Growing a tree for the White House - Paul Shealer

Paul Yeager   Hi everybody, I'm Paul Yeager This is the M to M Show podcast, a  production of Iowa PBS and the Market to Market TV show. Thank you, as always for checking out an episode, new ones come out each and every Tuesday both in audio, as well as on our YouTube channel. Subscribe and you always know when that new episode drops. It is the season of Christmas, it is the season of decorating your home with a Christmas tree. What does it take to grow one? It's not an easy industry, it takes a good six to eight years before a tree goes from into the ground to into the back of your car or truck headed for your home. So planning, supply and demand all play into the industry. We're going to talk about the tree industry. But we're also going to find out what it is like to submit to a competition and be picked as the winner, the grand champion and the honor to have your Christmas tree displayed at the White House in Washington DC Paul Shealer from Auburn, Pennsylvania, was the provider of the 2022 official Christmas tree and it's not his first rodeo, both in the industry and also going to the White House. We'll talk about the trips that he's had the experience at the gate, and just how things have changed in 22 years since he last won this competition. We'll find out how the industry is changing. There's a color entering the industry, it's kind of what they are talking about as transition is happening in the tree business. That is our installment of this holiday themed podcast. We hope you enjoy.  

Paul, I have to I guess the easiest question is Do you like Christmas? Given all that you have to do? Do you still like the season?

Paul Shealer: Oh, well, I think everybody should like Christmas, especially if you're in the Christmas tree business? Because it is the holiday that our business centers around? Yes, of course.

Paul Yeager: So how did you get involved with it then? 

Paul Shealer: It's been a family business. My father and grandfather started the business when my father got out of the service after World War Two. And on the farm and on neighboring properties that were some old conservation plantings where they had planted spruce or pines years ago. And my dad grandfather got the idea of cutting these down and trying to sell them for the sole purpose of getting enough money together to put a Christmas turkey on the table. And what year do you think that was? That was 1945 or 1946?

Paul Yeager: And so Christmas trees, were there many being sold then or was this such a, ? 

Paul Shealer:  No, no, it was a new concept at the time. And they were being sold right here at the house right where I live now. They are being sold for 25 cents apiece. changed a little bit a little bit a little bit. 

Paul Yeager: Did he have, did he make enough money that first year to put a Christmas day?

Paul Shealer: They had enough to get a turkey and some gifts and some gifts. But what happened then because there was there was a demand. They they very quickly sold out what they had and they were actually cars coming down the driveway and my father had to waive them on that we had no more trees. And at that point they realized hey, this could be a business and at that point or very shortly thereafter they started planting their first trees and those trees were probably Norway spruce and Scotch Pine.

Paul Yeager: And are those still trees in the mix today?

Paul Shealer: No. We raise a few Norway Spruce for landscaping for balled and burlap and digging. But Norway Spruce are known as a tree that will drop its needles after being in the house for a short period of time. And I don't want to damage the industry by having unsatisfied customers. When Christmas Day, their tree is laying on the rug. So we don't we don't sell Norway spruce and Scotch Pine. They have too many disease issues. And they have been totally taken out of our rotation also.

Paul Yeager: Do you find that when, how did you get involved in the business? Let's go over there and then we'll get into the absolute tree business.

Paul Shealer: With my father and grandfather being in the business, I was always tagging along. And I started shearing Scotch Pine,  oh, I would say when I was about six or seven years old, and then it's just developed from there. I ended up taking vocational agriculture in high school because of my interest in farming. And then I went on to Penn State University and got a degree in agriculture education, with a minor in horticulture. I got a teaching position teaching vocational agriculture. I did that for five years. And then an opening came up for Penn State Cooperative Extension in Carbon County. And I was able to secure that position. And but never was there a time I wasn't dealing with trees on the home farm. And then about 12 years ago, I retired from Penn State. And I've been doing it full time ever since until this year, when we've turned the business over to my son and daughter-in-law. So that's the history.

Paul Yeager: Well that is a great history. But the tree business is one that allows you to do some of those other things both out of yes, I'm interested but also necessity because you It's like watching paint dry, you can't make a tree grow any faster than it's going to grow. That's correct. That's correct, you have to find something else to do.

