THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 29, 1995 TAG: 9511280084
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
``We want people to come and experience a tradition,'' says Susan Reed, marketing director for The Homeplace Christmas Tree Farm in Isle of Wight County.
And that's exactly what they can do on this 21-acre Christmas tree farm, about six miles outside of Smithfield.
Reed works for PMA Properties Inc., the Chuckatuck-based land development company that earlier this year bought the property where The Homeplace is located.
PMA specializes in developing residential communities in rural areas, such as Bridge Point Farm outside the Chuckatuck section of Suffolk. But Reed says the company plans to keep the Christmas tree farm operating.
The sound of Christmas carols will accompany tree-shoppers on the short hayride to the fields, filled with seemingly endless rows of Christmas trees. Customers will be given a bow saw to cut down their choice of tree, and when they haul it to the end of the row, the tractor will return and carry it them up to the sales shed. The trees will cost $4.25 a foot.
The Homeplace has been selling Christmas trees for the last five years, and the farm will sell about 1,000 of the 14,000 Scotch and white pines this year, says Mary Hite, who helps operate the farm with her husband, Frank.
The Hites and their co-operators, James and Sandy Arnette, hope their hard work will pay off in December.
``But don't think this is just a Christmas operation,'' Hite said. The agricultural work goes on year around, among trees of various stages, from seedlings to full-grown. The trees have to be fertilized, and they must be shaped and sheared every summer.
The Homeplace will be open from 10 a.m. to dusk every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 17.
To reach the farm from Smithfield, follow Route 10 west (the Smithfield Bypass) to U.S. 258, turn left. Turn right onto Four Square Road, follow it 2 1/2 miles and turn right onto Comet Road. Then go 1 1/2 miles and turn right onto White House Road. The Homeplace is a quarter mile on the right.
Isle of Wight County has one other Christmas tree farm, according to extension agent Bob Goerger: Tomlin Hill Tree Farm, at 19362 Tomlin Hill Road, Zuni. It will be open from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to dusk Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 17. All trees are $10. For more information, call 242-9641. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by ALLISON WILLIAMS
Mary Hite and Susan Reed at The Homeplace Christmas Tree Farm.
by CNB