Finding the Perfect Tree a Family Tradition

Fresh air, a rural setting and 80 acres of hillsides rich with 100,000 densely planted aromatic evergreens - welcome to Battenfeld Christmas Tree Farm. Fred Battenfeld, and son Lance are third and fourth generation Battenfeld's to have owned and operated the family's farm in Red Hook, which once raised fruit and dairy cows. Fred's father sold the first Christmas tree in 1956 - a Norway spruce for $1. For families throughout the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas, coming to Battenfeld's is now a tradition.

Family outings at the Battenfeld farm have been part of the Christmas tradition for thousands of families for over half a century. For many people during the holiday season, Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a real tree to celebrate the holiday in traditional fashion. To some, the occasion of personally choosing and cutting the family tree marks the beginning of the Christmas season.

The Christmas tree farm is open from the first Friday after Thanksgiving, and remains open until they reach their limit for that year's harvest.

Greenhouses filled with Jewel-Colored Anemones

Christmas trees are not Battenfeld's only crop. Battenfeld Farm is the world's largest grower of exquisite distinctive hybrid anemones.

Eight large greenhouses near the farm entrance are filled with distinctive jewel-colored anemones, a delicate flower in the buttercup family, as well as a few of its relatives like ranunculus.

They're grown for the wholesale market, selling and shipping to accounts such as hotels and resorts, but if you get there early enough, you can buy the bouquets and anemones for table decorations sold first come first serve at the back of the attached shop.

The Battenfelds have been growing flowers since 1906, originally raising violets until the late 1940s, when the Battenfeld family transformed their business model and began planting anemones. Since then, the company has grown to become the largest producer of anemones in the United States.

Battenfeld flowers have graced the White House, the sets of countless television shows, and the rooms of many fine hotels.

The farm's location-easy travel distance to Boston, New York City and Washington D.C., makes it possible to get the flowers into the hands of wholesale flower markets quickly. According to Battenfeld, an anemone purchased directly from the farm should last for two weeks.

The anemone farm is open between labor day and memorial day, and during that time a self serve cutting station is open to the public daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Fresh Handmade Holiday Wreaths

Fresh, hand-made holiday wreaths are available and kids get a free candy can. Battenfeld wreaths are all individually hand-made on the farm, crafted entirely of Fraser Fir and ornamented with natural embellishments.

Wreath makers gather around a long workbench strewn with bits of evergreen and all manner of ribbons, bells, berries and bows.

Custom orders are welcome, however the most popular wreath is the Natural, which made with all natural ingredients, including dried fruits, nuts, cones, holly, and handmade decorations.

Live Trees Make the Greenest Holiday

Aside from enjoying a pleasant excursion outdoors in the country, and beyond the aspect of tradition, choosing a real Christmas tree is widely recognized as the only natural choice, which is socially conscious and ecologically sound. The farming of trees does not harm the environment in any way. Quite the contrary.

Collectively, the 15,000 Christmas Tree Farms in America cultivate approximately one million acres of trees -- with an average of three trees being planted for every one that is harvested. Generally, the trees are grown in soils that are aren't appropriate for supporting other types of crops.

On average, most trees aren't harvested for a period of at least ten years. In this time, they provide necessary refuge for birds and other forms of wildlife, and make an essential contribution to the atmosphere -- cleansing it, of carbon dioxide and other gases, and renewing it, by producing substantial quantities of fresh oxygen.

One of the many benefits of Christmas tree cultivation, for example, is that overall, American Christmas tree farms generate enough oxygen every day to sustain approximately 20 million people. In contrast to artificial Christmas trees (which also produce toxic hydrocarbons as a byproduct of the manufacturing process), real trees are biodegradable.

Many communities have established recycling programs to collect the trees, converting them into chips for mulching purposes.