Growing Christmas cheer

They say money doesn’t grow on trees. But perhaps memories do.

For 40 years, Vernon and Bee Spaunhorst have been cultivating such memories from their farm in Franklin County, Mo., where they produce white pine, Canaan fir and pecan trees. A hidden gem in a vast agricultural landscape, Heritage Valley Tree Farm attracts thousands of visitors each Christmas season, opening its doors on the Friday after Thanksgiving. 

Carrying a saw and pulling a sled, countless families annually wander the rows of picturesque conifers until a particular tree catches their eye. “This is the one,” they say, envisioning it beautifully decorated in their home, a shining symbol of Christmas joy.

Harvesting holiday cheer isn’t what Vernon and Bee (short for Bethine) had in mind when they took over the family farm around 1980. The land had been in Vernon’s family since the 1850s and is recognized as a Missouri Century Farm, but the young couple faced a crossroads. 

“The neighbors approached my dad and wanted to buy the farm. So, he asked me, ‘Do you want to sell it, or do you want to keep it?’” Vernon said. “I said, ‘Let’s keep it.’” 

For a couple of years, Vernon and Bee tried to grow corn and soybeans without much success. 

“The farm is too small. We didn’t make any money on it at all,” Vernon said, “So we started looking at what else we could do.” 

Determined to continue farming, the idea for a potential crop came from an unexpected place. “When our kids were little, we’d go to the neighbor’s Christmas tree farm,” Vernon recalled. “And we were there cutting a tree, when I realized, ‘Well, we could do this.’” 

From there, Heritage Valley Tree Farm was born in 1983, when the Spaunhorsts planted 2,000 Scotch pine trees and 200 pecan trees. They had bright hopes for the farm’s future, even if Vernon’s father didn’t fully share those dreams. “He just could not believe I would take a perfectly good cornfield and put pecan trees in it,” Vernon said. “But he helped me do it anyway.”  

The complexity of conifers

For six years, the Spaunhorsts and their children tended to the trees until finally, in 1989, the first crop—about 2,000 trees—was ready to sell. But the outcome of their hard work proved disappointing. 

“Everybody and their brother were selling Scotch pine, and we couldn’t get rid of them. We sold 300,” Vernon said. “Then the next year, same thing. We had another 2,000 trees come along. We wound up burning thousands of trees because we had way too many.” 

It was a tough blow, considering the work and money Vernon and Bee had invested in the trees. They learned the hard way that Scotch pine is difficult to grow due to its susceptibility to disease and pests. Native to northern Europe and Russia, it is prone to deadly diseases like pine wilt and brown spot needle blight. 

“Every disease there is, they get it. Every bug there is, they get it,” Vernon said. “So you’re spraying all summer long.”

The lack of demand and hassles of Scotch pines led Vernon and Bee to reconsider growing Christmas trees altogether. However, an article from the Missouri Christmas Tree Producers Association, of which they are members, would change the future of their farm. 

The Spaunhorsts read that a tree producer in Indiana was successfully growing Canaan fir trees. A variety of balsam fir, native to Canada and northeastern states, Canaan firs can grow as far south as Canaan Valley in West Virginia, where the variety takes its name. 

Vernon and Bee determined that with suitable soil, they could likely grow Canaan firs on their farm. Known as a “tough fir,” it can withstand excess water and heat, a necessity given Missouri’s variable weather. 

Not ready to throw in the tree towel, they planted 700 Canaan fir seedlings. Due to the fir’s unique needs, they could only plant in the bottom fields with sandier soil rather than inhospitable clay-filled hillsides. 

The first crop of Canaan firs survived, and Vernon and Bee decided to plant 1,200 trees in the following years. To help the firs thrive, they implemented techniques such as raised beds and a drip irrigation system. Once again, they had to wait several years for their crop to mature, but that patience was rewarded. The Canaan firs were popular with customers and remain a favorite today, perhaps due to the demand for the closely related Fraser fir, Vernon noted.

