The farm: “I am growing Christmas trees on my home farm with my parents, Christy and Frances, and my uncle Johnny Little, who has been growing and selling trees for over 25 years.”

The process: “We started planting trees here in 2011 and the species we grow are Nordmann fir, Noble fir and Fraser fir. They grow for about eight to 10 years before they are fit for harvest. Christmas trees require regular maintenance. You would be going in doing work on the trees at different times of the year.”

Labour involved: ”They need to be walked and checked for pests and diseases, especially in springtime. The main labour would actually be the maintenance throughout the year – bud picking, pruning and shaping, where we cut off any branches that are growing astray.”

Harvest: “Starts generally in the middle of November. The trees are labelled prior to harvest. We use different colours for different sizes of trees. They are then cut with our tree shears and can range in size from around 3ft up to 12ft tall.”

A sense of Christmas: ”This year, we have found that orders are up because people are looking to get a real tree into their home, to get a sense of Christmas around the place. Our first customer took a tree on 25 November, a week earlier than other years.”

Keeping the tree alive:”When you take your tree home, cut an inch off the stump of the tree and place it into a bucket of water. Leave it there for about a day before you bring the tree into your house. When the tree is inside, make sure there is water in the stand to feed the tree and keep it topped up. A typical Christmas tree, providing that it is in a relatively cool room, would last at least four weeks.”

Support local: ”This year we are operating from our plantation which is just outside a small village called Knockraha. People can call every Saturday and Sunday between 10am and 5pm to choose their tree.”