![\"Talbots\"](\"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/files\/2014\/12\/Talbots.jpg\")
<\/a>A view of the small shop at Talbott’s tree farm<\/p><\/div>\n
What\u2019s more American than going into the woods with nothing but an axe and your bare hands to cut down your own tree for Christmas? The tradition of cut-your-own holiday tree has permeated the American family for generations, but this year families may find their hunt for the perfect Christmas tree sabotaged by Mother Nature.<\/p>\n
Central Illinois has been plagued with droughts for the past few years, and Talbott\u2019s Christmas Tree Farm has seen a drop in tree production and quality because of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe drought has affected these trees quite a bit,\u201d Dave Banner, 44, said. Banner operates a small farm a few miles down the road from the tree farm and has worked at Talbott\u2019s since his sophomore year in high school. \u201c We lost around 20,000 to 30,000 trees. Big trees. That\u2019s why we\u2019re down in quality of trees in cut your own. They\u2019ve been trying to plant years after that and have had trouble. This year we got good survival. We planted 15,000 seedlings.\u201d<\/p>\n
It normally takes one year for each foot of tree growth, not including the first year when the tree gets big enough to support itself, so an average six foot tree will be ready to cut in five or six years. With more rainfall last spring and summer combined with this year\u2019s successful seedling planting, Banner expects a good tree turnout by 2018.<\/p>\n
But future trees may be smaller than the consumer is used to. This does not mean they will be unhealthy, though. A good way of telling whether a tree is healthy is to look at the needle color. An unhealthy tree will show brown on its needles. A healthy one will be green. And running your fingernail against the bark can diagnosis the tree\u2019s health. If the bark shavings that come up look raisin-like, then the tree cannot be treated or saved.<\/p>\n
On the bright Christmas light side, Talbott\u2019s does sell trees from out of state where the weather has been more hospitable to tree farmers. These trees are cut down months before Christmas and shipped by trucks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do have Fraser firs come in from Michigan and Virginia,\u201d Banner said. \u201cThey might be the most popular trees. I\u2019d say they are the Cadillac.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fraser firs are not adaptable to the climate of Illinois. They are native to the Appalachian Mountains of the Southeastern United States.<\/p>\n
On why people still choose to cut down a real tree instead of opting for an artificial one, Banner had this to say: \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition. We had a family here last week and we told them we were down on cut your own. They said as long as we can cut any tree it\u2019s tradition. And they know it\u2019s fresh.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>Dave banner, left, Sandy May, middle, and Scott Plotner, right, look out at the remaining trees.<\/p><\/div>\n
On an unseasonal warm Friday with 12 days until Christmas, the Whitaker family went to Talbott\u2019s with the hopes of finding a Scotch pine that was big enough to hold all of their Chicago Bears ornaments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came a little late in the season. The holidays seem to get busier every year, but I\u2019m confident we can find something the whole family will like,\u201d Nathan Whitaker, father of three small children said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been coming to Talbott\u2019s since we got married,\u201d Ariel Whitaker said with a Styrofoam cup of free hot chocolate in her hands. \u201cI\u2019ve been coming here since I was a little kid. My dad would stuff all of us into the station wagon that didn\u2019t have any heat and every year we\u2019d have a competition on who would find the tree that year. It was a lot of fun, a lot of good memories.<\/p>\n
Ariel Whitaker looked out at the winter grey countryside where the remaining trees made perfect lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis place hasn\u2019t changed that much,\u201d Mrs. Whitaker said. \u201cIt\u2019s like stepping back in time. My dad\u2019s been gone for a few years now. The holidays can be rough after something like that, but coming here makes him feel closer. So yes cutting down a Christmas tree is a family tradition. And I would never get a fake tree. Never. That wouldn\u2019t be Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Whitakers ended up coming back with a beautiful Scots pine. They called it the \u201cperfect tree.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what makes the perfect Christmas tree?<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s got their own preference,\u201d Banner said. \u201cWhat you might like might not be what somebody else likes. I get a kick out of some husbands who come pick out a big seven foot one when the wife\u2019s not there. We had one lady come in. She wanted a Charlie Brown tree. She wanted it real thin so she could hang ornaments all the way in by the trunk and string some lights through. And the next person wants it so thick you can\u2019t see into it. Everyone has their own idea of the perfect Christmas tree. What I would say is have you ever seen a tree that\u2019s ugly after it\u2019s decorated?\u201d<\/p>\n
Banner said he usually brings home a tree to his family after his kids have searched the farm for their own perfect tree.<\/p>\n