This year, it’s my turn. I’ve been waiting for this moment for almost ten years. Ten years that I curdle my trunk on my hill of Haut-Morvan (north-east of the Massif Central) while waiting for the “big departure”. The guys who work for Frédéric Naudet, the biggest producer of Christmas trees in France, came to check my thorns, my size, my color, my smell: I’m “operated” for the cut. They marked me and should be arriving soon with their tractors and forklifts. I’m waiting for one of the 30 guys in yellow raincoats from Pépinières Naudet, founded in 1876, or one of the seasonal workers who have come as reinforcements and who have been active since mid-November.
Every year, at the same time, I hear them cut the friends. In the Naudet farm, in one day, the trunks of more than 2,000 conifers of one to two meters yield under the effect of the circular blade of the brushcutter. And this time again, nearly 400,000 trees will be sent throughout France. “It’s not little elves who cut the trees in the forest, it’s real horticultural work to make the Christmas tree. In November, we must not miss each other, Frédéric Naudet recently explained to a journalist from 20 minutes. We get active at the beginning of the month. We choose, we size, we pierce the feet. And for a “Label Rouge” tree, the cut is only between November 21 and the first Saturday in December. It should be dense, conical, very green and bushy. »
Some 7,000 to 8,000 plants per hectare
Like me. So to be a good approved Nordmann, I had to wait at least five years planted in my plot. The Morvan is the main region producing “special Christmas” trees, ahead of Brittany and Rhône-Alpes. More than a million conifers are spread over 1,500 hectares of plantation and, from mid-November to the beginning of December, between 30 and 50 trucks leave the village of Planchez-en-Morvan to deliver the entire metropolis.
So this year, I was finally sausage-wrapped in a packing net heading for Rungis, Truffaut or Franprix. In France, only 20% is imported, mainly from Belgium, Denmark or Germany. I, “Label Rouge”, grew up at Naudet among other Nordmanns, but also Spruces, a native species in France, and less common varieties. Some 7,000 to 8,000 plants per hectare.
And being “Label Rouge” means being “the cream of the crop”, as chef Naudet would say, who is also president of the French Association of Natural Christmas Trees (AFSNN). A chasm exists between the emaciated tree with its flapping branches, unearthed in extremis in a parking lot at 6:30 p.m. on December 24, and the top-of-the-range conifer that has “body, branch”. Me, beautiful Christmas tree, I even failed to be chosen by the Elysée. The president’s men came to my farm in early December, but they finally got higher, bigger.
I “took root for almost five years”
Still, the Nordmann, which only arrived in the plantations about fifty years ago, today represents 72.8% of fir tree sales in France. “It is a species that was chosen for Christmas trees because it loses its thorns very slowly”, Frédéric Naudet further specified to 20 minutes. If the Danes presented me as coming “from home”, I actually only grow naturally in the Caucasus.
From Georgia, I joined a nurseryman to become a young plant that, at the age of 4, was planted at the horticulturists (hello Fredo). And then I “took root for nearly five years” in this 500-hectare farm which, alongside 130 others, is part of the AFSNN. The association promotes the “made in France” Christmas tree and scrupulously respects the specifications framed by a 2003 decree from the Ministry of Agriculture. The latter regulates this agricultural activity and defines the planting density (between 6,000 and 10,000 vines per hectare), the height of the tree (no more than three meters), the maximum duration of land occupation (ten years) and the list of species (12).
That’s it, I’m in the truck. We’re pretty tight there. It must be said that despite the end of abundance, one in five households will still buy a Christmas tree this year at an average price of 32 euros. I remind you here that 5.9 million natural fir trees were sold in 2021. That is a turnover of nearly 176 million euros.
The French are increasingly aware of the importance of consuming locally: 68% of people questioned in a study carried out for the AFSNN indicate that the French origin of the Christmas tree is an important criterion for their choice of purchase. Especially in the Paris region, “where the majority of cultivated fir trees go” [d’autres partent en Angleterre ou au Portugal]. And me, that’s it, I’m also finally going up to the capital.
“The more fragile Spruce, but with its particular Christmas smell”
Farewell to the icy plains of the Morvan, to me the sweetness of the living room and the afternoon Christmas movies. Buyers who go about it more and more early to afford a tree: 54% have cracked before December 10. “The Nordmann has been the star of Christmas for a few years. The oldest, who come very early, nevertheless continue to prefer Spruce, more fragile but with a beautiful blue color and its particular Christmas smell, details a saleswoman from Truffaut to the same journalist from 20 minutes. The Nordmann has been going like hot cakes for a fortnight [on est début décembre]. Many families have already come. Recently, we also see a lot of young couples and especially singles who explain “daring” to buy a tree. It’s pretty cool. “.
At Truffaut, in Arcueil, it’s Christmas since the end of October. The store is always full, red and green are everywhere. And our saleswoman who calls herself LaRousse has “already a sore back” when the season is “just starting”. That’s where I arrived, all wrapped up. I had a lump in my stomach and then I saw this nice family arrive. A gentleman with a well-trimmed beard. A woman, tall and smiling. Three children, two of them in a stroller. They bought me right away, apparently I “caught their eye”: “For once I see one with branches all the way up. » They told the reporter that they would “take care of me until mid-January. “. This date, which sounds like a deadline, worries me a little.
“These wooden crosses, there, it’s not possible”
The Etchar family has chosen natural, like 88% of households having bought a tree in 2021. And since growing natural requires a lot of patience, you will have to take good care of me. To achieve this, there is no secret: “you need a support with a water reserve that allows you to treat the tree like a pretty bouquet of cut flowers. If the tree has its foot in the water, it will stay cool until after Christmas,” says Vincent Houis. The agricultural engineer and only technical animator in France based in Nièvre adds: “These water reserves should be the norm. These wooden crosses, there, it is not possible. »
At home, the Etchars have avoided installing me near the radiators or the fireplace… or a scandalous halogen. Then December 25 passed. It smells of fir for me and the end of the pretty Christmas tale. The parents take advantage of the absence of the children to remove my garlands. I have good balls. Here I am again outside, in the cold… in the garden, the trunk well planted next to the swing. Apparently, 88% of buyers now recycle their tree, “by dropping it off at a collection point, transforming it themselves or replanting it”. This is the case of the Etchar. Their respect for the king of the forests fills me with joy. For three days, I could see that like many friends, I too might finish the holidays naked on a sidewalk. Finally, in mid-January, the Etchars took a big thorn out of my side.