812-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 5, 1998
Making Christmas Wreaths
Keep Them Busy
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
DUTCH CORNER (Bedford
Co.) The scent and even the
taste of pine linger in the air at
7 Lincoln Drive in Bedford, from
mid-November through mid-
December.
LeAnn Koontz, together with
husband, Rick Koontz, a
Pennsylvania State Policeman,
and Rick’s grandfather, Charles
Sellers own and manage Seller’s
Tree Farm located off Yantz
Road in the Dutch Corner area.
Charlie started the tree farm
in 1952 and even now as an octo
genarian, he enjoys every aspect
of this tedious business. From
planting to harvesting, Charlie
is at the tree farm every weath
er acceptable day.
A warm autumn sun with the
wind playing soft music through
the pine trees is good for the
soul as he works at mowing and
trimming.
Rick started helping his
grandad when he was big
enough to walk. “I really can’t
remember a time when I wasn’t
in there learning all I could,” he
says.
It was LeAnn who saw a
potential for all the waste that
Christmas trees produce. “I saw
them cut off the bottoms to keep
the trees trimmed and I also saw
a lot of trees going to waste
because a deer ate off of one side
or a beetle decided to have lunch
on the tree farm,” she says.
LeAnn says her mother,
Gloria Feight, has always been a
crafty person, adding that
“Mother is probably a frustrated
florist.”
Both Gloria and LeAnn’s dad,
Ron, helped with creating a side
business for her daughter and
son-in-law known as ‘Wonderland
Wreaths.”
LeAnn says it would be an
ideal business, “if only we could
spread it out a little. All of the
work has to be done in a three
week period.”
Wonderland Wreaths are
marketed wholesale through the
same Baltimore/Washington
D.C. broker, which wholesales
the Christmas trees. Other
wreaths are sold retail and this
year LeAnn came up with anoth
er idea.
She created a website on the
internet and advertised the
wreaths as a fund raiser. For the
second year, Summit Quest is
Rick and LeAnn Koontz operate Seller’s Tree Farm.
marketing the wreaths and this
year, the Chesapeake
Elementary School in
Edgewood, Maryland, caught
the website and took on their
own project of selling Christmas
wreaths.
“This is the fourth year for
the business and every year, it
has doubled,” LeAnn says. In
addition to the money raised by
the organization, she gives a $25
reward to the high salesman.
Wonderland creations
include wreaths with bows rang
ing in size from 12 inches to four
foot, door charms, mantle
wreaths, candy canes made from
pine, Christmas tree wreaths,
swags, and mail box buggies.
Prices range from $6 for a
small wreath to $37.90 for a
mantle swag. “Most people are
happy with only a big red bow,”
LeArm says, “but we can add
pine cones and holly berries for
an additional charge.”
“Mom is the resident bow
maker,” she adds. Gloria and
Ron Feight as well as LeAnn
and at least three additional
hired employees create all of the
arrangements for Wonderland
Wreaths. This year she expects
to make more than 1,000.
“We just eat, sleep and drink
pine needles v ” she says of the
business which has grown from
a single to a three car garage in
four years.
Wonderland Wreaths range in size from 12 inches in
diameter to four feet.
And, of course, Murphy and
his discouraging law gets in the
way. Last year, nearly everyone
was down sick during the
wreath-making season.
Rick also pitches in to help
when he can get away from the
Christmas tree fields.
There are 53 acres of the
Sellers farm planted in
Christmas trees which includes
Douglas Fir, White Pine, Scotch
Pine, Blue Spruce , and Frazier
Fir.
“Frazier Fir are very popular
but do not grow well in this
area,” LeAnn notes adding this
is the reason they are usually
more costly.
The Seller farm has grown
from doing everything with
small equipment or by hand to
some powerful-tools. Trees are
planted with a machine, bound
with a machine, and loaded by a
mechanical loader onto the trac
tor trailers which wind their
way up the country lane.
“Christmas trees are a lot of
work,” admit both grandad and
grandson. “A lot of people think
you just plant them and let them
grow, but that’s not true. They
must be trimmed, the ground
kept mowed, and insects are a
constant battle.”
Harvest begins shortly after
the second hard frost. For the
Sellers’ farm that is usually just
before Thanksgiving.
(Turn to Page BIS)
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