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Seven Pines offers a variety of real wreaths, made in-house, alongside Christmas trees of various heights shipped in from Michigan.
by Jami Heinen
If you’re still on the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree, look no further than Seven Pines Christmas Tree Farm, located two miles north of Meriden off K4 Highway.
While the Christmas tree farm is not yet selling their own trees, they have partnered with a Michigan-based farm to help supply trees until theirs are big enough to harvest. Though they originally ordered 350 trees from the Michigan company for this season, due to supply issues they received only a partial order. Of the 250 they received, Seven Pines reports they still have plenty of wonderful trees available for purchase.
Chris and Tami Pool opened the Christmas tree farm in December 2020, right at the height of the COVID pandemic. While that limited their number of visitors, and everyone had to wear a mask, they were still eager to grow their business with new and exciting ideas for the years to come.
It will be another three to four years before the trees the Pools planted themselves during their first season of operation are ready to harvest on the farm. They have planted six varieties of trees on the farm and depending on the tree, they could take six years to grow to a height most customers find ideal.
“We plant around 1,000 to 1,200 trees annually to help make sure we have enough for the supply and demand for future years,” said Chris. “We know not all of them will make it, but our hope is to be able to produce our own tress in a few years, limiting the amount we will have to purchase from outside of the state.”
Over the past two years, Chris and Tami have grown their farm to offer more than just Christmas trees. They have wreaths, porch pots, and dried flower arrangements made by themselves. They also have crafts for sale made by local vendors. They have something for the whole family at the farm including crafts for the kids and an opportunity for them to write letters to Santa.
Seven Pines has offered a “Wine and Wreath”-making class at Crooked Post Winery for the past few years, which has grown in popularity. They plan to do it annually on the weekend before Thanksgiving, and will continue to offer three classes to accommodate those wanting to test out and hone their wreath-making skills, with the help of Tami, of course.
When they are not busy during the Christmas season, Seven Pines sells flower arrangements to local florists, as well as customers around the area. They offer the opportunity to build your own custom bouquet from their variety of handpicked flowers, or to purchase one already put together.
“We will be open to the public this season until we run out of Christmas trees,” said Tami. “The past few years, it has been the second weekend of December we have run out, but we still have plenty of trees left to pick from right now.”
Seven Pines is full of ideas for the future, including the possible addition of a water feature outside, stone fireplace inside, and other ideas to attract visitors from all over northeast Kansas.
The business hours are 10 a.m. to sunset Fridays, 9 a.m. to sunset Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to sunset Sundays. Appointments are available if customers need to stop by outside of regular business hours.