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V 01.46 No. 8
Grower Grooms Christmas
Tree For White House
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
AUBURN (Schuylkill Co.)
It’s not so far from selling a tree
for dinner table food to shipping
one to the White House.
Fifty-five years ago, as Paul
Alan Shealer remembers it, his
father and grandfather began
selling trees simply to get a
“Christmas turkey.”
Recently, U.S. White House
representatives ventured to the
Shealer Evergreen Acres Farm
to select a tree for the Presi
dent’s family.
For two years back in the mid
-19405, cashing in on Christmas
trees looked like the right thing
to do.
Jim and Gail Crooke, Bucks County, along With their ',
children and employees, harvest more than acres of
hay a year from fields of 50 different landowners. The hay
comes from an area encompassing approximately 30
miles. “I actually think of the county in terms of the ridges, '
hills, creeks the lay of the land almost more than
roads,” said Jim Crooke. Photo by Michelle Ranch
Make Hay While The Sun
Shines ... All Year
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff'
DUBLIN (Bucks Co.)
Tucked behind busy highways,
framed by the city of Philadel
phia, and nestled next to the
Delaware River lie patches of
green, the stretches of grass and
farmland that produces hay for
Jim and Gail Crooke’s Windy
bush Hay Farms.
“This is definitely farming in
the suburbs,” said Gail. “Most
of our fields are not close. The
fields are scattered. We farm all
First Woman Named
National Ag Secretary
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Editor
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The first woman to hold the post
of national secretary of agricul
ture has been named to take
over the 110-year-old USDA in
Four Sections
Eventually, Paul Alan’s
father, Paul Alexander, and
Paul Alan’s grandfather, Harry
Williams, planted trees to cut
and sale.
Now, Paul Alan’s wife Sharon
and their kids Paul Anthony, 16,
and Briana, 18, help run a small
retail and a wholesale Christmas
tree selling operation.
This year, an 18.5-foot tall
carefully prepared and groomed
Douglas fir (Lincoln variety)
planted as a 3-year-old seedling
in 1980 was chosen in a national
contest to be the Christmas tree
for the White House.
“This tree caught my eye,”
(Turn to Page A 36)
over but try to get them (the
fields) close together in the cen
tral part of the county.”
The Crdokes, who are joined
by children Nathan, 16; Jacob,
13; and Natalie, 11, harvest hay
from fields in Bucks and Mont
gomery counties in addition to
fields in New Jersey.
The various hayfields yield
6,000 half-ton square bales a
year and 10,000 small bales from
more than 2,000 acres. In addi
tion to hay the Crookes rotate
(Turn to Pag* A2B)
the new administration being
formed by President-elect
George W. Bush.
Ann M. Veneman from Sacra
mento, California, has deep
(Turn to Pago A 37)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 23, 2000
5 At left j»U|e 18.5-foot tall Christmas tree that Paul SheaVer, center, has groomed spe
’ ciflcally logo this year to the White House. Photo by Andy Andrews
You, Sincere Qood Wishes
For A Blessed Christmas
And A Prosperous New Year
From Everyone At Lancaster Farming
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