Paul Shealer:  But with that said, though, it is a year-round business. Now, there are probably 6 or 7000 trees on the farm as of right now that need to be sheared this winter. After this harvest we've just gotten through the fields are a mess, with branches and stumps and everything like that, that will have to be cleaned up. We clear the fields of all the vegetation, and then the stumps remain and then over the winter months, I will probably grind over 5,000 stumps and then we're right back into it come spring with preparing fields for planting. Our seedlings are already ordered for next spring. Sometimes we have to, depending, to get the quality and the plants I want sometimes after work two or three years in advance,

Paul Yeager: Where do your seedlings come from?

Paul Shealer: From several local nurseries. We have Berkeley's nursery in northwestern Pennsylvania. And then there's another nursery I do business with the business was owned by a gentleman by the name of Eric Zenback who just passed away back in July and has been taken over by his two employees. So they're basic I get trees from here and there but the bulk of them come from those two sources. And the reason for that there was a reason for that though. Both those farms or nurseries have worked years in developing genetically superior plants. The day and age of squirrel stealing seeds from squirrel cache in the in the national forest are over if you want to raise quality and get a high percentage of premium and number one trees.

Paul Yeager: Yeah, and I that's what I was gonna guess. But I was also going to say you also probably have to have trees that are grown fairly close just because of climates. And that's not you don't want any Iowa trees taken to Pennsylvania.

Paul Shealer: Well, majority of our Douglas fir are native to the Lincoln National Forest in New Mexico. Our concolor for are all from the Santa Fe National Forest in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our Nordman fir our from the Republic of Georgia in Russia. Our Turkish Fir are from Turkey, and our Fraser for our from North Carolina, the mountain peaks of North Carolina. So they do come from around around the place.

Paul Yeager: So it does have it does come from a variety of places. That's fascinating. Paul, I I'm always intrigued by business models to the sense of you think when we talk often on our program about supply and demand, you always have a demand, but you have to keep supply balanced because if you over supply, once you cut that tree, there's no putting it back into the ground. It's got to sell. But how do you balance the two of I know the cars are coming down the driveway like you mentioned in the beginning there to know what you can cut to sell to keep having a farm year after year or a crop year after year.

Paul Shealer: Well, that's the reason we're closed right now. You know, because we sold out on Sunday we had said enough trees aside. Well because we put the tree in the White House this year, we were in for expecting a bump in our retail sales. So we set by a setback and additional 10% over what our records show that we have sold in the previous year. Everything else is sold wholesale. We are primarily a wholesale operation with a retail lot right here at the home farm. And that is why we had to close early because we went through what we had set aside and then additional 10%.

Paul Yeager: So you knew there'd be a demand? 

Paul Shealer: We knew there'd be an increas in demand. And the market is such right now that we are getting phone calls. Why should I step back a minute, back from January of last year, right up until almost harvest season, we were getting phone calls from all over the country, we are getting phone calls from Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Indiana, Illinois, looking for wholesale trees, the market is extremely tight, there is a lot of very big shortage of Christmas trees nationwide. And with that in mind, we have to really balance that with what we harvest. Yeah, we could sell the whole farm in one year with the market is. But what does that do for us down the road? What's your what you're suggesting? We have to balance that out, we have to know what our limits are. And we have to know what we want to have available for next year and subsequent years.

Paul Yeager: Where do you put the finger on why the shortage right now, nationwide?

Paul Shealer: That's multifaceted. But I would say the biggest problem on the market right now is that I always used the phrase gray hair is facing the industry. Because we have an older generation of farmers, Christmas tree producers that are getting old enough to phase out of the business and they don't have the next generation willing to work hard and to continue with the family business. That combined with the fact that the cost for somebody to get involved in this business is extremely high. There's not many people that can invest in a business and make investments in land seedlings, fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, equipment, and then wait for 7-8-9 years for any kind of return. So you don't have a lot of people jumping into the business. Not to mention there's a lot of hard physical labor involved in this industry.

Paul Yeager: Yeah, I mean, it's almost logging, right, or is it logging?

Paul Shealer: I don't quite understand the question.

Paul Yeager: Well, in the sense of the hard work that goes on with harvesting trees, right. But you're that's half that's only like a third of your job or a fourth of it. I mean, everything else, like you mentioned is the pruning and the stump grinding and fertilizer and

Paul Shealer: mowing. Yeah. That's right.

Paul Yeager: It's a huge job. So is it when you talk about a gray hair face in the industry? Do you find it is easier? That's a pretty broad word, to transition someone new into an existing operation like you have given everything you just said about how,

Paul Shealer: without without, without that, as you're doing that without the big huge investment. And I am fortunate to have a son that's willing to work hard and take over the business. And it's a it's a turnkey operation for him.

Paul Yeager: It's just expensive for him to get in at that at that point.

