Misa Christmas Tree Farm was started by Tom and Antica Misa. They were Croatians who had immigrated separately to New Zealand and later married on these Kiwi shores. The property got its start as a Christmas tree farm when US marines started buying Macrocapa branches as Christmas trees for their sweethearts. Today, the Christmas tree farm has the fourth generation at work.
The bulk of the trees are sold around the first week of December where they find themselves in homes, but also in offices right across Auckland. The rest of December sees some steady sales, but it slows down considerably—and understandably—as we head towards Christmas Day.
Getting the trees from the truck to the barn used to be a tedious task. However, with the slight modification of the sides of the trucks, the trees can be easily rolled onto the ground.
The trees that have to be delivered are stored in a different location. Once they are cut, they start to develop a resin. Hence, before putting them into water, they have to be sawn off by about 4 inches at the base before getting them into the garage.
Mike Fuyala (top left) is the third-generation and Francesca and Jake are the fourth generation to pitch in.
The trees are sorted into large, medium and small and kept accordingly in different sheds for clients to inspect.
Francesa gives the trees a twirl so the clients can see the trees from every standing angle.
There’s also the one-time purchase of the base of the tree. Generally, two types of bases are sold.
The shop where Christmas Tree shoppers take possession of their fresh trees.
The tiny trees are about a year old, while the slightly bigger ones are closer to two years.
Trees have to be trimmed to keep them in shape.
While trees come in all price ranges from $55 for a smaller tree, there’s also the Comet size that’s a huge tree, (at $1500) towering at five metres and several years old.
A 6 pm, late-delivery order causes momentary head scratching, but is soon resolved. With a small time frame to keep clients happy, life can be hectic on the farm for a period of about six weeks leading up to Christmas.
The day hasn’t quite ended for Mike. It’s still around 7 pm and the farm is open until 9 pm, but eventually closes well before a summer sunset. Then it’s a wrap until next year, but the work goes on.