Gilday's Farm Supplies Capital Region with Christmas Trees

(SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- December 20, 2023) With the holiday season in full swing, many people around the Capital Region are bringing home Christmas trees to decorate and enjoy. If you bought a tree this season, there’s a chance it might be from Treavor Gilday’s Christmas tree farm. 

During the week, Gilday is Empire State University’s facility coordinator. During the holiday season, his weekends are spent on his farm, Dutch Church Acres, cutting Christmas trees while his wife, Sarah, makes wreaths.  

“We have a few families and friends who cut their own trees, but mostly what we do is wholesale,” Gilday said. 

Sarah’s family has a long history of Christmas tree sales, owning and operating Goderie’s Tree Farm in Johnstown since 1970. The two businesses work in tandem, with Sarah’s family helping at Dutch Church Acres on the weekends during harvesting season. 

“Right before the pandemic, the opportunity came up for Sarah and me to purchase the farm, and the rest is history,” said Gilday.  

Over the last four years, they’ve had three harvests and planted two rounds of trees over 60 acres of land. A typical harvest will produce 2,000-3,000 trees per season, which are sold in the Capital Region and beyond, stretching as far as Newburgh and Hartsdale. 

Although the harvesting season is brief — running from the end of October through early December — the time it takes to grow a Christmas tree is lengthy. 

“When we get a Christmas tree to plant, it’s already two years old,” Gilday said. “It takes us another 7-10 years to get to a marketable tree, depending on the species.” 

The off season in the summertime is spent mowing, pruning, and making sure the trees are free of pests in preparation for the next holiday season. 

“It’s a family business, and it's a lot of fun,” Gilday added. “It makes for a crazy month and a half.”