Paul Shealer: But the lot of those expenses have already been met. We already own the land. We already own a lot of the equipment. The rotation has already been started.

Paul Yeager: How did he get involved with the business?

Paul Shealer: Just working side by side with me ever since he was a kid.

Paul Yeager: So it's kind of in his blood? Kind of Yes, did you? I won't say send them away, but encouraged him to find other pastures before returning back to this farm.

Paul Shealer: Well, he has other pastures he's in right now. He's educated at Penn State and ag and Biological Engineering. He started a career off as a civil engineer until the economy tanked in 2008. And then he became a dairy nutritionist. And he's currently a dairy nutritionist. So just like me working for Penn State and teaching in earlier part of my career, he's doing the same thing. But every night every morning, every evening, we're working the farm.

Paul Yeager: Look out your window for me and tell me what is Auburn, Pennsylvania like what are what's the common crop? What's the Common Agricultural makeup of your neighborhood?

Paul Shealer: Well, Schuylkill County where Auburn is located in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and Schuylkill County is the third leading county in the state for Christmas tree production. And Pennsylvania ranks depending who you talk to between fourth and fifth, nationwide and Christmas tree production. So there are a lot of Christmas trees produced here in this county. But other agriculture is here you have very few dairy farmers, I can count on one hand, how many dairy farmers we have, but there are small grain and hay operations all through the county. So there's a lot of Christmas trees.

Paul Yeager: A lot of Christmas trees, but I mean rolling hills, like,

Paul Shealer: We are the foothills of the Poconos. You go a little bit south of us into Berks and Lancaster and Lebanon counties, and you have a very relatively flat, very low rolling hills. You get north of the Blue Mountain, we're just north of the Appalachian Trail, I can see the Appalachian Trail from my south window in the house here. So just north of that we have a little bit larger rolling hills and valleys. And most of the Christmas tree production takes place on the hilltops. And there's a reason for that. Our Home Farm is where I'm sitting talking to you from now is in a valley. We have heavier clay soils here which most trees do not like. And we are in a frost pocket in the spring of the year the cold air settles in these valleys. And if the new growth is broken out on the trees, it will freeze it off and just squirts those traits. So all of most of our Christmas trees are produced on hilltops surrounding the home farm here. We have two farms one about two miles away and the other one about seven miles away. But again on hilltops to try to get out of the frost pocket and the better soil conditions.

Paul Yeager: If are your neighbors involved in the wholesale as well? Or did they have a retail presence too,

Paul Shealer: I would say the majority of the Christmas tree growers in our area here are wholesale. And that has been a big boon for us from the retail end. You go back 10 years ago, and I'm talking to you about gray hair facing the industry. You go back 10 years ago, we had probably 11 retail competitors. Right now it's basically down to two of us, retail competitors, us and another farm. Whereas the other larger producers in the area, are blowing everything out wholesale and don't want to be bothered with the retail. Once they get done harvesting. They want to be done. They don't spend a couple of weeks retailing.

Paul Yeager: They don't want to be open from Thanksgiving to the 15th or 20th. At the latest of December, their job is done. Right. It's time to get to the beach.

Paul Shealer: That's right.

Paul Yeager: So Paul, how did you get to? You have one big tree that kinda is a little famous, how'd that come about that you ended up in DC?

Paul Shealer: Well, a lot of people think you're just selected. It's that's not the case. It is a case of winning your way there. Each state of any major consequence it raises a lot of Christmas trees have competition. They haven't that state organizations that kind of sponsor Christmas tree contests, they are usually held at their state meetings. Our particular one is held at our Pennsylvania State Farm Show. And the winner of the state competition is then invited. It's an invitational, you're then invited to compete at the national level. You must be a member of your state organization and you must be a member of the national organization National Christmas Tree Grows associated. And then those conventions are held every two years, different places around the country. Last year, we were back in 2020. We were our state champion. There was no Farm Show and 2021 because of COVID and then 2022. We had a farm show and both '20 and '22. We were our state champions both as yours we were invited to compete last year in North Carolina where in West Jefferson where the national contest was held. And we usually we select a tree that we want to take that competition and we travel we harvest it late in the day. We package it very carefully with wet sheets and because this is happening in August and We pack it up and we drive through the night to get to the competition out of the cool of the night to enter the competition. Back in 2008, we drove cross country to Des Moines, Iowa. And we competed in Des Moines, Iowa. And that's where we got the national runner up. But we left here at four o'clock in the afternoon, and we pulled him to Des Moines, Iowa at 730 in the morning, driving right through the night.

