Do you know where your Christmas tree comes from?

While this year's Christmas tree news has focused on shortages, and delivery problems, a less reported, but perhaps more distressing report, is this one from the Guardian. Wage theft, chemical exposure, unsafe working conditions. How many customers at [big box store] realize that their tree was trimmed, cut, bailed and loaded by exploited immigrants, who were treated by their employers as disposable labor? What could be more contrary to the Christmas spirit than to treat our fellow man this way?

If you have already cut your tree from our lot this year, you know just how much work goes into hauling a 50 pound tree to your car. And you can rest assured that your tree is not a product of exploited workers. Of course a lot of work goes into preparing the trees for you, our visitors to cut; it takes roughly a 10 year period, from planting to trimming, to make those trees ready. And here is the Goslin's difference: all of our live trees have been personally planted and tended by our owner or co-workers who have been treated fairly. What is "fair"? Well, for the last 4 years, all of our part-time employees have been paid $15 per hour. The same goes for the makers of our wreaths and garlands.   

As we see it, the you-cut model for Christmas trees provides the best of all worlds: you know where much of the labor comes from, because you supplied it. And as a result, you get to benefit from a price point ($25) that would make a downstater's head spin. Oh yeah, and the fresh air and cardio work out is just icing on the cake.