I’ve seen quite a few pictures this weekend on my friends’ Facebook accounts showing them decorating Christmas trees for the season.  Although I suspect most of them are using artificial trees so far ahead of Christmas, plenty of people still like the smell and look of a live tree in their homes.  Here are two stories about the agriculture of growing and harvesting Christmas trees you might appreciate.

Fox46 in Charlotte NC describes the start of the Christmas tree harvesting season and points out that North Carolina is one of the biggest producers of Christmas trees here.

AgWeb reposted a blog on harvesting Christmas trees by helicopter in Oregon from “Beef, Sheep and Beer” here.  The story describes the life story of a Christmas tree from planting to purchase.

The map below shows the production of Christmas trees across the US.

christmas tree production by county