University Daily Kansan, December 12, 1984
Page 3
Workers at a Christmas tree farm near Lawrence bundle a tree for transport.
Tree farm pines get special care
The Christmas tradition of decorating a pine with lights, tinsel and ornaments entertains some families and gives the tree look just right is no small task.
But before a tree is cut and hauled through the front door, it must receive a certain amount of individual care before it be ready for the Christmas season.
Eric and Lyn Walther, Route 1,
planted the first Scotch tree seedlings for their Christmas tree farm
and planted the three acre trees dot their seven-acre spread.
"You learn how to grow Christmas trees through doing," Eric Walther said as he pointed to a spat on a tree at which some trees twist and grow more branches, and the more work with trees, the more you learn how to end up with a good looking tree.
IN 1983, the Walters planted 3,000 trees during February. March and April. Eric Walter said only 150 survived. In 1984, the Walters
planted 4,000 trees and kept 1,500 of the seedlings alive.
"The first couple of years are critical," Waither said. "This year I hired some help from the University to help me hand water the seedlings." The labor investment really paid off."
A Scotch pine will grow about one foot each year, Walther said.
Every year, Walther prunes the trees in June and July.
Each tree requires special attention each time it is pruned to make sure it will grow tall, straight and full, Walther said.
WHEN WAITHER STARTED his farm seven years ago, he didn't know anything about growing Scotch pines. So he read as much as he could about the subject and asked area agriculture experts for advice.
"I had originally wanted to get a house on about 10 acres of land so that I could get some horses for the kids," she noted up on this 20 acres raising trees.
"When the four boys were growing up, we all really enjoyed going out and getting a Christmas tree. It took about four or five hours to choose and
Walther said that was why he decided to get into the Christmas tree business.
"I think it's fun to watch the kids race about which choice tree is the best," Walther said. "Kids have a lot of negotiating things in their favor."
Walther said he would sell about 200 trees this season. He charges $15 for trees up to five feet tall. Each additional foot costs $3.
"PEOPLE WILL CHOOSE a tree between six and eight feet on the average." Walther said.
Walther limits the number of trees he sells each season so a wide variety of trees remain for the next year.
Growing trees for Christmas is more of a hobby for the Walters than a livelihood. Eric Walther works as a personnel director at Packer
Plastics Inc, 1230 Packer Road; so he devotes every weekend in the spring — weather permitting — to planting and pruning his trees.
The individual care each tree gets doesn't change with the size of the farm, said Rosa Cain, who owns and operates Himmel's Rand Christmas Tree Farm & Nursery, Eudora, with her husband, Ed.
HIMMEL'S RAND, which means "heaven's edge" in German, is the second largest Christmas tree farm in Kansas, Rosa Cain said.
"We have been selling trees since 1981," she said. "We planted the trees in 1976. We have about 16,000 trees on our 25 acres."
"It takes me 70 days to prune all of the trees," Cain said. "I start on July 1 and I finish 70 days later."
The Cains allow their customers to tag trees they want early in the season so the tree will be waiting there they come back at Christmas time.
New holiday books use modern themes
By ERIKA BLACKSHER Staff Reporter
These days, sugar plum fairies aren't the only things children are reading about on the night before Christmas.
Christmas literature is getting more realistic and modern, said Mary Paretsky, who has been in charge of the children's literature department at the Lawrence Public Library for 16 years.
"Childhood is not quite as idealized as it used to be," she said. "Much more realistic fiction is being written."
Books such as "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever," written by Barbara Robinson in 1972, depict children in problematic situations commonly found in society today.
IN ROBINSON'S BOOK, the roughneck Herdman children, who are from the wrong side of town, play big parts in the Sunday school's Christmas play. Having been before, the children make a few comical interpretive changes in the story.
Fifteen or 20 years from now, people will still be reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," Paretsky said. It is on its way to becoming as much of a classic as "A Christmas Carol," written by Charles Dickens in the 19th century.
The way books are being packaged also has changed tremendously, said Jane Imbre; librarian and curator for the elementary School, 274 Louisiana St.
"If it's a classic," she said, "that means it's been around and it's being read. It's a good book."
The characters and settings of Christmas stories aren't the only things changing in holiday books.
"IT'S ASTOUNDING to go out and see how you can buy Santa Claus," she said. "The message of
the holiday books are the same, but the wrappers have certainly changed."
Paretsky, whose husband and children are Jewish, said that picture-book Hanukkah stories were rare.
"Most Hanukkah literature explains what the holiday means," she said. "Not much imagination Themselves no Santa Claus to tie the stories to."
The glossy picture books and pop-up books that are on the shelves right now are not the books they will stay on the shelves, Imbar sand.
"They are marketed to sell this year," Imber said. "When many parents go out to buy a book, they're not just looking for a Christmas book, they're looking for a classic — something that will last."
MANY OF THE CLASSICS are being reprinted in picture-book style. Judie Stull has been a clerk at the Aread Book Shop in the Kansas Union since it opened. She said the popularity of illustrating holiday stories helped children understand the message better.
"When I was a little girl, books were harder to read. "Stough, 69. said. "There were only a few novels." "There were only one book. It wasn't simple reading."
Katherine Thomaske, who received her master's degree in education from the University of Kansas and now works at the Lawrence Public Library, said that she didn't remember reading any Christmas books when she was a child.
Although her family read a lot of books, they didn't read many around Christmas time, she said. Instead, they would attend Christmas plays and ballets such as "The Nutcracker Ballet."
"I DON'T THINK I got anything from the Christmas books and programs." Thomasek said. "I just thought they were funny."
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