Adairsville, GA |

This Christmas season, as many families are embracing their timeless traditions, the Moss family are embracing their own – running this Christmas Tree farm; a tradition that was started by a simple desire to have a real Christmas tree a decade ago.

“On Christmas Day, I decided I was sitting there looking at my tree, what was left of it, and decided I wanted to start something for the family. Just a little small farm, a little small plot, so I cleared a little spot on the property here and planted about ten to fifteen trees. Just trying to see which ones liked the ground, the soil, and all that stuff. Before the next year about forty of my friends said, ‘well, we would like to have a tree as well.’ So we started the process,” says Jared Moss, Owner of Moss Family Christmas Tree Farm.

From there, it definitely was a learning experience, as Moss found out fairly quickly that growing Christmas trees isn’t as simple as he thought and ended up bush-hogging them down after the first year.

“I started planting all these different varieties of trees, because I had always grew up knowing the fraser fir and planted all of them that first year. Out of the seven hundred trees I planted, all of the North Carolina species died because unfortunately, we can’t grow those here. So, I actually went through with a bush hog and cut everything down and kind of restarted,” says Moss.

However, as you can tell, Moss decided to regroup and restart and now grows beautiful, picturesque trees that are sought after by families from near and far, with news traveling by word of mouth.

“Really ninety-five percent, if not more, are customers that are returning and bringing friends or telling their neighbors about our trees and where to go and actually get to experience this. There’s quite a few farms around, but many people could live next door and never know it was there. Many people just find us through their friends, honestly. That’s pretty much our marketing campaign is, ‘hey you tell your family come out and see Moss Family Tree Farm’,” says Moss.

Of course, growing and managing an operation like this one isn’t a task for the faint of heart, but Moss reassures me that all of the hard work is worth it in the end, as they work all year to sell memories, not a product.

“We sell memories, we don’t sell Christmas trees. The Christmas trees are something that you get here. While you’re here, you hear kids laughing, families smiling, people, children running around the bounce houses, just seeing things that many of them have never seen before in their lives. Yes, it is hard work, but those things make every bit of it worth it. Just seeing the smiles on kids’ faces, the wonder, the awe, and the families and the parents as well,” says Moss.

By: John Holcomb