COLUMBIA, Mo. – Students from the University of Missouri’s Forestry Club will sell Christmas trees at a new location this year due to construction at Faurot Field, where the group has sold trees for more than 40 years.
Abby Kircher, a junior and club president, said the group will sell trees and wreaths at a lot on Providence Road near the MU Research Reactor lot, Nov. 30-Dec. 2 and the following weekend. Kircher is from New Franklin in Howard County.
About 20 active members of the club, under the guidance of MU forestry professor Benjamin Knapp, will sell Scotch pine and balsam fir trees ranging 4-10 feet in height. The trees come from Turkey Farm Lake near Columbia.
Ben Tiefenbrun, a sophomore from St. Louis, manages the tree farm. Tiefenbrun is no stranger to the Christmas tree business, having grown up around his family’s tree farm, Home Grown Trees, which is one of the largest in St. Louis.
Tiefenbrun said about 200 seedlings are planted annually at Turkey Farm Lake, and 40 trees will be harvested this year. The harvested trees can be 5-15 years old.
In addition to selling Christmas trees, members will sell wreaths and small bundles of firewood. They also handle special requests from those who need assistance with Christmas decorations. “We always have fun doing that,” Kircher said.
For the second year, Forestry Club members have cut oak and hickory trees from MU’s South Farm. The logs are then split, dried, loaded and delivered to consumers. Fundraising proceeds are used to defray the cost of members attending the lumberjacking conclave in the spring, an event in which MU students compete against other Midwestern college students in activities such as crosscut sawing, underhand chopping, axe throwing and pulp toss.
The Forestry Club is open to students of all majors. For more information, contact MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at 573-882-1730.
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