Christmas Tree Farm Odyssey: Petaluma

If you want to have the experience of choosing cutting down your own Christmas tree, you're going to have to pack the family into the car and head north on 101 to Sonoma County. There, you'll find a selection of Christmas tree farms mostly concentrated in the rural areas of Petaluma and Sebastopol. You can read about our 2007 exploration of Sebastopol Christmas tree farms here.

In this post we'll highlight Christmas tree farms in Petaluma. There are three that we know of: Little Hills Christmas Tree Farm, Larsen's Christmas Tree Farm, and Liberty Christmas Tree Farm. We visited the latter two in 2007, but we swung by this year and they're up and running and the times and prices are pretty much the same as they were last year. Two our knowledge these are the only operating Christmas tree farms in Petaluma.

Little Hills Christmas Tree Farm

This holiday season we managed to finally make it to Little Hills Christmas Tree Farm. This farm is fairly close to downtown Petaluma. You can find it on Chapman Lane, which is off Western Avenue on the west side of town. As is to be expected on the first weekend of December, Little Hills was busy and bustling. Parking is in a lot at the entrance to the farm, and it was crowded by pretty easy to find a space. It's a surprisingly big setup, and offers a wide selection of mostly Monterey Pines, with some cypresses and redwoods thrown in for good measure. Little Hills also offers pre-cut Noble and Douglas firs.

The highlight of the trip was the visit with Santa Claus, who shows up for photo ops and the all important lap time on weekends from 10 am to 4 pm. We also hit their holiday boutique, which featured a huge array of Christmas tree ornaments and holiday home decor, where we picked up a couple ornaments for our tree this year. The helpful staff carefully packed and padded the ornaments for us to take home, which had the added value of keeping them out of the children's hands on the way home (it's hard to tell them that Christmas tree ornaments that look like toys are not, in fact, toys, but fragile decorations that are only made for looking at). There's also a farm area with a number of farm animals hanging out, including some llamas, goats, geese, and a big pig, complete with muddy pigpen. There's a snack bar there, too, serving up drinks and popcorn.

Other offerings include tree stands, wreaths, and garlands, and they'll shake and net your tree for easy transportation. They also have flocked trees, in case faux snow is your thing.

They're at 961 Chapman Lane in Petaluma. Information: (707) 763-4678 or www.littlehillchristmastree.com

Larsen's Christmas Tree Farm

Larsen's was the first Petaluma Christmas tree farm we visited, being, along with Little Hills Christmas Tree Farm, the closest one to downtown Petaluma. It's located on Marshall Avenue between Skillman Lane and Magnolia Avenue, and was super-busy, probably owing to the fact that it's so easy to get to, and we even had a difficult time getting a parking space. Larsen's is a pretty big place, and everyone there seemed to be having a really good time. They've got an extensive selection of trees, and a charming place with little bridges crossing a (currently dry) stream running through the property, and a shed offering Christmas tree stands and accessories, free coffee, and hot cider and baked goods offered by local 4H kids. We got a cup of the cider and it was pretty good.

Most of the cut-it-yourself trees at Larsen's were Monterey Pines, which really aren't are favorite variety of Christmas tree. They did have a few redwoods, cypress, and Douglas Firs growing, too, as well as a pretty large selection of pre-cut Noble Firs and Douglas Firs. Those pre-cut trees were varyingly priced, but all the you-cut ones were just $38.28, which seems like a pretty good deal, especially when most of the Sebastopol farms were charging $5–$8 a foot for similar trees. Tree-shaking and netting services were available for an extra fee. Larsen's Christmas Tree Farm is open on Fridays from 10 am to dusk and weekends from 9 am to dusk. More information: (707) 762-6317.

Liberty Christmas Tree Farm

On the way out of Larsen's, there was a sign promoting Liberty Tree Farm. Are they owned by the same family, as with the Sebastopol Christmas tree farms we visited? Perhaps someone who knows more than us about this can fill us in. Anyhow, we followed the sign and subsequent series of signs directing us to Liberty Christmas Tree Farm, which is located a considerable distance north of Larsen's. Liberty seems to be a somewhat newer operation, and, like Larsen's, offers primarily Monterey Pines as cut-it-yourself trees, although we saw plenty of pre-cut Douglas and Noble Firs.

One of the highlights of the visit were the farm animals that kids could visit and pet: sheep, a goat, and a calf. There was also a small red shed that housed some beautiful decorated Christmas trees, all of the ornaments on which were for sale. They also had wreaths and tree stands and an urn with free hot cider. Everyone here was really nice and tried hard to make sure customers had a good time. The usual shaking and netting services were available here as well. Like Larsen's, the cut-it-yourself trees were priced at a flat $39.99 for Montery Pines and Sierra Redwoods, and $45.99 for Douglas Firs. Pre-cut Noble Firs were priced individually. They're open weekdays from 10 am to 5 pm and weekends from 9 am to 5 pm. More information: www.libertychristmastreefarm.com or (707) 490-6011.

Getting There

To get to Larsen's and Liberty Christmas tree farms, head north on US 101, and take the Penngrove exit. Head west over the freeway onto Petaluma Boulevard North, and follow it to Skillman Lane. Turn right on Skillman. To get to Larsen's Christmas Tree Farm, head west on Skillman, then turn left on Marshall Avenue. Follow Marshall south; Larsen's will be on your right. There are plenty of signs directing you to Larsen's from the moment you hit Petaluma Boulevard, so it's pretty easy to find. To reach Liberty Christmas Tree Farm, follow Skillman Lane west all the way to Liberty Road. Head north on Liberty until you reach Liberty Christmas Tree Farm, which will be on your right. It's across from the small Liberty Cemetery.