Paul Yeager: I missed that I was here in Des Moines in '08, that would have been a fun thing to see. Yeah, yes. But it is sounds stressful just to get to that competition, when you saying wet blankets, that you are wet sheets that you're wrapping everything in. And then it's a panel of a few judges? 

Paul Shealer: Judges, professional tree growers that judge the tree, there is a score sheet, these trees must reach certain criteria. And they are judged by species. You have Douglas fir, you have other true furs, you have spruce, you have pine, and the first place trees, in each one of those categories are brought forward. The attendees at the National Meeting, then vote for which one they want to be selected as Grand Champion. So it's not just a team of judges, but it's also a team of your peers that are selecting the grand champion tree. Once you win the grand champion tree, you are then entitled to put the tree in the White House to Blue Room with the White House.

Paul Yeager: It's a rigorous, that is a rigorous process.

Paul Shealer: Yes, it is. And that time can get stressful.

Paul Yeager: I bet when you say selected, so then your select when is it that you're selected, and you know that you're going to the White House. 

Paul Shealer"  We knew August a year ago, August two years, August a year ago, August of 21, that we were going to be selected. Well, we were selected to go to the White House. The convention is held every two years. So that being the case, they select two grand champions, one for one year and one for the next. A grower from North Carolina put the tree in the White House in 2021. We put the tree in the White House in 2022.

Paul Yeager: And you have to stick with the same.

Paul Shealer: No, no no, it is whatever you have. Not many growers have trees that are 2018 and a half to 20 feet tall. Not many growers have that. So they'll take a look at whatever you have, the White House actually comes out and makes the final selection. And we didn't have a lot for them to select from we had three trees for the White House to choose from. We had two Douglas fir and one concolor for and the car color for the trees that they selected was absolutely spectacular. It was a flawless 20 foot tree as blue as the sky color for just gorgeous.

Paul Yeager: And so then when you are you enter this, this competition, do you have to have those 18, 20, 24 foot trees on your property as part of the?

Paul Shealer: You should? You should but it's not absolutely necessary. There was an incident where a grower from New Jersey several years ago, won the national contest. You understand the contests are done with trees between six and eight feet. That's what the contest is. But then you have to supply an 18 and a half footer for the White House. So this particular grower in Jersey did not have that tree. And so there are a few other growers around we know who they are that raise big trees. So the White House went to that farm to make the selection. The farm that actually won it, the actual person who won the competition presented a tree I think to the private residence, but also made the presentation of the large tree at the White House.

Paul Yeager: Okay, I see. I see. Okay, so when the White House comes out and they look what happens if these of your three trees that you had, what happened to the other two? Do they just keep growing and they've missed their chance to be selected and put into a big place.

Paul Shealer: They have missed their chance. They've already been chopped up and made reset of oh, they were growing in fields that had to be clear cut this year. The seedlings are already ordered the plant where those trees were growing. There is not much of a market for trees that size. Not to mention we didn't want to have involved trees that size other than the White House tree. And so they were chopped up for greens. And because the foliage was phenomenal on, the ends weren't cut, they just make phenomenal rates. And those true true trees have been dead turned into wreath,

Paul Yeager: and who did the work of making the race.

Paul Shealer: We have a family that lives near us that makes the wreaths we supply them with the greens, the rings, and the crimping machines, and they make wreaths for us. We don't do that.

Paul Yeager: While again, you're providing you're providing an economy, you're contributing to the local economy of a supplier to someone who's doing the work done the next process. I just I find that fascinating. Okay, when the White House comes out, they select the tree, then they give you a timetable of when you're supposed to deliver and what are they? How does that work?

Paul Shealer: They give you a time schedule when they want to tree there. It was the Thursday was one week before Thanksgiving was the Thursday before Thanksgiving, you have to excuse me, but I have to cough excuse me. There was a Thursday before Thanksgiving, we cut the tree on Tuesday. We loaded on a gooseneck trailer. And then on Wednesday, we kind of packaged it up. Because the gooseneck trailer is eight feet wide. The tree is 13 feet wide. So we had to condense it a little bit so we could get down the road. And then we drove it. It only takes about three hours for us to get from our farm to the White House grounds. And we took it to the White House. We arrived we left here at 230 in the morning. We arrived down there at 630 in the morning, and they unloaded it, and we turn around and come right home. Then we go back down the following Monday to Monday before Thanksgiving for the actual presentation for the First Lady.

