BY CARRIE HODOUSEK
CHARLESTON — West Virginians are being encouraged to pick up their Christmas tree at tree farms across the state.
State Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt said families will have the opportunity to cut their own tree from about 40 farms in the state as part of the West Virginia grown program.
“We do have Christmas trees for sale in West Virginia. Some of the growers cut them and put them on the lot. Some of the growers have a cut your own. It’s a great family event in West Virginia,” Leonhardt said on MetroNews affiliate WMOV Radio in Ravenswood.
Leonhardt said the trees take six or seven years to grow.
“They actually start shaping those trees early on. There are some farms where they’ll grow them a little bit longer so that people can have a bigger tree, but of course you’ll pay a little bit more for that as well,” he said.
Cutting a tree from West Virginia is special because it comes from your own backyard, Leonhardt said.
“The trees are healthy. They’re inspected and taken well care of and what better way to support your West Virginia economy than a West Virginia grown tree,” he said.
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s Facebook page has a full list of cut operations across the state.