“Fraser firs won’t grow in Missouri. It’s too hot,” he said. “The Canaan fir is a first cousin, so people like it.” 

Even with the success of the Canaan fir and end of the troublesome Scotch pine, the Spaunhorsts still wanted to offer customers a more economical choice. Following advice, they planted a few hundred white pine trees. Also known as eastern white pine, this species is native to northern and northeastern states. In contrast to Scotch pine, it is more resistant to devastating diseases. 

The white pine also proved a winning choice, with the first hundred trees sold within hours on opening day. However, some pine-seeking customers aren’t fans of white pines, Vernon said, due to their weaker limbs, which struggle to hold heavy ornaments. 

“They are very pretty trees,” Bee added, “but you might want to decorate them a little differently.” 

Both varieties of Christmas trees at Heritage Valley require much maintenance and care. In the off-season, the Spaunhorsts fertilize in the spring, trim and prune in the summer, apply multiple rounds of weed killer and spray insecticide for bagworms, the conifers’ only potential pest. 

Keeping the rows clear is also a substantial task. “We do a lot of mowing—a lot of mowing,” Bee said. 

While Heritage Valley’s future may have been bleak in its early years, the Spaunhorsts’ willingness to take risks on new types of trees paid off. Today, the farm sells 1,800 to 2,200 Canaan fir and white pine trees annually. 

“We sell out every year, partly because all those other people who were planting Scotch pine quit,” Vernon said. “We were one of the few farms that kept on planting. Now, with the combination of the fir and white pine and less competition, we sell everything we have.”

A tough nut to crack

The Spaunhorsts’ goals for their farm weren’t limited to just Christmas trees. One particular section is prone to flooding, making it unsuitable for evergreens. But there is a tree that can tolerate a flood or two: pecans. 

In 1983, they planted 200 saplings from the Missouri Department of Conservation nursery near Licking. Unlike Christmas trees, which need six to seven years to reach the desired harvest height, the time from planting to having a pecan in hand can be more than a decade. 

Making sure that pecan is tasty is another challenge. That’s why the pecans consumers eat, like other nut and fruit trees, aren’t usually developed from seed but a process known as grafting. It’s a tricky endeavor that joins one plant’s rootstock to the living tissue of another, usually a small limb cutting, so that they will fuse to become one plant. 

Grafting is preferred over seed propagation because it ensures the nuts or fruit has the desired characteristics. Planting from seed can be risky. Plants reproduce sexually, meaning the mother tree may produce well, but the father may not. It takes years for the resulting tree to reveal if it’s a good producer. 

For the Spaunhorsts and most fruit and nut producers, that isn’t a gamble they want to take.

“If you plant the wrong corn, six months later, you know it, and you won’t plant it again,” Vernon said. “If you plant a Christmas tree, it takes seven years to find that out. If you plant a pecan tree, it takes 20 years to find that out. So, we didn’t just grab some pecan trees and put them in the ground.” 

They let the saplings grow and then began grafting, which wasn’t always successful. 

“Sometimes, we have to go back and regraft the following year,” Vernon said. “We’ve done that two or three times on some trees.” 

To gain knowledge and support from other producers, the Spaunhorsts joined the Missouri Nut Growers Association, which offered grafting demonstrations. 

“After that, we did a lot better,” Bee said. 

They also learned it was essential to choose the best varieties of pecans. On advice, they chose Posey, Peruque, Colby and some stock from the well-
producing tree of a relative, which they named “Schmidt.” 

However, what Vernon and Bee did not know was that some pecan varieties are susceptible to a fungus called pecan scab, which can damage the crop and even cause a total loss. 

Unfortunately, Posey and Peruque, while excellent producers, are vulnerable to the fungus. Colby is also highly vulnerable, and the situation became so bad that the Spaunhorsts had to cut down all their Colby trees. For the other varieties, Vernon applies fungicide twice in the spring to keep the scab at bay. 

