HAVE A CUP OF JOE WITH JOE
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree At Warkentin’s By Joe McParland
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n a beautiful and sunny Saturday afternoon in mid-October, I visited with the Enns family and was given a tour of their farm. I’m grateful for their “country” hospitality and welcome! Steve and Shelley Enns and their three children, Gracie (14), Simon (13) and Maddie (11) run the family business, Warkentin’s Cut-Your-Own Christmas Tree Farm, on Mersea Road 8, just off Highway 77 in Leamington. Shelley’s parents, Art and Erna Warkentin, long-time farmers, started the business 30 years ago when they decided the sand hill on the east side of their farm would be a good place to try growing some evergreen trees. Today, it has thousands of trees of various sizes and varieties growing with
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the purpose of becoming Christmas trees. Shelley and her three sisters enjoyed helping their parents when they were younger. She remembers that the weekends leading up to Christmas “were busy, fun-filled days helping people find their perfect tree.” These days, even though Steve and Shelley now own the farm, their family, including their three kids and nieces, all still come out to help. It’s less a business for them, than it is a family project and hobby. The business has grown largely through word of mouth. And it didn’t take long for word to get around there were Christmas trees for sale on the 8th (road)! In addition to the Christmas tree “farm,” Steve, a third generation farmer, also farms soybeans on their 75 acres, and
B IZ X MA G A Z IN E • N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6
owns a greenhouse business (tomatoes), Enns Plant Farm, on the 9 th Concession. The most popular trees they grow are the Fraser Fir, followed by the Blue and White Spruce. And the most difficult to grow is the Fraser Fir since it does not naturally grow in the iconic “cone” shape and requires significant shaping. Fraser Firs are also very temperamental when it comes to growing conditions. While loyal customers keep the Enns family busy during the Christmas season, the family works with the trees throughout the year. Every spring they plant more trees and, because it takes seven to 10 years for a tree to grow to full size, they try to choose varieties that will still be popular in the future. Shelley and the kids spend the summer months keeping the weeds down and pruning and shaping the trees. Shelley wields a three-foot long “Ninja Blade” she uses to trim and shape the 6,000 plus trees as she walks up and down the rows. She believes what attracts people to their farm is that the family tries to “stay true to the idea of coming out to the country for a chance to slow down, relax, and enjoy some fresh air while you find a tree.” On the weekends the Enns family offer