Farm is a tradition for family
By: Madeleine Johnson
When Simonson’s Farm opened more than 50 years ago, Ray and Bus Simonson weren’t selling Christmas trees.
"My grandfather and his brother started the farm back in the ’50s," partner and co-owner Rodger Jany said Monday. "The farm itself originated as a potato farm and somewhere along the line they decided to start planting Christmas trees."
The 200-acre farm, which has two locations on Dey Road on one on George Davison Road, is now in its third generation of operation, and Christmas trees are the largest source of revenue.
Simonson’s Farm has been part of the 26-year-old Mr. Jany’s life for as long as he can remember, so he’s thrilled to have been presented with the opportunity to now be among the farm’s owners.
"I just bought back into the business this year," he said. "I’m thankful for it."
The farm is open to the public all year, though visits to Simonson’s in the offseason "any month that isn’t December," Mr. Jany said are by appointment only. Since people can come and go as they please during the holiday season, it’s the farm’s busiest time of the year.
"It’s controlled chaos," he said. "There’s always one weekend in December we call ‘The Big Weekend’ where it’s just bonkers. When that weekend happens depends on when Christmas falls. A whole lot of our business is done then. "
The farm sells two types of Christmas trees, but a wider selection will be made available in the future.
"We sell primarily Douglas firs and Canaan firs," Mr. Jany said. "What we will have in a couple years from now are the Norway spruce and the blue spruce, some other exotic species and additional firs, and some white pines."
A stretch of bad weather is the reason why Simonson’s Farm has to wait until its other Christmas trees can be harvested.
"There was a period of time where we had a few droughts in the late ’90s and 2001," Mr. Jany said. "We had a couple of years where we got hurt and right now it’s showing up. We have enough trees, it’s just the variety that was affected."According to Mr. Jany, it takes seven to nine years for a tree to become tall enough for a Christmas tree, though a white pine can reach 6 feet in about six years.
"We plant them as seedlings that are about 12 inches tall," Mr. Jany said. "We planted about 12,000 seedlings this year on the 45 to 50 acres of the farm that’s devoted to Christmas trees."
Maintaining the trees is a year-round job. So even during the 11 months when Christmas trees aren’t in demand, Simonson’s Farm workers are still keeping busy.
"We have 50,000 to 60,000 trees from a foot all the way up to 8 feet or so," Mr. Jany said. "You plant in the spring and you have to maintain all the trees all year, looking out for weeds, insects and disease problems."
In order to offer the ideal Christmas trees to Cranbury and the surrounding areas, Simonson’s employees have to help the arboreal youngsters keep their shape.
"Around the first of September, we take trimming shears and clip all the scraggly branches back to make them look nice," Mr. Jany said. "You have to create the shape in early stages of the seedling, otherwise you end up with two, three or four trunks. The smaller the tree, the bigger the problem. You have to trim them back to have a single one. It’s a lot of work year ’round."
But all the work that Mr. Jany and the rest of the Simonson’s Farm employees put into the farm is worth it to keep the clientele happy, he said.
"We get new people all the time, and we have customers that have been coming here for 30-plus years," Mr. Jany said. "My grandfather used to give out 5-pound sacks of potatoes with every tree, and customers still come who remember that. Repeat clientele makes up more than half of our business."
Some people are so happy with the service and trees and Simonson’s Farm that they visit the out-of-state farm for the perfect Christmas tree.
"There’s a group that comes from somewhere in New York," Mr. Jany said. "They come in half-a-dozen SUVs and they make a day out of getting their Christmas tree."
Even though he joked that he does "the jobs no one else wants to," Mr. Jany is quite happy to be working with the family farm again.
"I grew up in the business and I’m doing something I enjoy."

