Comments on Crunchy Chicken: Christmas tree conundrum

I'm allergic to pine, and artificial trees bot...

2009-12-10T15:57:01.159-08:00

I'm allergic to pine, and artificial trees bother my breathing, so I made a Christmas tree out of wine bottles rescued from being thrown in the dumpster and a fence post a neighbor was throwing out. The only thing I had to purchase were some dowel rods.

http://ohsocrafty.blogspot.com/2007/12/here-it-is.html

I use a Rosemary plant (in a pot) that is in the g...

2009-12-09T14:12:22.864-08:00

I use a Rosemary plant (in a pot) that is in the general shape of a christmas tree. It's started out small, but it's pretty big now. Not only do I get a nice compact Tree that holds ornaments well and smells good, I get nice rosemary all year round (it likes being in the house during the cold..) inside or out (likes being outside during the rest of the year...)

Has worked really well for the last 3 years. (Before that I tried a potted pine, but the poor thing died...)
Don't have to reinvest in something that has a lifespan of a few weeks, and we have something useful year round... and it's worked in apartments and our house...

We have a Swedish wooden tree with wooden candle h...

2009-12-03T03:34:48.455-08:00

We have a Swedish wooden tree with wooden candle holders for big candles. No other decoration needed on the tree but enough space under it to store the gifts.

I don't want to deal with the tree and then I ...

2009-12-02T14:47:54.453-08:00

I don't want to deal with the tree and then I would only feel guilty throwing it out or something. This year, I decided to get a rosemary bush from Whole Foods as the replacement tree. It smells good, and I hope it encourages me to cook more from scratch.

We're in Vancouver, and rent a tree.

2009-12-02T01:40:59.708-08:00

We're in Vancouver, and rent a tree.

Over the years I've been through a couple vari...

2009-12-01T20:52:08.169-08:00

Over the years I've been through a couple variations of the non-tree, due to green leanings, brokeness, or a combination of the two, including my first "Christmas tree": a 1 foot tall stub of scavenged leftover trimmings that lived in a vase for the through the holiday. My favorite so far has been the Christmas Ficus we made by dressing the resident houseplant up with fairy lights. Granted, the ficus in question was enormous - not necessarily easy to go out and buy one that size in a pinch - but it looked so very pretty twinkling away in the corner. My mom has also suggested getting a norfolk pine, apparently a coniferous houseplant that looks at least a little bit more like the real thing.

We have a potted douglas fir. It was growing in an...

2009-12-01T17:43:31.780-08:00

We have a potted douglas fir. It was growing in an inconvient place so we yanked it out of the yard. The first few years it looked more like charlie brown tree but it is finally filling in nicely.

I really like a lot of the alternatives that you g...

2009-12-01T13:45:32.239-08:00

I really like a lot of the alternatives that you guys are doing (cutting down USFS trees or cutting roadside "weeds", etc.). The thing that crossed my mind, however, was the same issue I worry about with foraging. We can't all do it, or the problems outweigh the benefits.

So, if we all had to choose one method of tree acquisition, what would be the best method? Getting a living tree is impractical for most people who don't have the space or the programs in the area to donate them... so is it really just a case-by-case situation? There is no general green recommendation to be had?

We've bought a live tree every year for over 1...

2009-12-01T10:17:33.976-08:00

We've bought a live tree every year for over 15 years now. One we bought when my daughter was little (she's 18 now) is still growing in front of our old house in California, about 30 feet tall the last time we drove by there.

It's harder to get one to survive the winters here in Oklahoma, but we still buy the potted darlings. They're way too pretty to cut down, IMO.

Our neck of the woods is surrounded by Christmas t...

2009-12-01T07:45:55.231-08:00

Our neck of the woods is surrounded by Christmas tree farms. Within a few miles of any direction we can cut our own. I insist on having a real tree to avoid the plastic pollution. Plus, the tree is taking in carbon while growing. After Christmas we stick it outside for the birds to live in. In the Spring it gets chopped up and added to the compost pile. Having said that, this year we splurged on a vintage aluminum tree off eBay. I think our real tree days may be numbered.

we will go support the local tree farmer on our ro...

2009-12-01T07:43:10.953-08:00

we will go support the local tree farmer on our road. Its $45 well spent - the cash stays in the community, he hires local teens to help with the harvesting and replanting and my hubby loves real trees.

growing up we had tons of cedar trees on our land - so my dad and mom would cut one every year and whack off the top portion for our tree - tough to hang ornaments from but they did smell really nice. Dad would use the trunk part leftover in our attic and closets and in the goat shed.....

My grandmother had the huge aluminum tree with color light wheel - so you know I'm looking for one of those to have in our 70s theme basement family room....but only from a tag sale...

We drive 20 minutes away to a tree farm and chop d...

2009-12-01T05:30:10.485-08:00

We drive 20 minutes away to a tree farm and chop down our own. They don't use any pesticides and we like supporting the local business. Plus, our city takes the tree after the holiday and composts it. I could never do plastic-- ultimately it will end up in a landfill. Plus, there's nothing like the smell of a real tree!

We have a handful of tree farms within very close ...

2009-12-01T05:06:05.392-08:00

We have a handful of tree farms within very close range (less than three miles). One is pretty close to the library, the other practically in my parents' backyard. So we can get to the farms without making any special trip, and they're all family owned and operated in this area. I've never even asked about what chemicals go into their production. I just always assumed that trees grow pretty well on their own here, with no irrigation of anything like that. I doubt anyone bothers with organic certification, though I'll ask this year. Deer would be the biggest hazard where we live. They like to rub their antlers on evergreens.

We go to the farms and cut our own trees. We like supporting a local business, and having the scent of a really fresh green tree. And when we're done with it our township turns it into mulch for us and gives it back to us for free. I can live with that arrangement.

