The Coshocton County Beacon March 25, 2020 | Page 15

March 25, 2020 The Beacon • 15 Submitted The Scheetz family is pictured here with former First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1996 when the family donat- ed a 25-foot blue spruce to the Whitehouse. Scheetz family started tree farm nearly 60 years ago By Josie Sellers protect them from insects and disease, and we have 1,800 seedlings to plant this spring.” The family plants between 1,500 and 1,800 seedlings each year. “If you are lucky, two- thirds of them make Christ- mas t rees bet ween deer damage and their natural g r ow t h ,” S ch e e t z s a id . “Some just don’t want to be Christmas trees. They just want to be a bush.” Scheetz said they limit their growth to about a foot a year to help control the density and shape of the tree. “They are pruned each year, and it takes eight to 10 years to get a normal-size Christmas tree,” Scheetz said. “It depends on the spe- cies though. Some grow and shape better than other trees. It’s a guess on the amount of Christmas trees you’ll get and what people will buy. What people want over the years changes.” T hei r biggest seller right now is the Canaan fir. “People like the shape and the needle length,” Scheetz said. His favorite part of the business is the selling sea- son, which all the kids and grandkids have helped with over the years. “You get to talk to people and see their enjoyment,” Scheetz said. “About two- thirds of our trees are cut- your-own. We have little bow saws, and people take them out to the field to cut their own tree with their families.” One of the t rees even found its way into the White- house in 1996. The couple entered a tree in the state fair and won grand champion, which made them eligible for a national contest. After winning the national contest, they were eligible to donate a tree to the Whitehouse. Ac c ord i ng t o a Be a c on story from 2016 celebrat- ing the 20th anniversary of this occasion, the family took a 25-foot blue spruce to Washington, D.C. The Scheetz family was received by former First Lady Hillary Clinton and was able to tour the White House. “I like to thin k we’ve established a name with- i n ou r com mu nit y and the state for having high- quality trees at reasonable prices,” Scheetz said. “It’s been a joy and frustrating at times. We’ve had some years where we’ve had a drought and lost a high per- centage of our planting and other things like that, but you just go along with it.” the power shop “We service what we sell” 8am-5pm M-F Call on Saturday [email protected] Kenny and Joan Scheetz’s family business started close to 60 years ago almost by accident in 1962. “We had planted the hill- side for reforestation and were told it was too thick and we should thin it out,” Kenny Scheetz said. “We sold six Christmas trees for a dollar and a half.” Scheetz Tree Farm offi- cially took off when their children were in 4-H. “We have two boys and a girl, and they were in 4-H and received 100 seedlings,” Scheetz said. “We star t- ed pruning the trees then and really getting ready for Christmas trees instead of reforestation.” Scheetz Tree Far m at 2297 Cambridge Road has 24 acres of trees in various sizes. The couple’s oldest son also has trees on his far m near New Bedford. While Christmas is their busy season, it takes a year’s worth of work to prepare the trees for the holiday. “At t he p r e s e nt t i m e our daughter and son-in- law are doing most of the work,” Scheetz said. “My wife is 86, and I’m 89. We sort of watch out the win- dows and see what happens. My son-in-law has already sprayed the trees to help 57197 COUNTY ROAD 9 • WEST LAFAYETTE, OH 43845 p: 740-545-9011 • f: 740-545-9555