McHenry County Christmas tree farms carry on family traditions

With Christmas Day rapidly approaching, Dawn Peterson, who bought Oney’s Tree Farm with her husband in 1983, said she expects to see some familiar faces at the farm.

“Some of our customers are grandparents who have come out here for many years with their children, and now with their grandchildren,” Peterson said.

Oney's Tree Farm in Woodstock is one of the oldest tree farms in McHenry County.

“The farm started selling Christmas trees in the early 1960s,” Peterson said.

While a lot of local Christmas tree farms are open only on weekends, Oney’s is open daily, offering customers firs, pines and spruces.

Remembering back to her first day of selling trees, Peterson said it was raining heavily, but that didn’t stop customers from coming to the farm.

“People came out in raincoats and galoshes,” Peterson said. “So we immediately learned that customers typically come out every year on a designated day no matter the weather.”

But after running the farm for more than 30 years, Peterson sold the farm to her son and daughter-in-law last year.

“They took over the management very recently, so now I would consider myself just an employee,” Peterson said. “They’ve been doing a great job so far.”

Oney’s isn’t the only Christmas tree farm in McHenry County to be passed down to the next generation.

Owner Ben Czarnowski originally opened Ben's Christmas Farm in Harvard in the 1980s. However, when he died in 2013, it was up to his wife and three sons to keep the farm going.

“This tree farm is just a great memory of him,” said Chris Czarnowski, Ben’s son.

“It’s a family affair,” Chris Czarnowski said. “My mom answers the phones, and both my brothers are involved with this as well.”

Chris Czarnowski said he has been working at the 55-acre farm since he was a child. And just as he helped take over for his father, Chris said he plans to pass the tree farm down to his children someday.

“I’ve gotten to know great people throughout the years working here, and I’m hoping my kids can have that same experience as well,” Chris Czarnowski said.

Another tree farm that's been around for a while in the county is McHenry's Pioneer Tree Farm, which first started selling Christmas trees in 1973.

“At Pioneer Tree Farm, our trees are raised organically, and people have fun cutting their own,” farm owner Bill Howenstine said.

The McHenry farm is only open for the holiday season, and 10 percent of proceeds from the tree sales are donated to the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County.

“We sold 54 trees our first year and have been doing it ever since,” Howenstine said. “My family members help out as well.”

At another tree farm, Pine-Apple Farm in Cary, owner Jim Kohl started selling Christmas trees in the early '90s.

“We’re a Christian-based, small tree farm,” Kohl said. “We plant about 700 to 800 trees each spring.”

Kohl said that because of the quality of service offered at Pine-Apple Farm, he sees the same customers come back every year.

“I take a lot of time taking care of the trees, so we tend to get a high percentage of good trees, which our returning customers all comment on,” Kohl said. “We also offer to help tie on the trees for people to their cars, and people really seem to appreciate that.”