I put up five Christmas trees each year. One stands in front of the window in our mudroom and is covered in ornaments that I’ve collected from my travels over the years. You can see it from the road as soon as you come over the hill leading up to our house.
The second is a slightly bigger one in our living room that I insist on putting colored lights on even though the rest of my family prefers white ones. The colored lights are nostalgic and remind me of my childhood. The lower third is where all the non-breakable ornaments hang, an attempt to dog proof it. It’s also tied to the ceiling for reinforcement since it has some irreplaceable ornaments on it including a glass elephant my grandmother gave me.
A third table top tree in our breakfast area showcases my Superwholock obsession although in actuality it is covered only in Doctor Who ornaments and one determined mini-bust of Dean Winchester that I converted into something that I could hang in the tree out of desperation at not being able to find any other Supernatural ornaments. I’ve yet to locate a Sherlock one that I like either.
I also put up two silver pom-pom trees. I love all my trees but once Christmas is done I need to dispose of the live ones and since I don’t have access to a chipper shredder I was in search of an environmentally friendly way to say goodbye.
I found one when I learned that goats like to munch on Christmas trees as a tasty treat. Smiling Hill Farm, a local dairy farm, takes donations of old Christmas trees for two weekends each January.
You need to be sure the tree is completely cleared of any decorations before dropping it off. The first year we brought our trees they showed us a tree that the goats had already snacked on earlier. The goats had cleaned off every single pine needle. It was completely bare and quite impressive.
According to this blog post Can Goats Eat Christmas Trees? from Timber Creek Farm, pine trees have a high vitamin c content and are good for intestinal worm control. It’s also a special treat for the goats helping to break up the monotony we all start feeling during the winter months.
I am excited to make dropping off our Christmas tree at Smiling Hill Farm an annual holiday tradition. It’s a nice way to wrap up the fun and excitement of the holidays and know that our trees are being recycled in the most adorable of ways.
Do you put up a Christmas tree? How do you dispose of it?
I’m participating in a Blogging A-Z Challenge for April 2018. I will be posting new content every day this month except most Sundays. Each post is associated with a letter of the alphabet, starting with A and ending with Z. My theme for the challenge is Winters in Maine. To read more of my A to Z posts, click HERE.
Garman, J. (2017, December 27). Can Goats Eat Christmas Trees? Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://timbercreekfarmer.com/can-goats-eat-christmas-trees/
| things to know | |
|---|---|
| Place | Smiling Hill Farm |
| Address | 781 County Rd, Westbrook, ME 04092 |
| Winter Scene | Recycling Christmas Trees |
| Website | Smiling Hill Farm |
| Favorite ♥ | Adorable Goats |
Weekends in Maine 
I love this. Fabulous photos.
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I was so excited when I found out about this recycling option.
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Where do you get the time for all these trees? I have nightmares about just taking down the one!
Fair play to you, you must have some energy. Great pics btw. Lovely goats 😉
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It gets harder to motivate myself each year but I’m always so happy once they’re all up and I get to enjoy them.
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It’s taking them down that I hate 😱
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Yes, taking them down is not as much fun as putting them up.
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Who would’ve thought…goats eating Christmas trees! I’m glad you found such a great way to dispose of them!
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I had never heard of it until a few years go. It’s a great option.
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Lovely posts…and also lovely pics too .. enjoyed reading all your posts…All the best for the A to Z Challenge
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Thank you. Winter in Maine can be a lot of fun.
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That is the cutest thing, goats love their Christmas tree snacks!
I can’t believe you have a Christmas tree for almost every room in your house. It makes sense, though!
We usually have a tall, real one, and a small fake tree. The authentic one is going to be one of many Christmas tree that are being collected throughout our village early Dec 31st. They all end up in our traditional New Year’s Eve bonfire on the local hill, it’s quite spectacular!
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A community bonfire sounds like another great way to dispose of Christmas trees once the holidays are done.
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Wow, you take Christmas very seriously 🙂
Love the trees recycling idea, though as it is always a challenge to know what to do with them after the holidays.
