It’s the most wonderful time of the year for a Collingwood Christmas tree farmer.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Blair Quesnel, 70, co-owner of Quesnel Christmas Trees, on the border between Collingwood and Nottawa.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I was born up in Sudbury. My father’s family was all from the Penetanguishene area. They had quite a bit of property there and my grandfather grew Christmas trees there.
My first job at 13 was pruning Christmas trees. Back then I was going to a Catholic high school in Toronto, and they didn’t have funding so I had to pay tuition. I worked pruning trees as a teenager all through high school to save money to pay for it.
I had two uncles that were growing Christmas trees as well. So, I’m third-generation growing trees.
Q: What brought you to Collingwood?
A: I went to Laurentian University in Sudbury and then I went to teacher’s college at Nipissing University.
That’s where I met my wife, Lynn.
I was practice-teaching in Midland. I applied for three teaching choices: to be placed in Midland/Penetanguishene to be close to my family, Barrie or Collingwood.
They sent me to Collingwood. I’ve been here ever since.
I taught for 30 years at St. Mary’s Catholic School.
Q: Did you have the farm right away?
A: No. My wife and I first lived in an apartment. At the time, she had a horse. She was boarding the horse while we lived in the apartment.
The money we were putting out for both – it was cheaper to buy this house and farm. The house had been on the market for three or four years. Back then, cars were mostly rear-wheel drive and the driveway is really steep. It scared a lot of people away because (in the winter) you’d be slipping and sliding. It needed a lot of work.
We bought the property because it had a barn, and we had the horse.
About 30 years ago, we bought a bigger piece of land behind us.
Q: For how long have you operated this as a Christmas tree farm?
A: More than 40 years now.
Q: What kind of work goes into growing a good Christmas tree?
A: It can take 10 to 12 years to grow a six- or seven-foot tree.
They get pruned every year. I leave them a little looser now. I used to have them just perfect. People have asked me if they can take them for landscaping. I say no.
For growing, you need patience. I planted about 400 trees this year. I lost at least 100 because of drought. The soil here is sandy so if you get two or three weeks without rain, they can dry out and die. The year before, we had the LDD Moth caterpillars.
I don’t spray pesticides on the trees. We cut everything manually. It’s a lot of extra work.
Q: What should people be looking for when picking out a Christmas tree?
A: If you can deal with an actual tree farmer, they know what’s going on.
Any tree I have, I know when it was cut and I can tell you everything about that tree. We cut them as late as possible in the year. I live here. I’m not going to sell a product that’s iffy.
If you buy from a wholesaler, they have to cut earlier.
We don’t advertise other than the sign at the road.
We have families who have come every year for 30 years. I’ve seen their kids grow up. It’s pretty neat.
Q: How do you and your family work together to run the farm?
A: It’s basically all family that runs it. My daughter is a nurse in Collingwood, and my other daughter flew in from Vancouver Island with her husband and children. They’ve all been working here.
It’s a full house. It’s nice.
All my neighbours here come and help too. We’ll be working and all of a sudden, there will be 10 cars in the lot. It will be my neighbours who have come to help.
We help each other. I’ll snow blow their driveways. It’s really nice.
Q: Last year, you sold out in eight days. Do you think you’re on track for this year again?
A: Well, for the past two years, no one was travelling.
People were staying home.
Saturday (the first day the farm was open for sales) was crazy busy, but Sunday, with the snowstorm, it was slower. It’s hard to say. I’m hoping it will be. We spend months getting ready for this and then we spend 10-12 hour days until they’re gone.
Mother Nature could slow me down, like if it rains. Sometimes people will just keep coming anyway because they want a tree.
Last year, even after we sold out, the phone just kept ringing.
Q: Do you have other hobbies you’d like to talk about?
A: We have a cottage on Manitoulin Island. I go back and forth throughout the year.
I’m up there fishing and biking. A few years back some friends and I went on a bike tour throughout Vietnam. It was an amazing experience. It keeps me fit.
I have watched too many people retire, sit down and become inactive. I want to stay fit and keep rolling. This keeps me moving.
My kids and my wife want me to slow down a bit.
My son also lives on Vancouver Island. I wanted my kids to see all across Canada, because I was a geography teacher.
Q: Is there anything else you’d like people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: Just that I’m still kicking. (laughs)
I see a lot of my former students. They come up, or they send me messages on Facebook. It’s such a good feeling to know they all turned out so well. I always teased the kids and had nicknames for them. I wanted to make school interesting.
When I was a kid, I had some really great teachers, and I also had some that I’d cross the street to get away from.
I tried to be a great teacher.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
