It was cold and windy, but that didn't stop people from shopping for Christmas trees at 9 a.m. Saturday.
At Star Tree Farm, 1822 Willoughby Road in Mason, patches of snow remained on the ground, packed down from the footsteps of people in search of the perfect Christmas tree.
An assortment of trees of many different types and sizes stretched across the wide terrain.
For a business that relies on its sales for only about three or four weeks out of the year, the Christmas tree industry plays a significant role in the state's economy and offers growers a way to enjoy a different type of farming, officials and farmers say.
"You work all year for three weeks of sales," said Ray Schmidgall, owner of Star Tree Farm. "The fruit of your labor is when you sell the trees."
For Schmidgall, this weekend was one of the busiest for his farm. On Saturday alone, he said he expected to sell 225 Christmas trees.
The tree farm opened the day after Thanksgiving and should be open until Dec. 15 at the latest, Schmidgall said.
Schmidgall, who also is a Hilton Hotels professor of Hospitality Financial Management in the School of Hospitality Business, has been teaching at MSU for 30 years.
Even though the industry can be profitable, Schmidgall said he didn't get involved for an extra income.
"This is really a hobby for me, for the most part," he said. "I'm not worried about making an income to supplement what I do."
Michigan ranks second in the nation for the overall amount of acreage designated for Christmas trees and third for the number of trees grown, according to statistics provided by the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
The Christmas tree industry can be divided into two segments - wholesale farms, on which farmers grow and harvest their own trees and then ship them to other places for sale, and choose-and-cut farms, run by farmers who allow people to cut down their own trees.
In both segments of the state's industry, there are a total of 830 growers, 54,000 acres devoted to trees, an annual harvest of 2.5 million to 3 million trees and a $41 million contribution to the economy, said Sara Linsmeier-Wurfel, public information officer for the Department of Agriculture.
The choose-and-cut market has been growing, said Marsha Gray, executive director of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association.
Gray added that the majority of Christmas tree farmers use the industry as a second income.
"It is something they do because they love it and enjoy it. In most cases, it's not the family's main source of income," she said. "They really love what they do and they enjoy having people come out. They see how much fun (people are) having when they're at their farms.
"For them, it's sort of a labor of love."
After farmers initially plant their trees, Gray said it takes about eight to 10 years for the first trees to be ready for harvesting.
"You have to be looking down the road, most definitely," she said.
Forestry Professor Mel Koelling also is the owner of Tannenbaum Farms, 2515 Sandhill Road in Mason. Koelling said he planted his first tree in 1978, and sold his first tree in 1983.
On Koelling's farm, about 6,000 trees are sold each year, with about 15,000 to 20,000 people passing through the farm, he said.
"This is one of the few forestry-related crops that you can plant and in a very short period of time, harvest from them," he said, adding that he enjoys being able to see the results sooner than other types of trees.
People in different professions often will practice on the outside what they teach in the classroom, Koelling said.
"Christmas trees are very natural for someone who has a forestry interest," he said. "I just enjoy being out of doors and the opportunity to work with trees.
"It's a very strong part of who I am and what I do and what my feelings are."
Lindsay VanHulle can be reached at vanhull3@msu.edu.