Hard to follow each and every letter of the alphabet. Catching up because it’s Saturday.
Good luck with the second week.
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It is hard to keep up during the week. I’m doing some catching up myself.
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How very interesting. That is true recycling and much nicer than leaving them out in the yard for the garbage men to take.
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It is certainly a creative recycling option.
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I love this! We use an artificial tree but I wanna real one and my little girl would love something like this once Christmas was over.
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I think she would love it. The goats are so cute.
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A great idea and what a lovely name for a farm. I would love to visit. We don’t have real trees at Christmas but such a good way to dispose of them and the goats are happy too.
Sue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
G is for Genorosity
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It’s a special treat for the goats and a fun way to recycle our trees. Definitely a win-win.
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I’m Team Colored Lights too!
And I’m a Wholock fan (never watched Supernatural).
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Colored lights make me happy.
And, it’s not too late to get on the Supernatural bandwagon. They just got renewed for a 14th season!
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We put up a single tree. After the new year, a recycling truck comes by and picks up any trees left at the curb, which is where we put ours. I’m actually not much of a Christmas-tree person, but my husband and kids love it.
Dena
https://denapawling.blogspot.com/
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We don’t have a curbside recycling option but I bet it’s really convenient.
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Wow thats indeed a great way to recycle the trees and I must say 5 christmas trees is a lot of effort- you seem to be totally into this festival 😉
Guernsey Literary & Potato peel pie society #atozchallenge
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I’ve been collecting ornaments for years so things just sort of grew from there.
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Hello,
I have an issue connecting a person’s blog who doesn’t share his/her name even if it’s fake. It feels rather unnatural for me to leave a comment without saying Hello followed by a name, you know? Anywho, so what brings me here this morning? I went Internet searching for someone who left a comment on my blog but did not include footprints to her blog. That person failed to do the same here, too. Her Gravatar profile doesn’t have a URL tied to it, either. *sigh* Oh well…I’ll dig a little more before abandoning this ship I suppose. We have visited Maine three times over the years and love it. It’s a great place to vacation but I couldn’t handle the winters. Yeah, I’m a wimp! Our youngest daughter and her husband moved to Maine last November. A longtime dream she’s had ever since she was about 6 or 7 after her first trip. They live in Brunswick but they work in Portland. My SIL works at Carmax and my daughter tends bar at two locations. We’re hoping to visit them later this year if possible.
Congrats on participating in another year of A2Zing. This is my 5th year playing along and I love the thrill of this event. I learn many new things from fellow bloggers like in your post. I had no clue goats like eating Christmas trees nor the benefits they get from it. We don’t put up live trees because of allergies but I do love the smell of them. I wish we could, though. There’s something really special about having all that piney goodness in the home for the holidays.
Normally I do not blog on the weekend but DH had to work so I’m keeping with my usual routine. Perhaps when you get a chance you’ll wish to hop over to my little niche. Have a blessed day in Maine. No doubt y’all got some snow recently! 😉
Curious as a Cathy
iPad Art Sketches ‘Goofy Faces’
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Feel free to address me as Karen! I think some people do have a hard time figuring out how to set their gravatar and with all the different blogging software, each having their own method for leaving comments, it can get a little confusing sometimes. Good luck finding the person who commended on your blog!
Is your daughter enjoying her move to Maine? Brunswick is a great area. There is an amazing winter farmer’s market up in Brunswick. I hope you do get to come for another visit soon although I can understand preferring to come in the summer. Our summers are beautiful!
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Wow, 5 trees!! Oh my, I could never get into the Christmas spirit that much… I love the special recycle option though, how interesting that goats like pine! Who would’ve thought!
My blogs in the A to Z: Self discovery via travel and a separate Interactive story.
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I know I was so surprised to learn about goats and trees too. I am a little over the top with the trees but I love it. I’m sure I’ll scale back someday.
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Five trees? I’m impressed!
Our city takes care of ours, but otherwise, they would probably go in the pond or river as fish habitat.
