Grace Tree Farm is a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm in Denver, NC. But more importantly it's a grace offering from God to our family and our community. We bought our land in 2010 after an exhaustive land search. I (Doug) am a Realtor and land broker in the Charlotte and Lake Norman region. We knew approximately what we were looking for in a parcel of land given our goals and objectives - a place to start a family farm and a place to build our home and raise our family. Having a forestry background I had a good foundation for starting a vertically integrated tree farm. However, it was the grace of God that led Krista and me to meeting Henry Helms of Helms Christmas Tree Farm shortly after we purchased the land. Henry became my mentor and very good friend. He has coached me from the beginning and it has made all the difference in the world. What a blessing!
Our offerings continue to evolve but since we initially started the farm we've forward integrated into propagating our own trees in our greenhouse. This assures us a plentiful supply of seedlings for the field and for privacy trees for our customers' yards. A great big thank you goes out to Professor Eric Hinesley of NC State University for teaching us how to propagate our species of trees via cuttings. We're grateful for his expertise and willingness to help. He has become a good friend and mentor. Another grace offering!
Shortly after our trees started taking shape photographers started stopping by and asking if they could photograph our property or bring clients by for photos. As a family we were already having ours taken each year on the farm; which has been really neat because we see the kids grow along with the trees each year! In 2017 we opened the farm for families to have their photographer professionally photograph them on the property. Based on the popularity we easily concluded it was a great idea. The families and photographers love the trees as a backdrop as well as the timber pavilion in the middle of the trees. Another gift from God!
We're grateful for the opportunities this unique ministry has provided our family. Thank you for reading a little bit about our story. God-willing the improvements to the farm will continue over the coming years with a focus on family, tradition, memories, family photography, and of course lots of trees to either take home for Christmas or plant as privacy fencing around your yard! Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would just like to visit.