I bought a funky metal christmas tree from Smith &...

2009-11-30T20:16:17.664-08:00

I bought a funky metal christmas tree from Smith & Hawkins 12 years ago. I had been looking for years for metal or wood tree. Love it. It is different and the kids keep asking why we don't have a green one. My family wants to do an intervention and get us a real tree.

I never thought I would ever have an artificial tr...

2009-11-30T19:20:55.296-08:00

I never thought I would ever have an artificial tree. I was raised in the country, cut your own tree farms were all over and we always had a real tree growing up. My husband's grandmother used to have a small tree farm. Eventually they got too old for all of it so they just let everything grow up. For a few Christmases when we were first married we would try to find a smallish tree there or cut the top off of a giant one to use, but it got to be a little much. Hubs just set up our "new" artificial tree on Friday night. It was a hand me down from my parents so at least we are reusing something that was already kicking around out there. I can't believe how much I love it, but I really do. It's huge and was fun to fluff up and decorate. We are planning on keeping this sucker forever too so no worries about it going into a landfill any time in the near future.

I think the greenness of a real vs fake tree large...

2009-11-30T18:56:19.696-08:00

I think the greenness of a real vs fake tree largely depends upon your preference. My husband grew up with live trees but believes that fake is greener because of the reuse factor. Especially when our tabletop tree was a handed down to me when I was in college.

We go w/ fake because I have allergies. Our main tree is a prelit with incandescent lights. Restringing it w/ LEDs as very little appeal, so we follow Danish tradition and just lite it on Christmas day.

I'd really like an swankadelic vintage aluminum tree but I can't get the husband to go for it.

We have a live tree in a pot that we bought about ...

2009-11-30T18:24:48.954-08:00

We have a live tree in a pot that we bought about 3 years ago. It's a very slow growing tree that should be between 6 and 8 feet when it's full grown, so with proper care and re-potting, it should work for us for years to come. It lives in a shady spot in the backyard during the year, then on Dec 21 it comes inside and gets decorated with a strand of white LEDs and a few glass ornaments. It stays in the house until the 26th, then it goes back outside. It's too dry in the house for a live tree to stay inside much longer than that. But that's plenty of time to light a Solstice tree, and have a tree for presents on Christmas morning.

I've had both real and fake trees over the yea...

2009-11-30T15:12:14.514-08:00

I've had both real and fake trees over the years. My sister, mother, and I are all allergic to the real ones so we had to give them up. I have a fake one now that's about three years old. It was a pre-lit tree I bought at Target. I'll never buy per-lit again though, when the lights started to go on it it was a nightmare. I wasn't willing to throw it away so several hours and two bleeding hands later I had a "new" tree. I have all new led lights that I hope will last me a long time. And when I got bored with my old ornaments I painted them with glue and covered them with glitter! I'm not as green as I'd like to be but I do try. I know the tree with it's lead warnings is horriable for the enviorment. I try to make up for it in other ways. I like to buy fabric ribbon and save it from year to year. And I saved small boxes I got in the mail to be covered with wrapping paper and reused yearly. I figured it would cut down on what goes into the trash. Not that the cardboard would be thrown out, it has to be taken to the transfer station for recycling where I live.

None of the independent growers that I know around...

2009-11-30T13:34:02.333-08:00

None of the independent growers that I know around here use pesticides or fertilizers. They just plant trees and care for them, then let people come cut them down.

I always have a real tree. A fake one would just be strange in my house!

we live in an area where christmas tree farms are ...

2009-11-30T12:31:15.304-08:00

we live in an area where christmas tree farms are a large local industry. We are lucky to be able to get a non sprayed tree and the sale of those trees each year is a fund raiser for local centre that does work on the environment etc.
so we will get a real tree each year as long as this fundraiser exists. So far it has been going for at least 14 years that I know of.

I love a real tree, and I live in an area where th...

2009-11-30T11:57:43.967-08:00

I love a real tree, and I live in an area where they grow abundantly. However, my husband does not love a real tree, and so a number of years ago we, too, chose plastic over paper. At this point, my goal is to use this fake tree for as long as I can, and I hope that will somehow mitigate the environmental impact. Plus, I will admit, it is WAY easier and less messy.

We buy garland, which is made from the trimmed bra...

2009-11-30T11:32:10.841-08:00

We buy garland, which is made from the trimmed branches of the trees sold by our local garden store.

It does use a lot of wire, but when I strip out the wire to compost the branches, I save it & use it for garden trellis the next year.

It smells nice, and we can hang it up high, out of child and cat reach.

we have a 3yo rosemary bush in a half-barrel plant...

2009-11-30T11:24:13.207-08:00

we have a 3yo rosemary bush in a half-barrel planter that we acquired this summer when a friend moved away. We've brought it indoors for the winter and have decided that it makes the perfect sort of tree we're looking for: still living, manageably small, has therapeutic uses and fits in our tiny apartment! It's perfect!

I have a faux tree that will be tucked away in a c...

2009-11-30T11:16:49.137-08:00

I have a faux tree that will be tucked away in a corner out of reach of my 15 month old who laughs at the word 'no'. Fun times.

I don't care for the mess, hassle for potential fire hazard of a real tree, so even if it were local and organic I'd still be hesistant. If I'm ever in the market for a new plastic tree I'll look for a used one.

Even though I'm surrounded by Christmas tree f...

2009-11-30T11:06:17.417-08:00

Even though I'm surrounded by Christmas tree farms (almost literally), I usually go with the Christmas Hibiscus. Lights on the potted plant, a few decorations, and occasionally, it even blooms while decorated.

For pine scent, I grab a few branches of trimmings and simmer them in the scent lamp, sometimes with orange peel and cloves.