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I am a little obsessive when it comes to Christmas decorating.
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That’s good to know about goats and Christmas trees. If there’s someone in the area who does that I might consider getting a tree next year. I usually put up a small artificial tree, but I would like to get a live tree even though the Husband says that will get awkward wrestling it in and out of the house. I always respond by then we’ll leave it outside.
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Getting the live trees into and out of the house can certainly be challenging. There are always many pine needles left behind.
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Nice to know there is a use for them! I didn’t know there was such an eco friendly way of disposing. We don’t do Christmas trees, wrong religion, but if I did I would stick to branches so as not to kill off a tree just for a few days of decoration.
My mother has a pine tree on her front lawn. It has grown nicely over the years.
Aussie Children’s Writers: H is for Steven Herrick
https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-2018-steven.html
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There are certainly pros and cons to having live trees for Christmas although living in Maine I think the pros outweigh the cons. We have tree farms that specifically grow trees for the purpose and for each tree harvested they usually plant one to three new ones to insure a healthy supply. Sustainability is important to their business model. And, with eco-friendly ways to dispose of the trees like feeding them to goats or turning them into mulch, they don’t end up in landfills when the season is done.
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Well, that’s a good and useful way to say goodbuy to Christmas tree and make someone happy 😉
I’d never be able to handle so many trees. My only one is already too much of a stress for me!
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It can be overwhelming but I’ve had to keep pace with my ornament collection so it’s sort of grown from there.
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FIVE Christmas trees!!! I struggle with putting up and decorating one each year. I swear I won’t bother now the kids don’t live at home, but I do it every year and I loooove coloured fairylights! I also smiled when I saw those goats chowing down on the trees – great win/win situation!
Leanne | http://www.crestingthehill.com.au
H for Hang on to your Dreams
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I suspect I’ll cut back eventually although I say that every year and up they go. I’m sure that will change someday so I’ll enjoy them for now.
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Great posts. I only put up one tree, but it’s full of ornaments, collected on my trips, left over from my childhood days, and purchased over the 47 years we’ve been married. My lights work either as white ones or multi-colored. The past three years, my grandchildren have come over to decorate it. It’s wonderful to watch them find the ornaments purchased when they were born and talk about the others I’ve collected. The only downside is that it’s an artificial one since my asthma and allergies don’t do well with a real pine.
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Yes, pine trees can be tough for those with allergies or asthma. I have a friend who has to use an artificial tree because of that reason too. That’s so wonderful that your grandchildren help you decorate the tree. I love reminiscing as I bring out each new ornament. That’s the fun part!
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It’s the best part, and when i take them down by myself and pack them away I always have time to remember their reactions.
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That is so adorable! This makes me want a goat 🙂 I love this approach to recycling.
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Goats really are cute!
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We put up one artificial tree in the living room – but if we had access to a goat farm… I’d put up a live tree every year then look forward to taking pictures on the day we take it down 🙂
I love the idea of having a separate tree for travel ornaments. I may have to adopt this tradition!
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It’s been fun to collect ornaments from my travels. They bring back wonderful memories every year when I put them on the tree.
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So adorable. I love goats.
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Me to! They’re so cute. There’s a farm close to me that does hiking with goats. I want to try it sometime.
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My friend in Austin, TX just did yoga with goats! The pictures are hysterical.
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I’ve been reading about how yoga with goats is becoming a big thing. I bet the pictures were really fun.
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Who knew goats liked to eat Christmas trees? That’s cool!
Last year, our Christmas tree only had about 2 dozen indestructible ornaments on it, and Nora would clear them off as fast as I hung them back up (she liked to climb up the middle of the tree and knock them off from the inside). This year, I put more ornaments on, but nothing irreplaceable, and she didn’t mess with the tree much at all – whew!
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So far we’ve been lucky. Our cat likes to sleep under the tress but he never touches anything. Even the dog has slowed down in recent years but his happy wagging tale can cause destruction on the lower branches.
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