The spirit of Christmas swirls in the air like snow at Paul Bunyan’s Farm and Nursery in Chicopee, MA. They reopened on Sept. 7 so people could start tagging their trees in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season. That weekend, over 300 people came to the nursery to choose their trees. The farm sells Fraser, concolor and Balsam fir trees.

“I’m in the happiness business,” said owner Susan Lopes. “People are always happy to have a Paul Bunyan tree.”

Just before Halloween, they have already sold out of most of their tag-and-cut trees in the fields. They also have very tall “Paul Bunyan”-sized trees that are nine to 20 feet tall from which people can chose.

Paul Bunyan was a colorful larger-than-life fictional lumberjack who was assisted by the Babe the giant blue ox. While a mythical character whose exploits were told over campfires in American lumber camps since the late 1880s, James MacGillivray is credited with writing the first Paul Bunyan story in Oscoda, MI, in 1906. The enduring legendary lumberjack is endowed with superior strength, along the lines of later-day superheroes.

“I can’t keep up with demand,” said Lopes. “A farmer friend comes with tons and tons of cut trees mid-November” to keep up with demand.

“It takes 10 years to grow a Christmas tree,” she said. “We sell customers a tree that has been shaped for their Christmas tree stand, and we give really great watering instructions, tell them to make sure to check their live tree a couple of times a day to see if it needs water. After that, it’s the person’s responsibility.”

The business has been going strong for 37 years. Her parents Chet and Susan Szetela helped out in the past but have both since retired. (She was named after her mother.)

Susan Lopes with her parents, Chet and Susan Szetela, on the tree farm that has been going strong for 37 years. Photo courtesy of Paul Bunyan’s Farm & Nursery

Like most Christmas tree farmers, their busiest time is the three days after Thanksgiving. At that time there is a staff of 25 to handle the flow and a hired police officer to make sure people get in and out safely onto the busy Fuller Road in a timely manner.

She plants hundreds of foot-high transplants each April. “Most people are under the impression that they require very little work – just put them in and leave. I have to take very good care to make sure they are not attacked by weeds, keep bugs at bay and plant the trees in the right areas to begin with and keep the leaders straight,” Lopes said.

She uses a fertilizer especially formulated for Christmas trees. Watering is crucial, especially in times of drought.

When people visit they can buy soy candles, homemade baskets, Christmas ornaments in the 200-year-old rustic barn or the 10-year-old greenhouse. In autumn, they also offer pumpkins in many sizes, flying ghosts, brightly colored scarecrows, hay bales, cornstalks and gourds.

Ever diversified, customers can choose from a selection of chrysanthemums and ornamental cabbage. As Christmas is a time to think of loved ones no longer here as well as loved ones close by, they offer a large selection of decorated remembrance displays in logs or pots with greens from their fields. They also have seasonal Balsam wreaths in a variety of sizes, swags and garlands.

With an abundance of energy on the mythical level of Paul Bunyan’s, Lopes is eager to jump back into the fields to trim Christmas trees. She said, “I love everything about my job. It’s my way of life.”

For more information, access paulbunyansfarm.com.

by Laura Rodley