Gilbert Christmas Tree Farm

About:

Gilbert Christmas Tree Farm was established in 1983, and our first trees were sold in 1988. The original farm was 84 acres with access from county road 266.  In 2002, we added an additional 143 acres giving us access from county road 296 and making our farm 3 miles closer to the Valley area.  In 2004, we built our home on part of the acreage and moved to the Christmas Tree Farm.

In the winter of 1983, we planted Virginia Pines, and that was the only variety of tree we sold. We also joined the East Alabama Christmas Tree Association with approximately 20 other farms. Today we are the only farm from that group still in operation. We added Leyland Cypress trees in the late 90's and they represent about 80% of our total tree sales grown on our farm.  In 2007, we began offering Fraser Fir trees brought in from Scaly Mountain, North Carolina, to offer customers a wider variety of fresh trees.  They are kept in water containers to preserve them until they are sold.  Growing and selling Christmas trees is very rewarding and sometimes very hard work.  The return in customer satisfaction and the joy we get far exceeds profits. We stay in business because we are small enough to do the work ourselves and loyal customers make the selling season worth the effort.

I am assisted by my wife, Joan, who started the Tree Toppers gift shop in 2007.  Our daughter, Jennifer, and our daughter-in-law, Amy, also work in the gift shop and enjoy creating holiday displays.  Our son, Trey, and son-in-law, Matt, help in the fields and assist with tree sales. Our grandson, Ty, is currently learning the business as well.

In 2012 we built a new gift shop and sales store.  The facility is wonderful, warm and fully equipped with 2 restrooms.  We also offer a wider variety of gift items and beautiful wreaths, ornaments and bows.

We are members of Southern Christmas Tree Association (SCTA), and I served as president in 2008 and a second term 2016 & 2017.  One of our trees was reserve champion in 2008, in the SCTA tree contest, and in 2009, we placed third in the NCTA contest in Chattanooga, Tennessee in another tree category.  We also enjoy being able to donate trees locally to local cities, schools, and churches.