Paul Yeager: And at that time, is the tree already put in where it's going to be

Paul Shealer: no, no, we unload it. They come out with a big forklift and their straps put around the trunk of the tree. It's lifted off our trailer, and it's put on a horse drawn wagon. It's the wagons probably Oh, I would guess 1516 feet long. And it's set on there and lashed down so it doesn't fall off. This tree was huge. And then it's just stored there. Until the presentation. During the presentation. The Marine Band is playing O, Christmas Tree as the horse corn, a horse drawn wagon as comes up the North Portico of the White House. We come walking out of the White House with the First Lady. And then the presentation is made to her. And then she has her comments. I had a chance for a few comments. And then we go back into the White House.

Paul Yeager: And I want to go back to when you deliver the tree I can only imagine because I've been to the White House and the security is there and you show up with a gooseneck trailer. Yeah, I have the tree in the back. Yeah, right, buddy. I'm sure there's credentials and all of that stuff and they know you're coming. But I just I'm just picturing this in my mind as you show up to the South Portico, or you know, maybe the north entrance and I have the tree right here and then it's unloaded.

Paul Shealer: Well, it was kind of interesting this year that we had all the clearances we had supplied him with social security numbers and driver's licenses, so on and so forth. But the white got there was a mixup with the security. And we weren't allowed it we were allowed through one gate. We had to get through a second gate to unload and Secret Service would not allow us through until the White House staff came out now the White House had already given us clearance. But I don't know if the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. But we ended up having to wait a half an hour for all those clearances to get through. We went through the second gate downloaded we ran it there in 15 minutes. But it did take a little bit of time to get take care of that. The with the security. We had I guess a bomb sniffing dogs. They had two different dogs. Belgian Malinois, going around the truck in the trailer smelling everything we had been they went over the security ones that they go over and check your body out and they did all that with us. Even though we were 200 yards probably from the White House itself. But that's a security when we went through. Now we've we presented the tree to the White House to the president back in 2000. This is our second Oh, this isn't our first rodeo. This is our second time we've won the national contest. And at that time, that was before 911. And security was a lot different than and my goal back then was to drive my own truck and trailer to the gates of the White House. And that's exactly what I did. And at that time by, again, they went around the tree and truck and trailer with bomb sniffing dogs. But I drove right up to the North Portico with my own truck and trailer. It was quite a quite an honor.

Paul Yeager: You're like the president of France? Yeah. Here you are. Here's Macron, and here's Paul Shealer going right through the front North political portico. I love it. But you know, Paul, they did find out about your time at State College at one time in the frat that's really why they stopped you. Let's just Yeah. So the ceremony was

Paul Shealer: it long as it was only about that one time in the frat it wasn't some of the other things.

Paul Yeager: When you had the actual ceremony, with with the First Lady of you know, you're standing around, and you know that there's these annual things that take place, whether it's the Easter Egg Roll, or the the official Turkey, what's it like to be? And again, it's your second time presenting the official White House tree?

Paul Shealer: Well, again, it's quite an honor. It is the highest honor that can be achieved in the Christmas tree industry to win the national championship, and present a tree to the First Lady. So it is quite an honor. I knew a little bit more what to expect at this window, because the first time was all new to us. And I don't know what else to say it is such an honor to be there and represent our industry as the as the Grand Champion.

Paul Yeager: And so then, you're in there for I'm guessing that ceremonies maybe 20 minutes, and you're done.

Paul Shealer: That's about right. This particular year, this year, we had the White House staff said to us that the President the First Lady were leaving to go to one of the military bases to help serve Thanksgiving dinner. So they asked us that they told us a Marine One would be coming in to pick up the President first lady, would we like to stay for that? So then we went to the upstairs into the blue room and then out on the balcony. And we were there for an additional hour waiting for marine one to come in and pick up the president.

Paul Yeager: Wow, to see that from that vantage point would be that that'd be a pretty cool thing, too.

Paul Shealer: That was very cool in itself. Yes, it was.

Paul Yeager: So then you're allowed to get some pictures in front of the tree. And we have

Paul Shealer: pictures with the tree in the cat and the wagon. And then we have pictures of our family with the First Lady and all that kind of stuff. We'd like to go back we're trying to schedule a chance to go back next week before Christmas. To see the tree old decorated.

Paul Yeager: And is that your family Christmas card? Is you in front of that tree?

Paul Shealer: No, not this year.

Paul Yeager: Oh, come on great opportunity like that, Paul, and you let it go. Alright.

