alafarmnews

A salesman who says “Merry Christmas” in July has got to love his job.

Check Stephens does it all the time. For him, no Christmas is complete without a beautifully decorated tree—preferably from his farm.

At the age of 83, he’s believed to be the oldest commercial Christmas tree grower in Alabama. He grows them, sells them and promotes them.

Stephens planted his first trees in 1947, after World War II combat service. As the years passed and he perfected his growing methods, his Yule trees began

Chester "Check" Stephens' smile says it all as he rides through his Christmas tree farm in Autauga County.

Check Stephens stands between two towering Christmas trees at his farm.

Stephens has cut back on his acreage, but not on the physical exertion required to ride herd over thousands of Virginia Pine, Arizona Cypress, Leyland Cypress, Red Cedar, Blue Pyramid and other varieties of Christmas trees.

Each day he hops into his John Deere “Gator,” a four-wheeled off-road vehicle and motors through the fields where his trees are growing. He’s often accompanied by Baby, his chocolate weimaraner. Baby rides in back, checking out the trees and the scenery.

Stephens became intrigued with Christmas tree growing while a student at what then was Alabama Polytechnic Institute and became Auburn University.

The year was 1942 and he saw a notice on a bulletin board that said: “Raise Christmas trees.”

Stephens and his dog, Baby, prepare to check Stephens’ Christmas tree stands near his house in Autauga County.

He said Alabama once had about 300 Christmas tree producers, but the number has dropped to less than 100 today.

“Some sold their land for highway construction projects,” he said. “I guess the price was just too good to turn down.”

His first variety was the Arizona Cypress, a fast-growing Christmas tree that needs only four or five years to go from seed to living room.

“I’m still planting them, but I’ve also cloned ’em,” he said. “What we got was a bluish tint to them. They were perfectly shaped, too.”

“I don’t know why he did it,” said Stephens, who broke into a grin. “Maybe he was just mad at somebody.”

He provided the people of Alabama with a 38-foot-tall Eastern Red Cedar tree last year. The state sent a crane over to get it just before Christmas. Stephens never charges for his State Capitol trees.

The first Christmas trees were cut in the forests of what became Germany. Fir trees were chopped and hauled away as far back as the early 1500s.

In their research into the history of the Christmas tree, Ken Tilt and Bernice Fischman of Auburn

Joe Forge moves his tractor through rows of Christmas trees in late October as part of preparations for the holiday season.

Check and Margaret Stephens live in the Autaugaville community of Statesville amid thousands of Christmas trees just across the road.

The first Christmas tree market developed in 1851 in New York City after fir and spruce trees were cut in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, the two said.

Tilt and Fischman said Mark Carr filled two oxcarts with trees, took them to a ship bound for New York City, rented space at the Washington Street Market for $1 and “promptly sold out.”

Carr sold his small trees for a nickel or a dime. The most expensive ones were up to 10 feet tall and sold for a quarter.

Nobody can get a Christmas tree for 25 cents today, but Stephens’ trees are still quite a bargain. His top price usually is $25 and his customers don’t have to pick over the pathetic Charlie Brown-type trees at some street corner.

Several generations of area families have been to see Stephens through the decades—often beginning in late November. They walk through the fields, pick out the tree they want and then chop it down. Stephens will even provide the saw. The buyers then drag the tree to their SUVs or pickups.

It’s known as the “choose and cut” practice and Stephens wouldn’t have it any other way. He feels picking a Christmas tree in the field where they grow is a special event for families.

According to Tilt and Fischman, the Christmas tree industry has changed dramatically in recent years. At one time, 90 percent of the trees were taken from forests and 10 percent were grown. Today, they said, it’s just reversed with most Christmas trees being grown on plantations.

Hurricane Ivan, which devastated cotton crops and other agricultural products on Sept. 16, roared through Stephens’ farm and forced him to work even harder than he usually does. The storm bent hundreds of trees, some to the breaking point.

“It was something to see,” he said, during a tour of his farm. “They were parallel to the ground. We spent a long time getting them back into an upright position.”

Growing Christmas trees is labor intensive, but Stephens doesn’t seem to mind the required exertion. He only has a few employees and pitches in as much as any of his workers.

He ranks Alabama Christmas trees with any in the country. He says the Blue Pyramid, which is cloned from the Arizona Cypress, is his favorite.

Stephens’ first name is Chester, but everybody just calls him Check. It was his father’s first name, too. He said his family has a banking background.

Quality is important to Stephens, who said northern farmers who begin cutting their trees in August tend to lose that important ingredient.

“They dry out by cutting them so soon,” he said. “You’ve got to use a lot of water to keep them alive and many of them are dead by the time they get here. Some people also use green paint on their trees, but I’d never do that.”

A natural salesman, Stephens went to work for Ralston-Purina after the war before he moved into the Christmas tree business. He also raises catfish and is involved in other agricultural ventures at his farm, which is 35 miles west of Montgomery and about a mile from the Alabama River.

Stephens’ first wife, Minnie, died two years ago after a lengthy illness. After his grief subsided, he renewed a friendship with Margaret Fietz, who had been a widow since 1991.

The two couples were friends during World War II and stayed in touch with each other after they went their separate ways. Friendship blossomed into love between Check and Margaret and they were married in 2003.

Next to his family, Auburn University is the great love of Check Stephens’ life. He can’t wait for football season to begin and rarely misses a home game.

Stephens, who is known as “The Christmas Tree Man” by many Alabamians, generally catches people off-guard by wishing them a “Merry Christmas” throughout the year, including the dog days of summer in July and August.

So, it was much to his surprise when he and Margaret walked into their room at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center to get ready for the school’s first home football game of the season this year.