Nutbrown’s Christmas Tree Farm a family tradition
If it weren’t for Christmas trees, Henry Nutbrown might be elbow deep in dirt digging for earthworms.
It was six decades ago when Nutbrown’s parents were trying to figure out a way to pay for their children’s college education. After moving from Carnegie to the four-acre farm on McMichael Road in Collier Township in the late 1930s, Emmanuel and Mary Nutbrown initially raised chickens and cows to make a living.
But in 1958, they needed money for Nutbrown and his two sisters to go to college.
They had three ideas: The family could sell earthworms, breed chinchillas for their fur or grow Christmas trees.
“I’m thankful my mother chose Christmas trees. The fur business went out of fashion and I don’t like to work with worms,” Nutbrown says with a chuckle.
The family planted 100 Scotch pines that first year and 300 more the following year. But what they didn’t realize at the time was that it takes evergreens a decade to mature to the point that they can be sold as Christmas trees. By the time those saplings matured, Nutbrown was 24 and had already graduated Penn State University with a degree in civil engineering.
“It was kind of a false premise,” Nutbrown says of those first trees sold in 1968. “But it’s been good to us over the years. It’s a lot of fun.”
Sixty years later, that small operation has blossomed into a Christmas tradition that brings generations of families back to the now 12-acre farm Nutbrown owns with his wife, Sue.
“I think it’s as popular today as ever,” Henry says.
But it’s also a lot of work to keep up with the farm between mowing the fields, pruning the trees and pulling out stumps. Each year, the couple’s son, Michael, plants 500 to 600 saplings to replenish the previous season’s haul. Overall, there are 4,500 to 5,000 Douglas, Fraser, Concolor and Canaan firs planted around the on the farm.
“This gets me outdoors,” Henry says. “I like being outdoors and on the farm.”
“It’s a year-round job,” Sue adds. “It really is. As you plant more and more, it’s more and more work.”
But it’s also been a fun activity for the couple, which bought the farm from Henry’s parents in 1970. Henry, now 74, worked his way up the ladder during a career at the state Department of Transportation, eventually leading PennDOT district’s headquarters here for 13 years from 1985 to 1998.
“It started out as a hobby,” he says while walking through the groves with his arm outstretched to touch the prickly branches. “It’s grown into something more than that.”
They usually begin selling trees just after Thanksgiving and continue all the way up to Christmas Eve. Michael Nutbrown and his wife, Leigh, come in from Virginia on weekends to help with the sales, although the farm is open weekdays, too.
A saw and twine is provided, and workers will help people cut down the trees if needed.
Henry Nutbrown’s favorite part of owning the farm is the expressions by young children when they find the perfect tree. “I found one! I found one!” he recalls the voices of children shrieking with excitement. Those same children are usually destined to return with their own families one day.
“People will say, ‘I came out with my grandparents,'” Sue says of the generations that have come back throughout the years. “There are so many, it’s hard to keep up with them.”
Nutbrown’s Christmas Tree Farm is located at 180 McMichael Road in Carnegie. For more information, call 412-330-0240 or visit nutbrownschristmastrees.com.