They started thinking about Christmas trees more than 40 years ago, when they owned land off U.S. 77 — miles from the tree farm they’d eventually plant northwest of Lincoln.
“It was going to be a retirement hobby,†Linda Spilker says. “That was the plan.â€
Don and Linda Spilker grew wheat and soybeans and milo on that land, and they decided to grow pine trees in places where they couldn’t get crops to grow.
When the trees were big enough, they’d haul them over to Spilker Farm Equipment on Cornhusker Highway, the implement store Don owned with his brother.
“They planted them with the plan to sell them at the farm store,†says Don’s son, Keith Spilker. “That didn’t work out so well.â€
The land was too hilly, and hauling them to the implement store was a hassle.
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So they set their eyes on a plot of land outside Lincoln. They built a house there and they planted hundreds of evergreen saplings.
It was 1980.
They watered and weeded and mowed and waited for those trees to grow.
And they kept planting and watering and weeding that retirement hobby.
Christmas 2019 is the last season for Spilker’s Pineridge Tree Farm on Fletcher Avenue.
Don Spilker had a stroke last year, and it knocked the 87-year-old off his feet. The family talked and decided it was time.
Early this fall, they sent out a letter to longtime customers, letting them know about an upcoming auction of equipment and acreage items.
“We have many loyal customers who have been part of our lives since we began in the mid-'80s,†Keith wrote. “We have watched as many of your children have become adults and now bring their own children for this unique experience.â€
Michelle Wiggins got one of those letters.
She and her family were one of those families. The Spilkers were friends and fellow congregants at American Lutheran Church, too.
“Every time I go visit their tree farm, it’s like being part of a Hallmark movie,†she said. “It’s honestly too good to be true for this day and age.â€
She described the family affair in an email — Linda and Don’s seven grown children and spouses, 11 grandchildren and friends working together to create the magic.
“The adult grandkids are chopping down the Christmas trees while the women are making wreaths. The men are in the back drilling the holes in the trees and using a special machine to shake off the loose needles.â€
She described the hayrack rides, the complimentary hot cocoa and apple cider, kids playing on the wooden Polar Express.
In September, they held an auction at the acreage, and in October, families flocked to their 17 acres to pick out trees and let their children play on that homemade wooden train and truck and tractor, built by Don and his longtime helper Roger Hartung.
And Friday, it was time to start taking those Christmas trees home.
The Spilkers gathered. They hauled out those vats and filled them with hot chocolate and popped popcorn and opened the doors for chopping and hauling.
Most of the couple’s large family planned to be there to help, Keith said before the holiday.
“Anybody who wants to work.â€
Tree cutters and branch trimmers, someone to run the tree shaker, someone to cover the trees with a net. Someone to direct traffic.
Someone to ring up the wreaths and spray paint evergreens in all the colors of the rainbow. (One of the newer trends, Linda says.)
Someone to help load the Christmas trees for the trip to their new homes.
“Hopefully, they bring a pickup,†Don says.
* * *
The first few years, customers would pull in, chop a tree and leave a check in the mailbox.
They learned as they grew.
Don and Linda joined the Nebraska Christmas Tree Growers Association. Don was president more than once and a delegate at the national level.
They planted Scotch pines and branched out, adding fir and spruce.
It turned out growing Christmas trees wasn’t much of a hobby.
It took lots of time.
And the patience to wait seven or eight or nine years for a baby tree to grow big enough to make a decent Christmas tree.
Some years, they’d plant 1,300 trees, and 500 would die. If it rained too much, root rot would take them down. A few years, when drought came, all the trees died.
The heavy, clay soil needed to be enriched. The trees needed to be shaped by hand early in the summer with a corn knife.
“And that’s work,†Keith says.
A lot of hours go into a single tree and not a lot of profit.
It was work that Don and Linda loved.
“Dad liked the idea of helping people at a very special time of the year,†Keith says.
“I’d say he’s a Christmas nut,†Linda says.
Ask Don and he just says this: “It’s just a very happy time of the year.â€
And each year at that very happy time, Don and Linda celebrated.
They hosted an advent service for church members at the farm with carol singing and refreshments and a message from their pastor.
They donated to “Trees for Troops,†providing Christmas trees to soldiers stationed far from home during the holidays.
Keith lives across the road from the farm, and he’s taken on most of the tree farm duties. The land and all its trees are for sale.
The city is growing closer.
“It’s been a part of your life for 40 years,†Keith says. “It’s one of those changes you have to accept.â€
But it’s not Christmas yet. There is still one last December to celebrate.
“We hope you will come out one last time, even if you will not be purchasing a tree,†the son wrote in that letter to customers. “We would personally love to hear your stories and say 'God bless' and 'Have a Merry Christmas' one more time.â€