As 20-degree breezes whipped through the rows of fir trees on a frost-covered hillside in Wayne Township on Friday afternoon, Doug Steffy, Schuylkill Haven, revved up a chain saw.
In less than a minute, Steffy, a worker at D. Kramer Tree Farm, 1594 Long Run Road, cut down a 13-foot tall Fraser fir for customers Richard and JoAnn Yesenosky, Pine Grove, and their family.
The Yesenoskys' three sons - Kolby, 13, Brandon, 12, and Randy, 11 - looked on as the giant dropped to the ground. As Steffy and Richard Yesenosky dragged it onto a trailer, Brandon rushed over and snapped a splinter off the end, then held it up to Randy's nose.
"It smells good," Brandon said.
Often called "the Cadillac of Christmas trees," the Fraser fir can fill a room with the "spicy blend of fruit and forest," according to the website for The Mount Rogers Area Christmas Tree Growers Association, Whitetop Mountain, Va.
For the Yesenoskys, venturing out for a Christmas tree is a tradition, JoAnn Yesenosky said.
And so far, it's a good year for local Christmas tree farms, according to David Kramer, owner of D. Kramer Tree Farm in Wayne Township, and Bill Fetherolf, co-owner of Pioneer Tree Farm, Orwigsburg.
"We have a problem fighting the weather on the weekends. Last week, we had that ice storm," Fetherolf said Friday, while working at Pioneer Tree Farm, 159 E. Adamsdale Road, Orwigsburg.
"When the weather gets bad, the traffic slows down. And we have trees here outside the store that are fresh cut. Every 48 hours here, there's fresh trees. And since we're the grower, it makes it harder when you get an ice storm or there's an impending snow storm," Fetherolf said.
On Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service was predicting 100 percent chance of snow Saturday and 90 percent chance of snow today, according to weather.gov.
"We have 200 acres of trees and, on an average season, we sell about 1,000 trees on this lot. Last year was a good year. This year, I think we're on track for a good year. I think we could have done better this year if it wasn't for the weather. When it snows, sleets and rains on the weekend, that's what kills us. So today, we're cutting trees with the hope that people will still come out when it snows," Fetherolf said Friday.
"We've been coming out here off and on for the past nine years. I know there's a year or two we missed, simply because of the weather," John Powers, Pottsville, retired dean of students at Pottsville Area High School, said Friday. He was there to buy his tree with his wife, Barb, and their daughter, Megan, 19.
Maggie Hibbs, Media, Delaware County, brought her parents, Ed Koslow, 81, and Louise Koslow, 79, of Auburn, out to Pioneer on Friday.
"We've been coming here for years. We love the trees," Hibbs said.
"I keep my trees up through the 12 days of Christmas to Jan. 6 and sometimes longer. Sometimes they're up until February because I couldn't get around to getting it down. Their trees last," Louise Koslow said.
"They're fresh and they stay that way," Hibbs said.
Fetherolf helped them tie a tree to the roof of Hibbs's sedan.
Kramer, 69, said he moved his business office from Kramer Power Equipment, 2 Kiehner Road, near Route 183, to his farm at 1594 Long Run Road, Wayne Township.
"My son needed the room there. So he bought me out and I brought my business out here to the farm. I've owned this property for years and years. We've been in business since 1968. We have 50 acres and, roughly, 30,000 trees planted. So, we put up a new pole building here this year. I think we'll sell, wholesale and retail, about 2,500 trees. Last year, we did about 2,000. We're doing really well," Kramer said.
Mother Nature gave Christmas tree farmers a few challenges this year.
A late spring frost damaged part of the crop of Concolor fir trees at Pioneer this year, according to Fetherolf.
"It stunted the growth. We didn't feel they were up to quality to put on our lot. And they're a tree in demand," Fetherolf said.
Kramer said some of the Douglas fir trees on his lot sustained damage from "root rot."
Called "phytopthora," it's a type of soil fungus some farmers with true fir species in low-lying areas are dealing with, according to the website for the National Christmas Tree Association.
"There is not a mold problem," according to the website.
But it does affect a tree's appearance, Kramer said.
"Fungi are microorganisms that include yeasts and molds as well as the more familiar mushrooms. Many plants, including many grown on farms, from soybeans, to iceberg lettuce, to conifer trees, can have their health and vitality inhibited when the phytopthora fungus is present in the soil and get a condition known as root rot," according to the website.
It's not something new.
Consumers will not notice any difference in their trees. And phytopthora will not affect tree prices, according to the website.
"It makes them look dingy. The roots are dying, so it affects them from the top down," Kramer said while pointing to a Douglas fir. Its top branches looked brown, dried out.
"If a Christmas tree retailer tells you the price of a tree is higher 'because of root rot' we suggest you shop for a tree somewhere else," according to the site.