Christmas magic: This year’s Coushatta Christmas tree has a story of survival on its journey to be the perfect holiday tree

By: CARISSA HEBERT
LSN Editor

This is a story of survival and the magic of Christmas. One tree managed to survive two hurricanes, a hard freeze and a season of drought before fulfilling its obligation in life to spread good will and joy for the holiday season.
Yes, Christmas is magical. It’s filled with love, the giving of gifts, the celebration of Christ’s birthday and beautiful decorations like this tree. Each year, the Grant Christmas farm chooses one of its biggest trees for the Coushatta Tribe. On Tuesday, November 28, the Grant Tree Farm, owned by Gray and Mollie Anderson, was filling that order.
Gray posted a history of the tree chosen on the farm’s Facebook page.
“Bittersweet day yesterday. I cut down a tree that has been growing at the entrance fence on the farm for 16 to 18 years. It was a 31-feet tall, Leighton Green, Leyland Cypress. This tree has seen the good and the bad over the years, several hurricanes, droughts and ice storms.”
Gray said this beautiful tree was completely uprooted by Hurricane Laura (August 27, 2020), and then again by Hurricane Delta, six weeks later. They nursed it back to health. On the farm, he said the ground is real sandy. So workers stood it back up, staked it and saved it.
The year of Hurricane Laura, Gray said it took three weeks and lots of help to put the trees back up at the farm. The Andersons utilize approximately 70 acres of their 165 acre farm to produce Christmas trees each year. When Delta arrived (October 9, 2020), Gray said the workforce was trained and knew what to do. It only took two-a-half weeks to upright the same trees that Laura had knocked down.
Then this same tree suffered a major shock in late December 2022. It was 80 degrees one day and the next week was 15 degrees. He said the trees were not ready for the extreme change in temperature and they were just starting to revive from the hurricanes.
This summer, the drought hit Gray’s trees at the farm. He was irrigating the trees, but he said 115 degrees in the day, and 90 degrees at night, did nothing for recovery. “We were irrigating every day, but water doesn’t do any good when the temperature of the tree is so high. Heat, more than anything, is what got the trees this year,” he explained.
In his post, Gray wrote, “We have lost over 1,000 sale-size trees this year, several of which were 25 feet and taller. This tree survived a lot until the chain saw. As we have all heard, ‘What doesn’t kill you, will make you stronger,” and in this case it was true. Our trees are planted and raised for this purpose, but somehow a little piece of my heart becomes attached after those years of care. Hopefully, it will bring joy to those who gather around it or those who drive past it.”
Gray said this particular tree was in a row where five of the trees were killed by the drought. He said he had two at the entrance to the farm. One was affected “badly by the drought.” The other tree, which is the Coushatta tree, pulled through and was doing “pretty good.”
When asked if the loss of those trees drove up prices this year, Gray said no. “The prices stayed the same, but the inventory was down.”
He said his paycheck comes once a year and at one time. Losing a 1,000 trees is not easy on finances, but they are constantly moving forward and working to produce more for the next year.
Gray’s farm grows approximately 13 different varieties of the Leyland Cypress, which is a tree used for Christmas trees in Louisiana. He said the farm does a rotation of three different fields each year for their trees. Seedlings start in the nursery and stay there for about two years. Then the trees are planted, he said, and are ready for selling approximately every five years.
The Andersons have been operating their tree farm for approximately 25 years. Their main source of income is the Christmas trees sold each year. During the season of tree growing, Gray said trees are pruned about four times a year. “We give them a haircut.” He said they also water and fertilize their crop.
The farm opens each October. He said they begin pre-tagging trees on the last Saturday in October. They have guided educational tours for students to illustrate what they do. In October, they begin their pumpkin sales and syrup making from sugarcane. Typically, they sell trees until approximately December 20.
The farm has a standing order every year to supply the Coushatta Tribe with its Christmas tree, something they are thankful for --- their returning customers, as well as their new ones. Each year, they cut a tree down for the Tribe and deliver it that day. He said tribal workers assist him in setting up the tree for the community.
“The farm will not have another one this big for several more years,” Gray said in his Facebook post. “Thank you Coushatta Tribe for your support over the last 25-plus years.” And someone replied that if he wanted to get the tree back, they could mill some lumber from it so he could have a wonderful keepsake.
He said, whether he decided to seek the tree after Christmas for milling will depend on several things including how busy the farm is in preparing for the next growing season.