Two decisions shape every Christmas tree trip around Sacramento, and both of them are cheaper to make in your driveway than in a muddy field in the foothills. The first is whether you are cutting anything at all. The second is how tall the room actually is.
I have made this drive more times than I can defend. The mistakes were never about trees. They were about the car, the tape measure left on the counter, and a farm that will cheerfully sell you eight feet when your ceiling is seven and a half.
THE FIRST DECISION IS WHETHER YOU ARE CUTTING ANYTHING
A choose-and-cut farm is what it sounds like. The tree stands in the ground, you walk the rows, and either you take the saw or someone takes it for you. Roberts Christmas Tree Farm, in Pollock Pines and Camino, hands you the saw and the twine. McGee Christmas Tree Farm in Placerville has been at it since 1952 and does the same.
A lot is the other thing. Those trees were cut earlier and trucked in, often from Oregon. Neither is the lesser purchase. The difference is the morning you are signing up for.
THE FOOTHILL FARMS, WHERE THE DAY IS THE POINT
If the outing is the reason, these are the ones with something to do besides choose. Indian Rock Tree Farm in Camino, up in Apple Hill country, carries more than a dozen varieties and has a gift shop, a fire pit, and hot cocoa and cider. Little Bear Tree Farm in Alta adds rides in a vintage Jeep. Snowy Peaks Tree Farm in Foresthill sets out hot chocolate, a bonfire, a tree swing and a picnic area, and specializes in Silvertip and White Firs.
Harris Family Farm in Pollock Pines is the tree and the pantry in one stop: Silvertip, Douglas, White, Noble, Cedar and Pine, plus wreaths, holly, jams and pies. It has required reservations for choose-and-cut, so that is a phone call before it is a car trip.
THE ONES CLOSE IN, WHEN THE DRIVE IS THE REAL COST
Not everybody wants an hour each way with a thermos. Davis Ranch in Sloughhouse is the summer corn stand that turns into choose-and-cut in winter, with Douglas Fir, Incense Cedar and Monterey Pine. Chad’s Christmas Trees has spots in West Sacramento and Greenhaven and brings fresh trees in from Oregon farms, along with wreaths, garland and mistletoe.
Mikey’s is the one that follows you around, in Carmichael, Folsom, Roseville, Natomas and Citrus Heights, with Noble, Nordmann, Grand and Douglas Firs, and painted trees in blue, purple and red. Foothills Christmas Tree sits on the Cal Expo grounds in Arden Arcade and does flocked trees if you want the snow look without the snow. Bobby Dazzler’s in Woodland is the pumpkin patch that becomes a tree lot, with a visit from Santa and rides on the Christmas cow train.
THE SPECIES QUESTION, WHICH MATTERS LESS THAN THE LOT WILL TELL YOU
Every farm prints a species list, and every list sells you the one they have most of. The real differences come down to branch stiffness and smell, and stiffness is what decides whether your ornaments stay where you hung them.
- Douglas Fir. Full and bushy, soft dark needles, the classic cone shape and a strong sweet smell.
- Noble Fir. Stiff, symmetrical branches with needles that turn upward. Take this one if the ornaments are heavy.
- White Fir. Also sold as Concolor. Soft, flat, flexible needles and a classic fragrance.
- Silvertip. Native to the Sierra Nevada. Silver new growth over blue-green, strong branches, and real gaps between the layers.
- Colorado Spruce. The blue spruce, with gray-blue needles and branches that hold weight. White Spruce is the softer relative with a mellower smell.
THE COMPARISON I KEEP MAKING, AND WHERE IT BREAKS
The closest ordinary thing I can think of is a farm stand versus the produce aisle. Same tomatoes, except at the stand you can still smell the vine and the person at the table knows which ones are ready today.
That gets you to the right instinct, which is that on a good trip you are buying the outing as much as the tree. Then it hands you a worse list than it promised, because a tomato is a four day purchase and a tree is a six week houseguest that drops needles and wants water every morning.
Maybe that is two comparisons stacked, and I am asking one of them to do work it cannot. What survives is the part that matters: you are paying for the choosing, not only the tree.
THE MEASUREMENT NOBODY TAKES BEFORE THEY LEAVE
Measure the room, not the tree you picture in it. Floor to ceiling, then subtract the stand and subtract whatever goes on top, because the star counts and nobody counts the star. Write it on your hand. A tree six inches too tall is one you trim in the driveway after dark, and the cut end is the end that has to drink.
Then measure the car. Seats down, hatch closed, and if it is going on a roof rack, know that before you are standing in a field holding eight feet of fir.
WHAT GOES IN THE CAR, AND THE FIRST HOUR HOME
- A tape measure. The whole post is this bullet.
- Gloves and a hand saw. Some farms supply both. Confirm before you assume.
- Twine or straps, and an old blanket. For the roof, the hatch, and the sap you find in July.
- Boots with tread and a real jacket. These places are wet, muddy and sometimes snowed over.
- A thermos, and a weekday if you can arrange one. A farm with three hundred people in it is a different afternoon.
The first hour home decides how the tree looks in three weeks. Let it rest in the garage a few days, then shake it out, vacuum it, or hose it down if you see anything moving. Cut half an inch off the trunk so the hardened sap is gone and the tree can take up water, then keep the stand full. A cut tree that runs dry stops drinking, and refilling it later does not undo that.
One caveat. A list like this is a starting point, not a schedule. Farm hours change, some operations skip a season, and reservation rules move. Check the farm’s own page before you drive, especially for the ones up the hill. If you are new here, the neighborhood guides are where I write about what each town is like the other eleven months.
Question for you: how tall is the room the tree goes in, and do you actually know, or do you assume?
Adapted from The Best Christmas Tree Farms Near Sacramento, originally published by Windermere Signature Properties at windermerecalocal.com.
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