THE BOTTLESTOPPER'S CHRISTMAS TREE FARM
I'll bet there are a number of you long-time members of Trinity who remember gathering your family up and heading out into the Tuscaloosa countryside this time of the year to select your Christmas tree at the Cork Family Christmas Tree Farm in Ralph, Alabama.

Well, here's Sara Cork's story about how this enchanted Christmas tree patch came to be.


Once upon a time there lived an old man and old woman whose names were Maw and Paw Bottlestopper. (Get the pun?)  They lived right square dab in the middle of town, with shopping centers all around them, and they both had worked in the city for at least UMPTEEN YEARS!

One night, a few years back, Paw Bottlestopper looked up from his newspaper, cocked his head to one side and said, "Maw, it's getting about time for us to retire, and I've been wondering what we can do when that time comes.  I see here in the paper that some people around these parts are growing Christmas Trees.  Do you reckon that old farm of ours in the  seems to grow timber pretty fast."

Maw Bottlestopper's big brown eyes lit up like she had just seen Santa Claus!

The next day, Paw Bottlestopper learned where he could order seedlings, how to set them out, and a little about caring for them.

Maw was as excited as a child on Christmas morning.

So LICKETY-SPLIT they mailed an order for a big bundle of Christmas tree seedlings.

Maw and Paw Bottlestopper could hardly wait for the seedlings to arrive.  Paw plowed the field where they were to be planted and bought two planting tools called dibbles or dibble bars--one for him and one for Maw.

"Dibble - what a funny name," laughed Maw as she made a little rhyme.

"Dibble, Dibble

Plant a tree.

One for you

And one for me."

At long last everything was ready.  Paw looked out the window one day.  A delivery truck had pulled into their driveway.  "Maw, they're here!" he exclaimed. 

How happy the Bottlestoppers were!  Now they could begin their very own Christmas tree farm.

At last all the baby trees had been planted.  "Gee, I'm glad that job is done," said Maw.  "But look at those rows!  Aren't they supposed to be in squares like a checkerboard?"  "Yep," Paw replied wiping his brow.  "I wonder what went wrong?  Our rows look more like where a squiggly worm crawled than like a checkerboard."

"Oh well, I guess a Christmas tree will grow as pretty in a crooked row as in a straight one."

"How long will it be before we can cut a big tree and decorate it, Paw?"  "Four or five years," Paw answered.  "That long?" Maw groaned.  "Shucks, Maw, that's not very long.  Some Christmas trees take nearly twice that long to grow.  Anyway, by that time, maybe we'll be retired and will have more time to prune and shape them real pretty."

"Prune and shape!!  Do you mean that these trees don't just grow naturally in the shape of a Christmas tree?  Do we have to trim them like we do our shrubbery?"

"Yep." Paw answered.

Maw sighed.  "Looks like there is more to this Christmas tree farming than I thought."

 

Insects attacked the trees.

Wind blew them over.

They grew in all sorts of shapes

with branches sticking out in wrong places.

They needed pruning with a machine

Or, with long sharp knives.

Weeds and grass grew all around the trees.

Maw mowed and mowed 'til the field looked like a well-kept lawn.

And this went on for 4 years.

 

Finally one fall, Maw and Paw Bottlestopper began to make plans for selling their trees.  They walked through the fields checking each tree to see if they were:

        

Then they put a price tag on each tree they planned to sell.

 

Winter came.  "The trees are looking good Maw," Paw said proudly.  "Paw, I've been thinking, could we make that old wagon of ours to look like Santa's sleigh?" Maw asked eagerly.  "I think it would be fun to give all the kids and their mommies and daddies a ride around our farm. 

"Sure, why not?" answered Paw.  "I could hitch it up to the tractor and put in picnic benches for everyone to sit on."  Maw made a big red nose for the tractor and their grandchildren quickly nicknamed it "Rudolph the Red Nosed Tractor."

"Let's invite everyone to come to our farm," Paw said, "whether they want to buy a tree or not.  They can bring a picnic lunch if they want to and ride the wagon."  "Yes," Maw agreed.  "I'd like that!  Let's have balloons for the kids and serve everyone punch or coffee.  Let's call it FAMILY FUN DAYS."

  

AND DID THE PEOPLE COME!
Everyone seemed to be happy.

Even the trees seemed to be laughing.

 

But--

Maw and Paw Bottlestopper were the happiest of all

because - now - at last

they had their very own

Christmas Tree Farm!!!

They waved and shouted,

"MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Thank you for coming to see us."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Sarah Graham Cork with the encouragement of daughters Sallie Reeder and Candy Williamson

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illustrations by Jeremy Reeder, son of Sarah Cork's daughter Sallie.
 

 

While visiting Ben and Londa Bearden recently, Londa shared with me a newly-acquired prized treasure, a copy of this little book written by Sarah Graham Cork about the project she and her husband, Walter, began in retirement, the Cork Family Christmas Tree Farm.  Hearing my "Oooohs" and "Aaaaaahs" and my "We've got to share this with other members of our congregation on the website," she put me in contact with one of Mrs. Cork's daughters, Candy Williamson, who lives in Niceville, Florida.  Candy gave me permission to publish excerpts and some of the illustrations from Mrs. Cork's book. 

This version is greatly abbreviated.  What began in 1982 as an eleven page summary of the Cork family experiences starting the Christmas tree farm turned into a 45 page story book, lavishly illustrated by grandson Jeremy Reeder, nine years later.

If you would like to get a copy of this book by one of the most beloved members of Trinity United Methodist Church, you may contact Mrs. Candice Williamson, 409 Aruba Way, Niceville, FL  32578.  She and her sister have only a few of these left, and they are available on a first come, first serve basis as long as the supply lasts.
 

THE REST OF THE STORY

This is not a book of fiction.  There really was a Bottlestopper's Christmas Tree Farm--only the real name was Cork Family Christmas Tree Farm.  If you knew Sarah Cork, of course you understood the pun in the title of the book:  a cork is a bottle stopper.  Her daughter, Candy Williamson, has supplied photographic evidence that it did exist, and here are her pictures of this magical place.

Sarah and "Paw Bottlestopper" standing in the middle of the tree fields.

"Paw Bottlestopper" towing "the sleigh" full of the Cork family elves through the Christmas tree fields

This is Candy in 1994 (or 1995) with her two Christmas elves, Luke and Paul.  For you Ken Smith fans, look closely at that thin, dark-haired young man in the background talking with Sarah Cork.  He had brought some Wesley students out to cut their own tree for the Wesley Foundation.