Retired couple love life on their Sudbury-area Christmas tree farm

A retired couple in the Sudbury area who started a Christmas tree farm seven years ago started selling trees for the first time this season.

Bernie and Craig Thompson operate CR Trees, which is nestled in the bush off Grassy Lake Road in Whitefish.

They say raising the trees is a lot of hard work, but it all pays off when they see the joy and fun families share coming to get a fresh Christmas tree.

The couple named their fields of Christmas trees after a reindeer. The Thompsons planted their first trees in 2016 after Craig retired from being heavy equipment mechanic and Bernie a CPA.

“I think the best part for me is when Craig sends me pictures in the spring of some of the little trees that are budding,” Bernie said.

“He will send me 30 pictures on my phone of the buds and he just gets so excited.”

“We don’t use any fertilizer or pesticides or anything else -- it’s all Mother Nature,” Craig said.

The couple said planting and caring for the trees is a labour of love. Bernie spends hours shearing the trees and weeding. She said the weather can present some challenges.

“We had trouble on Dancer -- the field next to here -- one year where we had a thaw in February and then we had -40 degree weather and it burned the top of each one of the seedlings,” she said.

WILDLIFE OFTEN VISIT

“So we had to clean those up and trim them up but some of them are looking quite healthy over there.”

Craig does everything from watering to weeding to harvesting natural materials to make mulch. He said wildlife often visit when he’s tending to the trees.

“And those are things that are just beautiful,” he said.

“Now I reap the rewards when I help the young families pick out a tree because it’s so gratifying.”

After families pick their tree, they can also shop for handmade gifts at the boutique.

The Thompsons said families can cut their own tree or have it cut for them.

More information on CR Trees can be found on the farm’s website.