Tree farm serves as constant during storms of past year

GRANT - Through the winds of change and the storms of life, people yearn for a constant in their lives. Countless families searching for such constants flock to the small Allen Parish community of Grant to not only buy a Christmas tree but to find family fun.
For Molly Anderson, who owns Grant Christmas Tree Farm with her husband, Grey, being a constant in people’s lives means a lot. “I can’t tell you how many families we have come, and it’s generational,” she said. “It’s grandparents and grandkids. We had some people taking pictures, and it was four generations.”
She continued, “That means so much to us. This is kind of our mission field. We have a large family, and we always hungered for clean family fun. We have always sought to maintain that environment, and it shows because we have families who keep coming and we get so many compliments.”
This year, even with damage from two hurricanes, the farm remained that constant for families throughout Southwest Louisiana and the surrounding areas.
“Every tree on this farm was flat on the ground when Laura moved out,” said Anderson. “There was not a tree left standing. Then, we had so many broken limbs from our pretty oak trees that embellish the farm. We had piles of debris.”
“We had just begun to catch our breath and not work seven days a week when Delta came in and took all of the trees we had just finished standing up and pushed them in the other direction. At that time, the trees weren’t flat on the ground, but they were leaning. Just the storm cleanup cost us around $30 thousand.”
After Delta went through, 25 people went to work and started replanting the trees. “We pulled them all back up and stacked them,” said Anderson. “The ground here is real sandy, so it’s pretty forgiving to the root system. But, still, there were a lot of trees that died from root damage.”
The Andersons feared they lost most of their clientele because of the hurricanes due to the fact 80-90% of their customers come from the Lake Charles area, but the people still came out in search of that constant.
“They’ve come out time and time again and said they needed this. They needed normal, and they need their traditions because everything else in their lives is turned inside out.”
Another part of being that constant was shown through the COVID-19 pandemic. “Normally,” Anderson said, “we do about eight weeks of field trips five days a week. Just per head on field trips cost us $30 thousand. Then, you have to factor in the spending at the gift shop and concessions once they get here.”
The pandemic, however, is sort of a catch-22 for the farm because it attracts families who have nowhere else to go because everything else is shut down. “That’s been good because they’ve come to us,” Anderson said. “We’re open air. We’ve got 100 acres, and there’s plenty of room to social distance.”
Even through its own winds of uncertainty this year, Grant Christmas Tree Farm provided a way for the goodness of people to be paid forward. This was because of the marketing team of Chip and Joanna Gaines.
“They had given us a phone call after Laura and said Southwest Louisiana had been hit hard,” Anderson expressed. “They wanted to bless our communities, and they came out on Saturday, December 5, and gave away 100 trees. They were in the fields as if they were shoppers, would walk up to the customers, chat with them, and give them a little card to say the tree was on them. There was a lot of happy tears shed.”
Anderson continued, “People who received a free tree and who maybe didn’t need it because they were financially stable would go into the gift shop. They would give the workers money and said to pay for the tree for the next person who comes in. It was a ripple effect.”
Another constant at the farm is the making of cane syrup. As Anderson explained, “We raise sugar cane, and we cook cane syrup. We’ve watched that slump off because a lot of the older people who consume cane syrup have passed on. All this younger generation knows is corn syrup like Aunt Jemima.”
“Ours is an art,” Anderson went on to say. “It’s something we won’t ever stop doing. My grandfather started it as a young boy and passed it to my dad, who passed it to my husband. Now, our son is learning how to cook cane syrup.”
Growing Christmas trees and cooking cane syrup will continue as constants in Grant even though the future is hazy. But, as Anderson concluded, “it’s something we won’t let die as long as we have something to do about it.”