Christmas tree farm

By the end of our conversation — during which I may be the only person to touch the potato pancakes being passed around the table — I’m ready to make like a Hallmark heroine, leave the big city behind and take over a struggling Christmas tree farm somewhere in Vermont.

So why is it run like a Christmas tree farm?

Comparing an old-growth forest to a Christmas tree farm offers a simple contrast in complexity, noted LaRue, a Purdue PhD alumna.

Competitors are required to throw a six-foot fir tree across a Christmas tree farm.

“They’ll be singing along to Christmas Tree Farm and Travis is in the kitchen … taste testing.”