Meagan: It takes more than you would think to pick the perfect Christmas tree. So discover the best method for narrowing the field. I visited the owner of Big Tree Plantation, Frank Antanuchi.
I am hitting the road searching for answers and finding great design. It is a quest for beauty, function and of course inspiration.
So teach me how to get a really healthy tree like the. The perfect Christmas tree, how do you pick that up?
Frank: The perfect Christmas tree is going to be different.
Meagan: Alright, so how do you pick up a healthy one that fits for your space?
Frank: Okay, well, first of all, when you are on a tree farm, you know there is fresh and it is living, and even so, I would still pat the branch.
Meagan: Just pat it like this? And what does that tell you?
Frank: We do not see any needle coming off
Meagan: Oh, so, if no needle comes off, it is good?
Frank: That is right and when we feel them and they are nice and soft. And of course out here it is really difficult to get a tree aroma, when you---
Meagan: When my nose is like freezing.
Oh my God, it smells amazing. This smells like Christmas.
Frank: Even if you did not know, you can have me telling you this is a real aromatic tree. You can check it yourself. And you do want to kind of stroke the tree like that and kind of bring oils out---
Meagan: Like this?
Frank: Yes, and then you can smell it at that and it really comes out quick.
Meagan: That is incredible. I was also told that you can snap the needles and if the needles do not snap easily.
Frank: Yes. You can bend them and felt there are no so supple. You could not snap them if you wanted.
Meagan: And then how do you tell, how do you measure a Christmas tree? Like do you come out here with a measuring tape?
Frank: Well, honestly I do because people like me to be exactly put the height of the tree on our ticket here which tells you conifer, that is eight feet tall and the price. But if I did not have that then I know that I am six foot and I go by this and actually for a tree up to about nine-feet tall it works, that method works fine. But the other thing you want to measure is how wide, for you need to know that before you leave the house and then find a way for you to measure it then.
Meagan: I did that before I came here, I laid down and I can lay in front of the Christmas tree right now if you want to know whether or not it is big enough.
Frank: If you want to do that. I would like to get a shot of that. Well, that is good, really, most people I do not think have any idea. And then it is really difficult when you are outside like this because this eight-foot tree I bet you---
Meagan: They look so tiny.
Frank: Yes.
Meagan: This trees look so tiny here I thought that when I first came, because I immediately went to a like a 12 foot trees that are gigantic thinking oh that is perfect then I go and I look and then like wait a second, that does not even fit in my house and they just look so much smaller when they are out here.
Frank: We get some really funny stories. People will think exactly that and they said it look like a pine apple at the bottom and then they talk and so yes, this are really important things to note, not to mention the fact that the price of tree is definitive upon the size.
Meagan: So you really do not want to---
Frank: Besides the shape, yes. So why pick on a 10 foot tree if you only need an 8 foot tree.
Meagan: Yes.
Frank: You are going to save a lot of money.
Meagan: So what about shape? What is the perfect Christmas tree shape? Do you look for holes? Do you, what are your tips?
Frank: What I have found is that a tree with a hole is not a problem, I am amazed at what women do or decoration of these women, decorators do with the tree. We take out 12 foot tree inside a barn every year and I have gotten to the point where I do not even try to pick out a pretty tree because they stick something here, they put something there, they have got this around and it is just like they recreate what I cut down and brought in is totally different, it is not an evergreen tree
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