know, anything like that. So there's definitely a lot of expenses throughout the year, but then there's only that short amount of time to be able to get the income.
Rebecca Dube 24:01
Well, Krista, I do see that you embrace agritourism on your farm, and that can bring a lot of other income streams. What are some of the things that you add to the tree shopping experience, and what about during other times of the year?
Christa Howe 24:14
Yeah, so at Christmas time, I have definitely tried to add more and more every year. It's like I said, I like to definitely cater to the family tradition aspect of it. I bring in horse-drawn sleigh rides. This past year I did a fun little scavenger hunt-type thing for the kids with gnomes that I had made out of wood and painted them all up and everything, and they really loved that. So every year I try to come up with something fun and new for the kids to do, or to do as families. We also have - I call it my life-size gingerbread house, but it's just a little camp-type thing on wheels, and I transformed it into a gingerbread house, and the kids can go in and write letters to Santa. I have a candy cane tree in there. Usually we do a craft, like an ornament that they can make and take home, plus you know all the normal stuff too, like the hot cocoa. And then my daughter is a baker on the side, she does that as a side business. We always have her cupcakes here for sale, and she's got quite a following from that now as well. So during the tree season itself, I try to just go all out and really make it more of an experience for people when they come, instead of just walking through the field to cut their tree. And it's getting to the point where people will come and they'll stay here for, you know, three, four hours at a time. So it's really nice to see, and it's, you know, nice to be able to visit with everybody and things like that. But as far as the rest of the year goes, so one of the things that I've been finding, or hearing, I guess, that is starting to become really popular with tree farms is having weddings at tree farms. So a couple years ago we decided that we needed to build a pole barn, but I had a little bit different vision for it than my husband, so it ended up being more of a pavilion instead of a pole barn. So that's something that we're looking at renting out throughout the year, for weddings or anniversaries, birthday parties, you know, things like that. So I'm hoping that will help to generate a little bit of income throughout the year as well to help with the budgeting. Also, I do have a little gift shop here on my tree farm. That was only open at Christmas time during those eight or 10 days, but this year I've decided to keep that open year round. So I'm trying to figure out what works for my customers and what works for me. It's a little tricky right now, because, like I said, in the springtime it's so busy trying to get everything done in the fields, but I've managed to be open a couple days a week, usually in the afternoons. It's mostly inspirational items are what I carry, and you know, some books and things like that, home decor, but everything is very inspirational. I found that that's being received really well. I think every week that I'm open, I tend to get some new customers coming. And I mean, I don't have a line out the door yet, but I'm really hoping that it does take off and I'm able to do this more year-round and grow that part of the business as well.
Kendall Kunelius 27:27
Great, yeah, because it's all part of it, right? When we talk about the marketing side of things, you know, at the end of the day, your real product is a Christmas tree, right? That's the heart of your product base, and it's everything around it too that really makes that experience, like you're saying. We used to sell Christmas trees at our family farm in Connecticut. We would buy them in, and it was always the tree and the XYZ that really people loved. They came there for that, they came there for wreaths, decorated or non-decorated. So, I think for folks who are thinking about Christmas trees, it's yes, the tree. It's the whole experience. You're selling an esthetic, you're selling a memory, you're selling a moment. I don't mean to boil it down to that, but I think I'm just kind of responding to what you're saying about that tradition. And you, as a farmer, do so much to make it so special, and you're bringing all this there for those people. I think you really have a knack, from what I'm hearing, and I'm seeing on your website, for helping connect those dots. I think that's really important for farmers to recognize, too.
Christa Howe 28:28
It definitely is. I do know that I think my sister was the one that had maybe pointed this out to me, that there's specific things in our lives that are considered core memories. And I really like, I enjoy helping to make those core memories for families when they come to the farm.
Kendall Kunelius 28:47
Totally, totally, yeah. So, the other thing I want to touch on real quick. So we were chatting, you and I were chatting the other day. Christa, you talked about that you got a new tractor, and you know we love a good tractor and equipment moment here on this podcast! I'd be remiss if I didn't ask about it. Can you tell us a little bit about your tractor buying recent experience? You know, just tell us about, as a Christmas tree farmer, the specialized equipment world that you kind of live in.
Christa Howe 29:14
Yeah, definitely. So, I won't get into as many details as I did with you on the phone the other day.
Kendall Kunelius 29:20
Totally fine. Yeah, I'm just thinking, like, just a broad spectrum, yeah, kind of what we talked about.
Christa Howe 29:25
So when I first started tree farming, you know, I didn't obviously have all of the equipment that was needed, so I've kind of made do over the past 18 years. And in the last, I'd say six years, probably, I had a pretty decent system that worked for me with an ATV. And then I had all my pull-behind implements. So I had, you know, a pull-behind spreader, a pull-behind sprayer, things like that. But in the fall of last year, that kind of all stopped working for me pretty quickly. I have a field that is not at my location, so I have to travel to get to it. It's not far away, but it's still, you know, I had to think about transporting the water to be able to fill my tank to spray the field. And that was just - that was not working out for me. So that's kind of when I decided that I needed to look into something different to be able to make my life hopefully easier, not so stressful, and you know, maybe get things, get the job done a little quicker. So that's when I reached out to my local John Deere dealer, and he's like, "Oh, you called it just the right time, we just got in a 1025 John Deere, which is a fairly narrow". It's a smaller, I guess they call it a subcompact.
