The Cool family are early Christmas tree people. We are also heavily into Thanksgiving, so care is taken to not go full-bore until Black Friday. But basically as soon as the dishwasher is loaded on Thanksgiving it is Christmas in my house (not that it was my dishwasher).
We are enjoy slaying our own tree, and this year we set our sights on Apple Hill. We missed peak apple season this year so we were excited to make the drive. While there are plenty of lots and a nice website to help you find them, once we got up there we realized the prices are considerably higher up there. If you must have a Doug fir, which many people must, then you’re looking at up to $80. We decided to pack it in up there and instead came back through Hangtown and the In-n-Out in Shingle Springs.
We knew we could pass on the trees up Camino way because we had a card up our flannel sleeves: Davis Ranch. Last year’s tree cost $35 and sure enough, the concept of inflation has yet to hit the Davis family up in Sloughhouse. Any tree on the lot costs $35, and they’ll give you the saw (“Don’t kill nobody” said the man as he handed it over). It is the “home of the Sloughhouse Sweet Corn,” which is probably one of the best things about living in Sacramento, and there are still tons of trees in all your standard varieties, from little Charlie Brown shrubs to massive mead-hall worthy behemoths. This year they have added a picnic area, which would be nice if the weather permitted:
Again I have to stress that although I have not researched it, I do believe that $35 for any tree is the best deal around. I don’t know how easy it is to get a precut tree for $35 these days. This year’s picture looks much like last years’…
I slayed it but good. Gotta love the Michael Jordan tongue action…
P.S. In Apple Hill we noticed dozens of tree shoppers lugging home more than one tree. Is this a thing? Are they shopping in groups now? Because that would be kind of fun. I like to think that’s what was going on, but it is probably just as likely that you head up there with your Yukon and you bring back one for the great room, one for the game room, one for the winetasting cottage, one for the mortgage broker…
The Sac Rag 
So did you follow the tree man’s instruction to not kill nobody? The field looks pretty clear there so I’m wondering if you wiped out the competition before cutting down your tree.
Smart-aleck jokes aside, $35 sounds like a darn good deal these days.
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What a great photo! Let me be the first to volunteer for a group shopping trip next year. 🙂
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Pumpkins are always the same way, supermarket $8.00 pumpkins are $3-4.
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We’re heading up to Auburn’s Pine Valley Ranch on Saturday for our tree, and we’ll be sure to give a full report thereafter. I’m all about the Placer Grown thing.
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badhairday: all I’m saying is don’t look in the wood chipper.
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Don’t know about all the bucolic “slay your own tree” lots, but here in Folsom (which as a locale is not exactly a slum) I’ve seen a number of places (Walmart, grocery store parking lots like SavMart) where you can get Douglas firs for between $19.99 and $30.
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