Paul Shealer: And my wife just said what it just might be but it won't be the tree and at the White House is always a tree out in the field with our family standing in front of it.

Paul Yeager: Well, and that's that's more representative of what your family is and your family will know it. So second time going through that process. In your queue call yourself phasing out of the business. I mean, what is going to be your role now with your son coming in?

Paul Shealer: I do it. Nothing has changed from a labor standpoint. I do everything before this podcast started. I was out putting equipment away because they were anticipating maybe some snow here on Thursday. We have a lot of equipment sitting out and we take extremely good care of our equipment and everything gets put away and everything is stored away. So we're in the process of getting that done before any snow comes. But nothing has changed. In the summertime my son was effectively the owner back in Jan past January. And all through the month of July. He and I were in the field sharing by 5am Every morning through the month of July in August seven days a week. We don't miss a day. Because when the true first the Frazier's the cannons, the Nordmann and Turkish those, those are the true furs. They respond best to shearing when done when the growth is very soft and succulent. And that's only in July and August. So we have all that done. The only sharing we have to do now is some Douglas fir and they can tolerate winter shearing.

Paul Yeager: The tree industry itself I mean, you mentioned the labor so much of other parts of agriculture have gone to automation. This doesn't, I don't hear any opportunities really, for automation in your industry?

Paul Shealer: Well, when we first started in the business we were planting by hand. Now we plant by machine. It's a, almost like a plow pulled behind a V plow pulled behind the tractor with bins on it and someone sits on the seat and sets a seedling based on the spacing of a marking wheel. So that's mechanized, that's come a long way. It's taken our planting from six weeks to two or three days now. So that's a big savings. Mowing used to be done with walk behind mowers. That's all done with tractors now with rotary mowers behind them. herbicide spraying is to be done with a backpack sprayer. Now, that's all done with tractor mounted sprayers. So there are a lot of mechanization has come into it. Shearing, which is perhaps the most labor intensive part of it. There are mechanical shearing machines out there to dip to different types that we use. However, they just do the sides. And every top and the top world on the tree is still done by hand on every tree, and we have about 60,000 trees in production. Wow.

Paul Yeager: Oh, it's just a gorgeous site I can only imagine.

Paul Shealer: Yeah, it is beautiful. And it's a labor of love. You gotta, you gotta like what you do is a friend of mine, who is also a tree grower said to me one time he says if you love what you do love what you're doing, you'll never work another day in your life.

Paul Yeager: And you buy that? I do buy that you do buy that. Okay, Paul, so you mentioned a little bit of what's next your son? Does he have some of that same push desire to stay on that competitive side of things?

Paul Shealer: I don't know. Initially, I thought not. Initially, I thought not. Because I'd been the real competitor here. And then the field that the White House tree came out of had smaller trees in it, they were seven, eight footers, the field got completely clear cut, there's not a single tree standing in that field. And at the end of the field, there were three or four absolutely gorgeous 7-8 foot blue colored concolor for just like we put in the White House. And he says I think I'll leave them in for future White House trades. So that gave me an it gave me a little bit of hope. And his wife is an extremely competitive person. I think what's going to happen, I think she and I are going to work more closely together for the competition. But as we're out sharing, they'll say that might make a good competition tree that might make a good competition tree. So it's there. And I hope it continues.

Paul Yeager: Oh, I love it. I love it. And then we'll talk to him when that time comes Paul Shealer., thank you so much for your time. Congratulations to you and your family. What an honor. I know it's not just a token you really worked for it and years and years of because What year do you think that the tree was planted? That's in the White House? How many years ago are we talking we

Paul Shealer: we buy our seedlings in and a seedling well to actually was called a transplant was probably a four year old transplant from seed. And it's been at its site for 20 or 21 years. So that tree is 2425 years old from seed to tree and it's in the White House.

Paul Yeager: So the first time that you were in the White House, that tree, the new one was already on your property and growing. You just didn't know

Paul Shealer: that is correct. It was there. It was there. All right.

Paul Yeager: Okay, Paul, thank you so much for your time. Great to talk to you.

Paul Shealer: Well, thank you, Paul. Thanks for having me.

Paul Yeager: Thank you, Paul Shealer as he fills us in on what goes on to those 50 acres in his east central Pennsylvania farm beautiful landscape there as we've seen in the pictures. If you have any feedback for me, send it in an email MarkettoMarket@IowaPBS.ORG. New episodes of this podcast come out each and every Tuesday. Thank you, and we'll see you next time.