Iowans embrace the latest holiday decorating trend that favors simple, natural and rustic.

There was a time when aluminum tinsel Christmas trees and bright plastic decorations adorned homes. But that’s not what many people today are after. 

Franklin County Farm Bureau member Michelle Hartman of Carlson Tree Farm near Hampton says for most of their customers, it’s a back-to-nature look that drives their holiday decorating.

“They want a look that is not overdecorated, with natural elements like pinecones and berries in their wreaths and holiday arrangements,” says Michelle, who handles marketing for her family’s tree farm that includes her parents, siblings, spouses and kids. When it comes Christmastime, it’s all-hands-on-deck selling trees and making wreaths and decorations. 

“We live in a throw-away society, and people are embracing a simpler way of doing things,” says Michelle. “They’re looking to reduce-recycle-reuse in an ecofriendly way, and to connect with the environment.”

Rustic buckets (some painted by a local artist), vintage tea pots and other containers picked up at auctions and vintage stores all make table and doorway decorations when combined with fresh greenery, pheasant feathers, deer antlers and colorful, fun ribbons.

Michelle says mixed metals like rose gold, silver and copper are popular, along with burlap and muted colors like sage.

“Of course, red never goes out of style,” she adds.

Carlson Tree Farm grows their own red dogwood that makes its way into wreaths and outdoor pails.

Nostalgic simplicity

Folks are also searching for a natural look in their Christmas tree. Michelle says customers these days prefer fir trees, an old-fashioned style with soft, short needles.

“Large, small, fat, skinny, rustic, refined – everyone has their own taste and style and we have something for everyone,” says Michelle. Carlson Tree Farm offers a variety of firs and Scotch and white pines. They offer flocked trees by special order. “But it’s really not about the tree, it’s about the memories. People want to connect with what families did in the past and make memories with their own family.”

She says since COVID, people seem to want to take a nostalgic step back. At the tree farm, they can roam the rows of trees to find their perfect fit. If they choose, they can have Carlson staff cut and haul the tree to the barn, or do so themselves — just like in romantic holiday movies.

“Hallmark has been an amazing attribute for the Christmas tree business. Shopping for your tree at the farm is a glorious outing for a family,”  Michelle says. 

To add to the atmosphere, the Carlsons offer a vintage coffee camper serving up coffee and hot chocolate.

Part of the appeal is the farm itself. Wide open space, friendly dogs and cats, the beauty of nature. “It’s all about the experience,” says Michelle.

Growing the environment

Carlson Tree Farm began when Dennis Carlson, Michelle’s father, then a county conservationist with a degree in forestry, planted his first Christmas trees in 1982. Along with his love for trees, he thought the extra income would pad the family’s Christmas shopping budget. It didn’t take the kids long to jump on board.

“We soon figured out the harder we worked, the better presents we got,” says Michelle. Dennis believes the customer comes first, so then, as now, the family picks their tree from the most unique ones at the end of the season. “We don’t shop for trees or presents until the season is done, then we get creative with decorating.”

Three generations in, Carlson Tree Farm sells around 300 to 400 of their own Christmas trees each season, with additional cut trees brought in from Minnesota.

“We can’t plant them fast enough to meet demand,” says Michelle. They plant three trees for every one harvested — one to reach Christmas tree size, one for greenery, and one that likely won’t survive the Midwest weather. “If we cut too many, we cut into our supply for next year, and since the business exploded in 2020, we can’t keep up.” It takes eight to 10 years for a Christmas tree to grow to maturity.

The greenery goes into wreaths and decorative arrangements — around 500 a year. What started as a way to use scrap greenery now exceeds tree sales. 

“People like the smaller elements, like table arrangements,” says Michelle. “They’re nice to take as a gift to someone who doesn’t have a tree, to bring the beauty of the outdoors and that fresh greenery smell into the house.”

Fresh from the farm is the key. Carlson Tree Farm wreaths and arrangements are made from freshly cut greenery, not cut weeks or months before as at many commercial outlets. 

“You can leave your wreath up outside until Easter,” says Michelle.

Pictured above:  Cathy and Dennis Carlson, Franklin County Farm Bureau members, open their Christmas tree farm near Hampton to thousands of visitors each holiday season. Dennis Carlson is a retired Franklin County conservationist. Photo by Conrad Schmidt

Shop early, buy fast

Growing Christmas trees isn’t just a Christmas enterprise. It’s a year-round job and a way of life for the Carlson family.

Spring on the 17-acre tree farm means planting. Summer brings picking pinecones from the fir trees to manage growth, battling mosquitoes to sheer and shape trees, and a lot of mowing. Carlson Tree Farm also has a tree spading business, selling and moving live evergreens as well as hardwood oak, sycamore and Kentucky coffee trees.

Ben Carlson, Michelle’s brother, an agronomist, determines where each tree variety is planted based on soil type.

By fall, it’s time to order supplies, prep the barn and wait for the holiday rush.

Michelle says timing is key to getting the perfect tree. “Don’t wait. We start selling the weekend before Thanksgiving, and by the end of Thanksgiving weekend, we are basically sold out of trees. We’ll keep making wreaths and arrangements until mid-December.”

Queck-Matzie is a freelance writer from Greenfield.