Hutton residents raising, selling Christmas trees
A Christmas tree is a special thing.
And now, you can buy a Christmas tree from a special place.
Hutton Settlement, a family oriented, residential children’s home located on 319 acres on Upriver Drive, is now in the Christmas tree business.
Not just selling Christmas trees, which they will do through Dec. 23. They are growing the trees there, as well.
“One of the employees here is a farmer, and we were looking at something for the kids to grow here to make a little money for themselves, and this is what we came up with,” said Tamara Milliken, a houseparent who helps coordinate the program. “Two years ago we started planting our farm. We bought trees that were already a year old so that we could get a little bit of a jump start. We figure they’ll be ready in about four years.”
To get people used to the idea of coming to the picturesque campus for Christmas trees, the group got the business started before the first harvest.
“We went out to Rathdrum and cut our own trees, and we worked out a deal with a tree farm in Oregon to buy Christmas trees to sell until our trees are big enough to sell,” Milliken said. “The kids take care of the trees themselves all summer. They water them, they weed them. They go with us to help pick out other trees to sell until ours are big enough. The kids themselves work the Christmas tree lot. They work with customers; they help them, offer them cider. They do all the work, and they keep all the profit.”
Hutton Settlement, listed on the Register of National Historic Places, was established in 1919 and provides a familylike home for children ages 5 to 18 in four individual cottages, each with its own houseparents.
The group foster care facility attempts to duplicate a traditional family atmosphere.
The same with the Christmas tree business.
“We’ve actually had to fire one or two over the past year or two just to teach them a lesson,” Milliken said. “You have to show up and be on time to take care of your row if you’re going to work on it. We give them a second chance later on, like the next spring. They’re learning.”
The payoff for all that work comes now.
“All of the profits go directly back to the kids,” Milliken said. “A lot of them use it to buy their family Christmas presents. Some of them use it to buy ski equipment or something else they might want that they aren’t getting for Christmas.
“It’s a good way for some of them to get a little spending money because they’re too young to get a job of any kind. They learn about being responsible and working hard, and they see the results at the end.”
Christmas tree shoppers are encouraged to stop by the campus, Milliken said, even if the lot looks empty.
“Even if it says we’re closed, there’s someone there who can help you,” she said. “Just knock on the door and someone can help you.”
And you can help them have a Merry Christmas.