The Story of the Richardson Christmas Tree Farm
By: Jonathan Jones 07/10/2017
Richardson Farms in Spring Grove is a wonderful experience for the entire family.
The Spring Grove Adventure Farm sports the largest corn maze in the world but also features four other mazes, a pumpkin patch, zip lining, ZORBing, goat feeding, concessions, wagon rides and a plethora of other fall festivities.
The Richardson Christmas Tree Farm is a Lake County staple and tradition when families pick out and harvest their family tree for the holiday season.
Earlier this year, the Spring Grove farmers began the annual planting of their Christmas trees on their ‘U-Cut Farm.’
Since 1981, the Richardson family has planted a variety of tree species (i.e. white pine, concolor fir, blue spruce, Douglas and Frazier fir trees) that visitors put on display in their homes for the holidays.
The farm was originally opened by Robert Richardson who emigrated from England in 1840. Richardson Farm was formerly a pig farm. The original farm stretched 80 acres as Richardson's family raised 3,000 of the swine mammals. Shortly after establishing himself as a pig farmer, Robert Richardson added cows to their thriving livestock farm.
Today the brothers George and Robert Richardson (and their wives Wendy and Carol respectively) are the four owners of this renowned farm.
Between 1981-82, George Richardson and his brother Robert purchased land a mile southwest of the farm where the present-day Christmas tree farm stands. The brothers went through their trials and tribulations in their first attempt to plant the trees. The Christmas trees fell victim to weeds which killed most of the arbors. For further education, the family joined the National Christmas Tree Association, and the Illinois Christmas Tree Growers and they learned to control the weeds and care for the trees properly.
The brothers successfully found the right recipe to grow the trees and expanded their planting to 3,000 per year. Since then, the Richardsons increased their planting figure to 10,000. The Spring Grove farm is now home to 100,000 Christmas trees.
About a decade after the Richardson Christmas Tree Farm was established, the family opened the Adventure Farm & Corn Maze in 1991.
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One planted seedling at Richardson Christmas Tree Farm[/caption]
Before the annual tree planting process begins at 9407 Richardson Rd., the seedlings of these majestic trees have to travel to Illinois. The tree seedlings are born in Michigan. According to Ryan Richardson (son of George), the Wolverine state’s sandy soil is the perfect climate for the Christmas tree roots to grow in its infancy.
The Michigan farm delivers the seedlings to the Richardsons. These baby trees stand at 18 inches tall. Ryan also explained that the seedlings must reach this height for the tree to achieve proper growth in the Spring Grove dirt.
The Richardsons trim the roots after receiving the imported seedlings. You can view the planting process in its entirety by viewing the video below.
When the Christmas trees reach seven or eight years old, they are ready for harvest.
Since the original 80-acre homestead, the facility has grown immensely in size and spans two farms while sitting on 544 acres of land. Two generations of the Richardson family work and own the farm, while the third generation (the 11 grandchildren) also lends a helping hand on tree planting responsibilities. In the picture below, is Wendy Richardson and Alaina Valsa - a seventh generation Richardson.
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Alaina Richardson Valsa, the 3-year-old daughter of Jean Richardson and Jim Valsa and granddaughter of Robert and Carol Richardson, helping to plant some of the 9500 new Christmas tree seedlings on Richardson Farm.[/caption]
The Adventure Farm & Corn Maze is open September 2-October 29, and the Richardson Christmas Tree Farm opens the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve.
For more information about the Richardson Christmas Tree Farm, continue here.
***Here is a sneak peek at the Adventure Farm's Corn Maze***
