Wanda English Burnett – Editor

Although the climate and terrain is much different in Bahrain than in America, troops stationed there will get the “feel of home” with a live Christmas tree from the states this year. Owners of Sheets Tree Farm located between Osgood and Milan off SR 129, is proud to be a part of the massive effort to literally send thousands of Christmas trees to troops.

“It seems like such a small thing we can do compared to what they’re doing,” began Kebe Sheets, owners of Sheets Tree Farm. “We’re honored to be a part of the program.”

The Indiana Christmas Tree Growers’ Association of which Sheets Tree Farm is a member, has teamed up with The Christmas Spirit Foundation, and FedEx to send nearly 12,000 real Christmas trees to troops and their families this Christmas.

Sheets noted that he took his load along with another tree farmers’ to a farm near Greenfield last weekend. Those trees would be shipped to another location and then FedEx is shipping all of the trees from 36 farms across Indiana and 26 other states to troops in various places. One hundred trees from Indiana are going to Bahrain, which is a small island in the Persian Gulf. “Maybe our trees will go there,” Sheets noted. They are for the Navy’s 5th fleet. One hundred other trees from Indiana are staying in the U.S. for military bases and families.

The remainder of the trees will be going to 23 military bases in 11 different states and units stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East.

A nationwide effort was launched by The Christmas Spirit Foundation and FedEx in cooperation with the National Christmas Tree Association to boost the Christmas spirit for those serving in the military.
Mike Bohman of Bohman’s Christmas Tree Farm, Greensburg, brought his load of trees last Friday to Sheets Tree Farm. Bohman said he was “honored” to be giving to the troops and was thankful for Kebe Sheets, who volunteered to take his trees for him. “His (Kebe’s) dad, Gayle, got me in the Christmas tree business many years ago,” he noted.

The Sheets Christmas Tree Farm is a fifth generation business, dating back 152 years. They own several farms in Ripley and surrounding counties and sell literally thousands of live trees each year to adorn homes locally, in other states, and now halfway around the world.

Kebe Sheets, who has worked on the farm near Osgood since he was a boy, noted that he had to “try his wings” first, but soon found out there was nothing better than smelling the fresh scent of the evergreen and roaming over the hundreds of acres. Sheets Tree Farm provides wholesale and retail trees for Christmas and many more for landscaping throughout the year. Of course their busiest season will get underway the Friday after Thanksgiving and last about three weeks. “We’ve had the occasional person who wanted to purchase a tree on Christmas Eve, but not too many,” laughed Sheets. He said they are open seven days a week from the day after Thanksgiving until December 23.
Dean Hartwell has been a faithful employee for over 25 years and noted he “wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” He noted, “This is all I’ve ever really done since I was 16-years-old.” Hartwell is a pro at cutting, wrapping and getting trees ready for people to purchase.

Throughout the year there is much more to the Christmas tree industry. Both Hartwell and Sheets noted they keep busy every day getting the ground ready, replanting, trimming, spraying, fertilizing and doing many other things that make it possible for buyers to get the “perfect” tree for the holidays. “It’s a year round operation,” Sheets and Hartwell agreed.

Sheets is proud of his heritage and says his father died when he was two and his mother (Lenna Sheets Ransburg) operated the business alone until she remarried. Something Sheets is particularly proud of is the year one of their trees adorned the Blue Room at the White House in Washington, DC. “It was an 18 foot white pine,” he noted. He said there were news outlets from everywhere the day the tree was taken and it is a great memory for the family. On the Sheets’ 1966 Chevrolet pickup truck it proudly notes that a tree from their farm went to the White House. They still have the truck and it is in perfect running condition firing over on the first turn.

This year a Douglas fir tree from Pennsylvania will be the official White House Christmas tree. The tree will be coming from the Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Lehighton, PA. Right now plans are to have the tree set up in the Blue Room on November 27 where the White House Floral Department staff and volunteers will decorate it.

While sending a tree to the White House was an honor, Sheets notes that sending trees to the troops is as great an honor. The “spirit of Christmas” is being sent with every tree along with the prayer that troops are returned home safely and someday there will truly be peace on earth.

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO Kebe Sheets, left and Dean Hartwell, right, are pictured cutting some trees on the Sheets Tree Farm located on SR 129 (Delaware) between Osgood and Milan. They are getting Christmas trees ready to send to troops as part of a massive effort launched by the National Christmas Tree Association and FedEx.