LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The holiday season is just around the corner, and it feels like people are already looking ahead to putting up winter decorations. Farmers across Kentucky have already told us about their struggles with inflation and tree farms are no exception.
Dale Barker has sold Christmas trees for decades. His family always loved picking the perfect tree and now those are memories he shares with other families. He started planting in 1995 and sold his first trees in 2002.
Barker shares, "They really enjoyed it and then we had the opportunity to get started. It started out as a hobby and now it's turned into a full-time, part-time retirement job."
There are around 10,000 trees on this farm. Small ones and some big ones. Dale and his family usually start getting ready for the holidays in the fall. But taking care of these trees is a year-round job. This year inflation has increased the cost of growing.
"Yea it doubled in price from what we used last year. And so, you try to minimize and use less, and you know not spend as much but then you wind up running out and not keeping the place looking like you'd like,” says Barker.
It can take nearly a decade for a tree to grow full size, and because of that, Barker says the rising cost of supplies and equipment is something that can impact him many years to come.
"You put a lot of time, and money, and effort into them. I don’t know if I kept up with every penny, I spent on them whether I’d actually be doing it or not so, it's an economic thing, but it's not so you gotta look at both sides of it,” says Barker.
Barker says he doesn't want his customers to worry. Each tree is priced individually by its size -- and he only expects prices to increase couple of dollars to cover the extra growing costs. He says he enjoys seeing his own kids and grandkids now making their own memories. He says he feels special knowing his family is helping other families make the holiday special.
He shares, "It's pretty neat to know, that on Christmas morning, there are families sitting around our trees. You know, maybe a thousand different people are sitting around our trees so, it's a neat thing."
This farmer and his family are growing holiday memories, for his family and many others.
