(WJHL) – The Trinity Tree Company at Avery Farms just across the North Carolina border has been supplying Christmas trees to the community for three generations, but Hurricane Helene’s floodwater took out nearly 80% of the farm’s crop. Graham Avery ...

A family tree farm is entering the holiday season without its beloved owner for the first time since it opened. Rettig Tree Farm in Bondurant started selling trees in the late 1970s. Vernon Rettig founded the farm and had been selling trees ever since.

The Walkers will open Juno’s Tree Farm to the public on Nov. 23 for the first of three weekends of Christmas tree sales. The lot will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and by appointment. Because their own trees aren’t yet mature enough to sell, the Walkers are bringing in trees from a fellow Christmas tree grower in Cambridge.

"I do not want to send something home with people that I know will start getting dry very fast," said Mike Smolak. "Nothing worse than a Christmas tree with the needles falling off." Instead, he's ordered pre-cut trees from Maine and Canada to sell to his customers.

As most tree farms open the day after Thanksgiving, there are few cut-your-own trees in greater Green Bay available before Nov. 29, though many farms offer precut trees beginning earlier in the month.

Veeder’s Tree Farm in Earlton, Greene County is opening for the season on Friday. It takes eight to 12 years to grow these trees, according to the family that runs it, and keeping the trees alive takes a lot of work.

Nestled in 200 acres of classic English parkland, one family-owned farm is gearing up for the festive season. Hole Park Estate, near the village of Rolvenden, not far from Cranbrook, has been selling Christmas trees for more than 60 years and has already undergone some mammoth preparations to get ready for 2024.