At The Rocks ~ Trees for Troops by the numbers

The Christmas tree has long been an integral symbol of the season. Somehow, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas until there’s a fragrant fir tree standing inside the house, adorned with lights and colors, a centerpiece of the holiday decorations.

Fifth graders and combat vets help load trees.

(Read about the history of the Christmas tree in our Blog post on Christmas tree trivia.)

For more than a decade, the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, a charitable arm of the National Christmas Tree Association, has been delivering Christmas trees and the joy they impart to members of the United States military and their families – serving both at home and abroad.

This week, as has become tradition, students from Bethlehem Elementary School came to The Rocks Estate to help load Christmas trees that will be delivered across the country and perhaps beyond. Each tree holds a note, written by the students, of thanks and good cheer.

Here, Trees for Troops by the numbers:

2005

Year the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation and FedEx

first teamed up to deliver Christmas trees

to U.S. service members and their families

______________________________________

11

Number of years The Rocks

has participated in the

Trees for Troops program

_____________________________________

157,263

Christmas trees delivered by

Trees for Troops from the program’s

inception through 2014

___________________________________

450

Christmas trees donated through

New Hampshire and

Vermont tree farms this year

__________________________________

25

Happy 5^th graders helping to

load those 450 trees into the

 FedEx truck at The Rocks December 1^st

____________________________________

573,493

FedEx miles traveled (all donated)

to deliver Trees for Troops

Christmas trees through 2014

_____________________________________

21,000

Farm-grown Christmas trees expected to

be donated this year by

400 tree farms in 25 states

If you’d like to help The Rocks and Trees for Troops spread holiday cheer, one tree at a time, visit the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation website, where you may learn about the history of the program, as well as make a donation to Trees for Troops. 

To see a video clip of this week's loading of the trees, check out WMUR-TV's coverage. 

Horse-drawn wagon rides at The Rocks: A conversation with guide Nancy Czarny

One of the most-loved Christmastime activities at The Rocks Estate is the horse-drawn wagon rides through the farm. Teams of huge draft horses pull the wagons, visitors nestle under warm blankets, and a Rocks guide shares stories about the Estate's history, the Forest Society’s mission, and the work that goes into growing those neat rows of perfect Christmas trees.

Nancy Czarny has been volunteering as a Rocks guide for 19 years. Here’s her take on what makes The Rocks a magical place, and why she keeps coming back year after year…

How did you get started volunteering at The Rocks?

I had moved up from Connecticut and was looking for an outreach program of some sort. I saw an ad in the paper looking for people who wanted to go through volunteer training. I signed up, and it was great. I met a lot of new people. And working at The Rocks, with its conservation mission and education work, was a cause that I could really put my heart behind.

Nancy leads a tour with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen aboard.

Have you always been a wagon guide, or have you done other volunteer work, too?

When I started, we were doing lots of educational programs about Christmas trees with the local school kids, and I was involved in that. The children were so responsive, and I just loved the programs we were teaching. I’ve also done the educational piece of the Maple Experience program we do in the spring.

But my favorite thing to do at The Rocks is to be on the wagons during the holiday season. At first, I was a little shy about doing the tours, but once I got started, it was just really fun.

Do you have a script to follow, or does each guide have his or her own routine?

I think we all go off on our own little tangents. I have my own routine I’ve developed over the years.

I have people who have been on my wagon every Christmas season for years and years. So sometimes I ask them questions to see if they can remember the spiel. Or I ask if they’d rather sing Christmas carols, since they’ve heard it all before. But they always want to hear the wagon dialogue again.

One of the things I tell people, beyond the history of the Estate and how Christmas trees are grown, is how The Rocks ships mail order Christmas trees. Each tree is shipped in a seemingly ordinary cardboard box, but it’s lined to keep the tree fresh, and then you open the box and – spring! – there’s your Christmas tree. I send my sister in Florida a Rocks tree each year, and it’s like a little bit of Christmas magic.

What is the question you get asked most often by wagon riders?

Mostly, it’s the children who want to ask the teamsters questions about the horses. The teamsters are fabulous, and the horses are amazing!

Any wagon rides that stand out after 19 years of guiding?

Once I had a very small group, just two or three couples. We usually don’t let people off the wagon during the ride, but I’d been clued in ahead of time that something special was in the works. One couple asked if they could get down at the Sawmill/Pigpen building, which now houses the Maple Experience. They got down, and the man asked his girlfriend to marry him. She said yes. The other couples were their family and friends, so they popped out the champagne. And on the way back, the script went out the window!

I found out later the couple ended up getting married at The Rocks.

What keeps you coming back each year as a guide at The Rocks?

I think it’s just the happiness on the wagons. It gets me in the Christmas spirit. People are there to get the tree. It’s a happy family experience. It’s a time that they just enjoy. Along the way, they learn something about the Forest Society, about how Christmas trees are grown, what life was like back at the turn of the last century.

People are just happy on those wagons!

To find out more about what's happening at The Rocks this season, please visit us online, and stay tuned to our Blog... Our shops are now open daily, and the farm opens for cut-your-own and retail Christmas tree sales THIS weekend, Nov. 22!

Delivering holiday cheer, one Christmas tree at a time

The Rocks Estate will again support Trees for Troops this holiday season. Part of the Christmas Spirit Foundation, Trees for Troops delivers some 17,000 farm fresh Christmas trees to American military personnel and their families each year.

This year, Trees for Troops will deliver its 100,000^th Christmas tree!

The Rocks gives 20 trees to Trees for Troops each year and garners sponsorships from local businesses for an additional 100 Christmas trees. We are one of about 700 Christmas tree farms throughout the country that supports the Trees for Troops mission. Last year Trees for Troops delivered 17,224 trees to 59 military bases, including seven bases overseas.

Beyond donating trees to the program and getting other area businesses involved, The Rocks also sells festive Birch Deer at our shop and at Harman’s Cheese & Country Store in Sugar Hill to raise funds for Trees for Troops.

The fifth grade students at Bethlehem Elementary School help our local efforts each year by writing notes to go on the trees and loading them into the FedEx truck to be shipped to military families.

Trees for Troops is a community effort that extends from our corner of New Hampshire across the country and far beyond. We see it as a way to spread a little holiday cheer – one Christmas tree at a time – and to thank the men and women in our country’s armed services, who often spend the holidays away from home and family.

Merry Christmas to all, whether you’re close to home or far away.