Up Close: Frans Kok

By Charity Corkey (Contact)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Frans Kok runs Middleburg Christmas Tree Farm with his wife, Mary Shirley. The couple purchased the 125-acre farm in 1979, and immediately began to plant Christmas trees. Today, they grow four species of Christmas trees and have sold up to 3,000 a season.

In this e-mail interview, Kok tells the legend of the Norway Spruce and shares unique facts about each of the Christmas species he grows.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about the history of the farm?

A: My wife Mary and I always wanted to live on a farm even though we both grew up in urban areas and we did not know anything about farming. We are trained economists. My wife is actually a well known institutional economist with numerous publications in her name. After buying the farm we tried to figure out what crops made most sense. Christmas trees won hands down. We have never regretted that decision.

Q: The Norway Spruce was introduced to this country during the Revolutionary War. Please tell us about the history behind this.

A: Legend has it that the Hessian soldiers who fought with the British army during the Revolutionary War introduced the Christmas tree to the U.S. Some people go so far as to assert that General Washington's crossing of the Delaware river was successful only because the Hessians were distracted with decorating their Christmas trees and abandoned their posts. This is a charitable interpretation. Having lived in Germany and Hesse, I venture to guess that the Hessian soldiers were celebrating Christmas, undoubtedly with trees but also with quantities of beer, wine and other fermented beverages, which rendered them sub optimally alert to the threat of the continental army.

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Middleburg Christmas Tree Farm

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The cutting of the Christmas tree for the Russian Embassy. (Courtesy of Frans Kok)

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A Middleburg Christmas Tree Farm Christmas tree in the ball room of the Russian Embassy. Frans J. Kok and his wife Mary M. Shirley, owners of the farm, pose with the tree. (Courtesy of Frans Kok)

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Family of Frans Kok and Mary Shirley, owners of Middleburg Christmas Tree Farm. (Courtesy of Frans Kok)

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A client ties a tree to the car roof. (Courtesy of Frans Kok)

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A family of tree cutters at Middleburg Christmas Tree farm. Frans Kok, one of the owners, is in the last row center. (Courtesy of Frans Kok)

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Q: Your farm sells four types of Christmas trees: the Norway Spruce, the Colorado Blue Spruce, the Douglas Fir and the Concolor Fir. Can you tell us something unique about each of these species?:

A: Norway Spruce is the original Christmas tree. However it is a bit fragile. When it decides to drop its needles, it drops virtually all of them over night. Consequently you will not find this tree in tree lots. When you cut it and put it in water within six to eight hours it will generally do fine and last for up to four, even five weeks. We sell a large Norway Spruce to the Russian Embassy every year, and they keep it up for about three weeks without problem.

The Colorado Blue Spruce is more hardy. It has the sturdiest branches of all the trees on the farm. It is generally a very dense tree with very prickly needles. I think it is the most beautiful tree you can have as a Christmas tree but we recommend that people wear gloves when trimming the tree. It is probably not a tree you want to buy if you have toddlers who may grab a hold of the branches. They won't draw blood, but they sure will hurt.

All fresh Christmas trees will smell great, but the Douglas Fir takes the prize. It has a distinct lemony smell. You readily recognize it when you take a few needles and squeeze them between your nails and hold them close to your nose.

We started to experiment with the Concolor Fir a few years back and we still have no harvestable crop of this tree. It also has a citrus-like smell like the Douglas Fir and from what we can see from the thousands of seedlings we have planted it promises to be a great Christmas tree; slender tall, good smelling, good needle retention and branches that are sufficiently strong to carry ornaments.

Generally, trees, and particularly evergreens, have to defend themselves against browsing animals because in the winter they are the only greenery around. The Douglas Fir and the Concolor Fir do this with their smell and taste, which the deer generally find unpleasant. The Norway Spruce and the Colorado Blue spruce do it by having their needles prick you. Deer find that as unpleasant as human beings.

Q: How many trees do you typically sell each holiday season?

A: We sell between 300 and 3,000 a year. Most of the variation is the results of what we have available. In the mid 1990s we experienced three years of drought in a row which destroyed our seedlings. As a result starting in 2004 we had almost no inventory to sell. Then in 2005 we had a terrible outbreak of a fungus disease, which killed a lot of our more mature trees. We are now recovering from those calamities and our sales this year are on track to be about 70 percent higher than last year. The aforementioned drought put a large number of our competitors out of business. We used to have 65 Christmas tree farms in Loudoun County. We are down to maybe a dozen farms now. We are the second-largest and oldest farm in the county.

Q: Has this year’s economy had any effect on you?

A: The effect of the economy has been far less than we expected. When we have the inventory, people will come to cut a tree and tell their neighbors and friends. A visit to a Christmas tree farm is very cheap compared to a visit to the mall. Generally you can buy only one item and it takes half a day to drive out, pick a tree, tie it to the car and drive back. Plus it is a healthy exercise. I estimate that the average client walks at least a few miles around the farm to pick his tree. The kids love it, the dogs love it, the parents love it because the kids and dogs love it. Everyone gets tired out and is quiet on the way back including the dogs and kids.

Q: What do you enjoy most about running a tree farm?

A: I enjoy the people; the family who comes back year after year. Sometimes there is sadness, like the woman who came back one year after she had lost her closest friend to breast cancer. She wanted to revisit the pond where she had her last intimate conversation about life and the limited future of her friend. Mostly it is joyous. The family who has been buying trees from us for more than 20 years, starting right after their first child was born and now she has graduated from college and now works for CNN. The man who has for the past five years been trying to get the state of Michigan to issue him a permit to raise a French merchant ship that sunk in Lake Michigan 300 years ago and is finally getting close to obtaining it. I look forward to his visit next year. Then there is the family that now comes with four generations, grandparents, parents, children and grandchild. Their ages are less than a year to over 80. Granddad pays for all the trees.

Q: What’s the most difficult thing about your job?

A: Saying no to a client. And not because no may mean no sale, but because I know that people spend a lot of time to come to the farm and anticipate yes. “No, we do not have a particular kind of tree. No we do not have that kind of tree that tall, No, you cannot use a chain saw, it is too dangerous (even though I know you are an expert with that chain saw).”

Q: Is the farm a family business, and if so, how many years has it been in the family?

A: We have no children. Over the years we have had numerous nephews and a niece and uncounted children of colleagues work for us. We regularly employ local youngsters and we always encourage them to finish their high school and continue to college. One of the kids who came to work for us years ago just was promoted to a GS 14 position in the Federal Government. We literally hounded him to finish his BA and threw a party with his parents and grandparents at the last day of the selling season when he graduated. I am working on him to go back to school and get an MBA. In a way our employees become part of our family.

Q: What is your favorite kind of tree to have in your own home?

A: We vary the trees we have in our home because I like to see how each tree behaves over time. We really do not have a favorite. They are all beautiful trees to us.

Q: What do you do during the year when it’s not the Christmas season?

A: I am a banker and my wife is an economist. Our friends find it very surprising that we like to farm but they do enjoy coming our and riding their bikes or having parties on the terrace or at the pond.

Tagged: 2008 Holiday Season, christmas, holiday, Middleburg, trees

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