A central Kentucky family’s venture into growing Christmas trees is now in its seventh year. Duckworth Farm is in Woodford County, a mile away from The Kentucky Castle. Michael Duckworth said they planted their first Canaan Fir seedlings in 2016 and sold them for the first time this year. He said they have nearly 2-thousand now, but only sold about 50 this year.
“We did pre-sales in October. So what most of the farms are doing is you come, you select, you basically tell us when you want to come pick it up. And so that those processes are all finished up for us for this year.”
The farm has an event venue, and Duckworth said they began planting the seedlings for the state-required agritourism component. He said despite this year’s drought that killed about 10 percent of their trees, his family’s “seven-year adventure” has been a wonderful experience for all of them.
“There's all a lot of work that goes into a tree for seven years before you get to, you know, market the tree. But I tell you, once you really get people come into your farm, it's just the funnest time we had this fall.”
Duckworth said they plan to increase annual sales to more than 200 in the years to come and that the fragrance in their three-acre Christmas tree forest is unreal.
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