Why You Should Buy an Organic Christmas Tree This Year

• A greener way to grow
• Benefits for plants and wildlife
• Buy your balsam fir christmas tree

Once again this year, Avril has teamed up with Les Sapins de l’Estrie to bring you a selection of organic Christmas trees. Here’s why buying one is a great way to do your part for the environment.

Located in Stanstead on 149 acres of land with a capacity of 60,000 trees, Les Sapins de l’Estrie is Quebec’s first organic Christmas tree farm certified by Ecocert Canada. So what makes organic Christmas trees different from other natural trees? Essentially, they’re grown without any chemicals—no pesticides, herbicides, insecticides or fertilizers. Instead, Les Sapins de l’Estrie focuses on enriching the soil with green manure. This means that before planting the trees, they first cover their plots with cereal or clover plants, mow them down, and let them decompose into compost. Then, they plant the young fir saplings and fertilize them with chicken manure. And every time a tree is harvested, the farm plants a new one in its place.

“Planting trees—for any reason—is an important way to help sequester CO2,” says Daniel Laflèche, founder of Les Sapins de l’Estrie. “And not leaving the ground between the trees bare helps stabilize the soil and fight erosion.” That second part is no accident: In addition to the wide variety of wildflowers and native species that naturally crop up around the trees, the farm sows pollinator-friendly flowering plants. Their pollen and nectar attract honeybees, as well as a host of other insects and birds.

Another way the farm is good for wildlife has to do with the slow growth rate of fir trees. They take an average of ten years to reach maturity and be ready to harvest, so they provide homes to generations of forest dwellers in the meantime. “Wild turkeys and other birds make nests and feed on the insects; foxes make their burrows; deer and black bears eat the grass, plants, and flowers we plant; coyotes hunt… Our land isn’t just a farm. It’s a rich natural ecosystem that we’re committed to protecting,” says Daniel.

6–7 feet: $69.99 + tax

7–8 feet: $84.99 + tax