Kendall Kunelius 30:44
Compact, yeah, yeah.
Christa Howe 30:45
And the nice part with that is it still has the loader on it. So you've got the bucket, you can get forks for it if you want, but then it's got the three point hitch and the PTO and everything built right into it as well. So they set me right up with the spreader, which is like a Vikon-type spreader. They set me up with a sprayer, which holds enough product to be able to spray most of my fields without having to make 10 different trips back to the faucet to refill. So, yeah, they got me set right up with that, and and it can mow all at the same time, so I can fertilize and mow, or spray and mow, or do whatever, both at the same time. So, yeah, I've really.. this spring is really the first time I've gotten a chance to start using it, and it is like I can't wait for the rest of the summer. I'm thinking it probably cut my fertilizing time in half, I would say. So, the fertilizer that I had before the spreader, it would hold like two to three bags, and then I'd have to put all the rest of the bags that I knew I was going to need for that field on my four wheeler. So I'd have them on the front rack, on the back rack, I'd be weighed down with fertilizer bags at 50 pounds a piece, so it kind of got a lot of weight on there. But with this, you know, the spreader it holds like five or six bags at a time, so it was many less trips back to refill it. It just did a much quicker, nicer job. So yeah, I'm really excited about the tractor, and having that set up. It's definitely going to make my life easier.
Rebecca Dube 32:31
So, your investment really started paying off right away with that tractor, because it was saving you money for what it was doing.
Christa Howe 32:37
Yeah!
Kendall Kunelius 32:39
I think the other thing too. I love a subcompact tractor, have one myself, not the same color, but I love it. I absolutely love it. And the thing I want to touch on here, why I was so eager to ask you about this, is to say not every tractor needs to be huge. Not every farm tractor, and I'm saying that in air quotes, needs to be 100 horsepower, 60 horsepower. Truly, I'm going back to the episode that we talked about, like Women Talk Tractors, about getting the right tractor for your job. And it sounds like that what you found here; you've got a great piece of equipment, it works, it does exactly what you need to do. And those are what, 25 horsepower, like somewhere around there?
Christa Howe 33:19
Yeah, I think that's what it is, yeah.
Kendall Kunelius 33:21
Yeah. And so it's just the right thing for the job. And I just want to highlight and underscore that not every tractor has to be huge and massive to be a farm ag tractor. You don't have to put that much money into it to make a system that works for you. And I just think your experience is so invaluable for everyone to hear. So, thank you for sharing.
Christa Howe 33:39
Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, and the nice part about that tractor, the biggest thing that it works on a tree farm, or well on a tree farm, is that it's it is fairly narrow, so you kind of go through all the rows. Because typically I plant in a 6-5 grid, so it's six feet, the rows are six feet in between the trees, and then between each tree is about five feet. So you really need to look at something that's going to be narrow enough to go down through those rows when the trees are full grown, especially. I mean, it's not too bad when they're still transplants. Obviously they're much smaller and you have a lot more room, but that tractor definitely goes down through the rows nicely, and it's a workhorse, really. I mean, I've got the weights for the front of it, so it kind of counterbalances, you know, the weight of the fertilizer in the back. Because I mean, you've got 300 pounds of fertilizer hanging off the back. So, yeah, I've got the nice weights on the front of it, and it just, it does a nice job, it really does.
Kendall Kunelius 34:38
That's so awesome. And when you're saying mowing, too. So the cool thing about those subcompact tractors is they're actually like under deck. It's called a mid-mount PTO mower. And so I love that too, because you can get them in different sizes, like you're saying. And this is not a plug for John Deere, but John Deere does have the nice ones that you truly, in terms of efficiency, you just drive on and it hooks itself up. You press a little button or something - there's some really easy function, where it just clicks itself on. So, for all the intents and purposes that we're talking about, it's just cool to hear it's the right thing for the job. And I like a tractor setup better than an ATV, for the fact that you get a seat belt and a ROPS, rollover protective structure. With the narrow tractors, we worry about tipping and rolling over a lot. I also think that those underdeck mowers add a little bit to that stability, because you've got something wider underneath you, and you've got four wheels on that. So, I don't know. I don't think it's structurally supposed to add a lot of support, but maybe it's like in my brain when I'm mowing with my under deck mower, I feel a little bit more secure because I'm a little wider.
Christa Howe 35:42
I agree.
