Where Christmas grows: the new high-country tree farm taking root in the Snowy Mountains
Some would say a traditional Christmas involves snow and eggnog and hot turkey with steaming Christmas pud…that is, if you live in the northern hemisphere. Meanwhile down under we sing about sleigh bells while wearing thongs, spray our windows with fake snow and add another ornament to the plastic tree in thirty degree heat.
But one high country couple in New South Wales are invested in changing that. Snowy Mountains Christmas Tree Farm is giving Aussies a slice of “real” Christmas that is destined to become an annual tradition. How? By planting aromatic traditional Christmas trees, the kind you see in Hollywood movies and the kind that don’t usually grow in Australia. Until now.
Jen and Mark Mooney’s Eagles Range homestead near Jindabyne is home to only one of two Christmas tree farms in Australia growing cold-climate pines – Douglas Fir, Colorado Blue Spruce, Fraser Fir, Noble Fir, Balsam Fir and Monterey Pine. These tree varieties are the perfect tree for Christmas, filled with dense branches, unmistakable festive aroma and classic Christmas-tree silhouette.
“As former winery owners our backgrounds are viticulture (horticulture with specialisation in grapevines) which makes us qualified to grow Christmas trees and drink wine while we watch them growing,” laughs Jen Mooney, co-founder of Snowy Mountains Christmas Tree farm.
“Our property already has lots of pines on it but North American firs also grow in cold climate areas. Young firs do not cope with Australian UV light so have to be carefully managed, putting our horticultural knowledge to the test in this environment.
“The Balsam fir is the classic powerful Christmas tree fragrance but all the true firs are fragrant and even the monterey pines have a lovely pine smell. Growing these trees matches our regenerative farming philosophy helping to capture carbon and produce oxygen. Plus real trees are sustainable and don’t end up in land fill”
The first trees have gone into the ground this year, which means this is a story that will quite literally grow over the coming years. Because unlike most new attractions, you can’t hurry a Christmas tree.
But you don’t have to wait, as Jen and Mark are offering real Christmas trees to order now for this year thanks to their nursery suppliers. So you can order online, make a weekend of it come December and pick up your tree.
The vision is for families to eventually make the trip to the farm to wander among the trees and choose their own — turning something usually purchased from a roadside stall or suburban retailer into an annual Snowy Mountains ritual. Come to the farm, pick your tree, breathe in the mountain air, stock up on ornaments, gifts and Christmas fare and take a little piece of the high country home.
In an era when Christmas can feel increasingly delivered by courier, wrapped in plastic and added to cart, the idea of children walking through rows of real fir trees to choose the one that will stand in their family home feels almost defiantly nostalgic.
And the setting couldn’t be more appropriate. Jindabyne and the surrounding Snowy Mountains already do winter better than just about anywhere in Australia. Now Eagles Range is adding another northern-style tradition to the landscape.
*feature image: Sean Foster / Unsplash
