STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – There are many farms dealing in the sale of Christmas trees near State College, but none are bigger than Tannenbaum Farms. With roughly 150,000 trees planted in the ground, owners Martha and Craig Weidensaul will be in business for the foreseeable future.
“We sell about 5,000 trees a year,” Martha Weidensaul said. “We used to sell about 9,000 trees per year when we sold wholesale, but we don’t do that anymore.”
Tannenbaum Farms offers five different types of trees; Fraser Fir, Douglas Fir, Balsam Fir, Colorado Blue Spruce, and White Fir. The Weidensauls, who bought the farm in 1975, have seen the farm evolve from a shack in the woods and a few trees back when they originally purchased it.
“I remember when we bought the land,” Martha said. “The trees were too young to sell and we were living in a house with no heat, we had no phones or anything like that. It’s amazing to think how far we’ve come.”
The best part of working at the farm according to Martha Weidensaul is that it brings her family together. While the farm wasn’t purchased as a family business when Martha and Craig bought the farm, their family quickly grew and so too did the workers on the farm.
“They grew up here,” Martha said. “They all just enjoy being around each other and helping us out.”
There’s plenty of work too be done on the farm as all the tree’s get trimmed five times per year and require more maintenance throughout the year. They now have so many trees that during the busy weekends they lose track of where all the people are on their farm.
To combat this they allow every customer to cut their own tree down, bring it back, and then they will help groom it.
The Weidensauls purchased the farm as a way to earn money for their retirement, but throughout the years it has turned into so much more.
“Just seeing all the families come in to get trees makes me so happy,” Martha said. “It’s hard work, but knowing that you helped in bringing families together is so rewarding.