Kendall Kunelius 35:42
So even if it's like a placebo effect, it makes me feel more comfortable. Incidentally, talking about mowing, this is maybe a good place to put this in, because there's nary a flat piece of land up in Northern New Hampshire. One of my favorite tractor safety tricks, if you need to be mowing on an angle or if you navigate hilly terrain. I have an angle gage that has a magnet in the bottom. And I went online, and I found the calculator. I plugged in the specs of my tractor, so the wheelbase, the weight, the height, and it tells you what the safe range is that you can be on an angle for that tractor before you worry about tipping over. So I took my angle gage and I colored on the top band, I colored the bandwidth that my needle could be in, that I was in a safe range that I wouldn't worry about tipping. Now it doesn't overcome all of the considerations about navigating hilly terrain, right? But for me it gives me a little bit of a, you know, if I'm feeling like I'm tipping or if I'm concerned, it does help me a little bit to know when I need to not be driving down that strip, or you know, to mow, or if I need to approach it in a different way.
Christa Howe 36:48
That's actually a great idea. Where did you find that?
Kendall Kunelius 36:52
I needed it as a teaching tool. When people are like, well, how far can my tractor lean over? What angle can I be at? And I was like, you know, I really just need a visual. So yeah, I just ordered an angle gage online. It's a bright orange one. It's got a nice big dial face on it, and I just put it right up on, well, on our teaching tractor. I have it mounted up by the windscreen, but I guess you could really put it anywhere that's going to give you a good center of balance, like in the center of the tractor so you could see it.
Christa Howe 37:18
Yeah, I think I might get me one of those, because it's definitely not flat everywhere.
Kendall Kunelius 37:23
No, no, no.
Christa Howe 37:25
There's one spot in one of my fields that I have never dared to use even the ATV or a tractor on. I just manually have to hit that with a bucket and a handful of fertilizer.
Kendall Kunelius 37:41
Great. I guess the last question I have is, what didn't we ask you about that you want to share? Is there any other lingering thoughts?
Christa Howe 37:49
I think probably a good topic would be weather. Because the weather has definitely been different. Well, especially last year. I talk to everybody about it, I feel like, because it was a tricky year for tree farmers last year. We had, I don't remember, how many straight weekends or weeks or days or whatever of precipitation the beginning of the year?
Kendall Kunelius 38:13
Oh, it was like 13 straight weekends, yeah.
Christa Howe 38:15
And then there was flooding and everything in the spring. It was terrible, you know, and then a month or two went by, and then we were in a severe drought. So I think that's honestly going to be one of the biggest hurdles over the next decade, I guess, or however much longer I'm in tree farming. But I anticipate it'll at least be a decade or more, and hopefully my daughters will be able to run with it from there. But yeah, it's definitely tricky, because when your transplants are first planted and they end up with all that water, or they end up in a drought, it's very stressing to them. So you know, I think we might have to start looking into maybe some alternative methods. I do know, as far as planting goes - I mean, typically people plant in the spring, but some people have experimented with planting in fall, which I have also done myself. People have great success with it, others not so much. The theory behind it is that when you plant in the fall, the tree isn't using all of its, the energy and the nutrients, or whatever, to try to grow up. It's trying to set its roots, so all of that is going into it setting its roots and growing its roots, which I think is a great theory. The biggest thing again is the weather, and the unfortunate part about that is nobody can really predict it.
Rebecca Dube 38:16
Right!
Christa Howe 39:02
So, what I've been trying to do the past couple years, actually, is kind of split up my growing, or my planting, I should say. So instead of planting 2500 trees in May, I'll plant 1500 in May and then 1000 in the fall. So that's one way I guess that I've tried to play the weather game. Last year it didn't really matter, like I said, it was either it was flooding or drought. So you were kind of neither; neither method really worked in that case. But hopefully this year will be a better growing year.
Kendall Kunelius 40:24
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for all your information and your time. I've been genuinely looking forward to getting this episode put together, mostly because Christmas trees are one of those interesting things that it's a product that not just local people buy. Everyone buys Christmas trees, right? I think that it's a common, well, not everyone, most people. It's a common denominator. And I think it's really, there's a lot more to it than folks tend to think about. So, I hope when people listen to this episode, they get a little bit more of a picture about what it takes to put that beautiful tree in your home. I hope they decorate them a little bit more lovingly and a little bit with extra lights and tinsel, just 'cause, just to thank the farmers that grew them.
Christa Howe 41:06
I love it!
Rebecca Dube 41:07
Right, and they plan to come to your farm and cut a Christmas tree of their own.
Kendall Kunelius 41:11
Yeah, make a memory.
Christa Howe 41:14
Thank you, ladies, for having me.
Kendall Kunelius 41:15
Yeah, absolutely.
Rebecca Dube 41:16
Well, thank you very much, Christa. And we'll be talking to you all again soon on the next episode of Shared Soil.
Kendall Kunelius 41:29
Shared Soil is a production of University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, an equal opportunity educator and employer. Views expressed on this podcast are not necessarily those of the University, its trustees, or its volunteers. Inclusion or exclusion of commercial products in this podcast does not imply endorsement. The University of New Hampshire, US Department of Agriculture, and New Hampshire counties cooperate to provide Extension programming in the Granite State. Learn more at extension.unh.edu.
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