Only later did the Spaunhorsts learn that some varieties of pecans, such as the Kanza or Shepard, are scab-resistant. To ensure a healthy future orchard, the Spaunhorsts have around 50 young, scab-resistant trees to replace those they lost.

It was a hard lesson learned only through experience. “You go to meetings nowadays, 40 years later, and they’ll tell you plant Kanza, plant Shepard,” Vernon said. “Back then, there was nobody to tell us that. So that’s the challenge of pecans.” 

While they adapted to overcome the challenges of diseases and pests, the Spaunhorsts did not see a pecan crop for two decades. 

“That’s a long time to wait for a crop,” Bee admitted. “But there was no going back, so we kept working it.”

They give much credit to the knowledge gained through association meetings, where they were advised about needing fungicide and fertilizer. But, like countless families, sometimes life requires moving a little slower. The Spaunhorsts were no exception.

“Pecan trees will produce after about 12 years, but I was working full time. Bee was taking care of the kids. And we planted them with the idea that it was a retirement plan,” recounted Vernon, who retired from his career in mechanical engineering in 2005, the year of their first significant pecan crop. 

After 40 years, pecan production is in full swing at Heritage Valley. The nuts are usually harvested around the first of November, and technology has simplified the process. Tractor attachments shake the tree to remove the nuts, and then a pull-behind harvester gathers them. The Spaunhorsts also constructed a new building to process the pecans, with two large mechanical nutcrackers and another machine to remove the shells.

After processing, the nuts are ready for sale, with attractively packaged bags of pecans available at the farm’s gift shop or online.

The joy of unpredicted paths

Today, Heritage Valley Tree Farm looks very different than when Vernon and Bee took over the property in the early 1980s. In addition to 30 acres of evergreens and a sprawling field of pecan trees, the farm resembles a rustic Christmas village with bright red buildings and a quaint log cabin decorated with fresh garland when the season opens. 

The log cabin is the original home of Vernon’s ancestors, who first settled there. The Spaunhorsts spent many years remodeling it, eventually using the cabin as their first gift shop and then a bed and breakfast, which has since closed.

Other vintage buildings were also transformed for the operation. A cattle barn became a workshop, with the hay loft used as storage for Christmas tree netters, sleds and other equipment. An old corn crib now serves as the gift shop, adorned with lights, garland and seasonal souvenirs for sale. 

The Spaunhorsts also grew an apple orchard for many years. “But as we got older, we decided that had to stop,” Vernon said. “We eliminated the apples and the B&B and stuck with Christmas trees and pecans.”

Today, their children—Matthew, Sarah, Helen, Jennifer and Peter—live nearby and continue to help on the farm. Helen manages the gift shop, and Jennifer works with the pecan trees. Their daughters also help promote the farm, Bee said, noting that social media has been an instrumental tool. 

“It’s been our life and their lives, too,” she said.

The Spaunhorsts’ hard work was recognized in 2011 when they received the Governor’s Award for Agricultural Achievement. At the time, Heritage Valley Tree Farm was one of few Missouri farms with several agritourism offerings. 

“That was so exciting,” Bee said. “The governor (Jay Nixon) came with his wife, and they took pictures and interviews and toured the farm.” 

After planting those first trees in 1983, Vernon and Bee couldn’t have seen how far their dream would take them. “Our lives have taken paths that we never imagined,” Bee said. The last four decades have been full of hard lessons and disappointments for the Spaunhorsts, but they have also been full of success and joy for their family and countless visitors who make a trip to Heritage Valley part of their Christmas tradition each year.

Heritage Valley Tree Farm is located at 1668 Four Mile Road in Washington, Mo. It opens for the 2024 Christmas season on Friday, Nov. 29, and on Saturdays and Sundays through the holidays. For more information, visit heritagevalleytreefarm.com or call 636-432-6757.   

READ MORE FROM THIS DEC24/JAN25 TODAY'S FARMER ISSUE

CLICK TO SEE THIS ARTICLE AS ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN THE MAGAZINE VIA FLIPBOOK