From Iceland — A Life In The Trees: Meet Christmas Tree Farmer Guðmundur Sigurðsson

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For some, Christmas isn’t complete without snow, but for me there’s no festive season without a Christmas tree. In my quest to find an authentic, Iceland-grown Christmas tree, I reached out to Guðmundur Sigurðsson, a farmer who cultivates a pine forest in Lundarreykjadalur. A humble and honest man, Guðmundur may have retired a few years ago, but instead of lounging around, he’s zipping around the forest hills on his ATV. I went along for the ride.

I have been interested in agriculture since I was a kid. I grew up in the north, in Þingeyjarsýsla, where my dad, a priest, had sheep and cows. I grew up farming and always wanted to go to a farmers’ school and become a farmer. That’s what I did! I am educated as an agricultural specialist. I taught agriculture for five years at Bændaskólinn (the farmer’s school) here in Hvanneyri. Then, I worked for 20 years as an advisor for the ministry, working with farmers in the western part of the country, followed by 15 years with the forestry organisation. I’ve always had a deep interest in agriculture. It’s been my life and joy!

My wife, Sigrún, is from here and she owns the land we’re going to visit. Twenty years ago, I started growing a forest. At that time, I was working for the forestry organisation and was in charge of planting trees across the entire western part of the country, mostly for farmers starting their own forests. I was doing this full-time but quit five years ago — I retired when I was 70.

“Sometimes, I have a tree that’s beautiful on top and at the bottom but very sparse in the middle. You wouldn’t want a tree like that.”

I’ve lived in Hvanneyri since 1975 and have never considered moving away. I first came in 1968 for school, but I’ve had my legal address here since 1975. Life here has always been quiet, but the people are good. I have four kids, 11 grandkids and two great-grandkids. My kids are all here, close by. They all left to study elsewhere but eventually returned to this area.

The tree that got away

My interest lies in forest growing. I don’t have the land for Christmas trees specifically, but I grow pine trees. When they’re planted too closely together, I have to trim them. I may start selecting certain trees to use as Christmas trees and trim the others. On average, it takes six to 10 years to grow a Christmas tree. I cut down the ones that aren’t suitable or that don’t grow well and use them for firewood or shred them into chips to make paths. I usually trim trees in the winter when there’s frost.

Every year, I sell about 100 trees from my forest. Additionally, a buddy of mine and I visit other farms and take around 200 more trees. We often go to forests where the owners may not feel confident in handling the felling themselves. Roughly 100 trees will go to the Search and Rescue team, sold to them at a discount.

I’ve sometimes invited people to come to my forest to choose and cut the tree they like. Now, it’s a bit more difficult, since we have a house on the property, which we rent out. But we did this last year — we even had some Santa Clauses that came to the forest and everyone got hot chocolate.

Atli Freyr Steinsson for The Reykjavík Grapevine

I’ve often ended up selling the best tree that I’d set aside for myself. I pick one and then someone would come along and say, “Oh, this is beautiful. I’m gonna take it.” In the end, I always have to go find another tree for myself.

A lone caretaker

You do need to take care of the trees — trimming the branches and such. I’ll admit, I’ve been a bit lazy with it, but it needs to be done. There’s a type of tree in my forest called lerki (larch in English), which sheds its needles in the winter. I’ve been trimming them a lot, especially the bottom branches.

“I want to leave the land in a better shape than it was when I took over.”

You can tell early on if a tree is going to grow into a nice one. The most important thing is that it doesn’t grow too fast; otherwise, there’s too much space between the branches. Sometimes, I have a tree that’s beautiful on top and at the bottom but very sparse in the middle. You wouldn’t want a tree like that.

I don’t go to the forest every day. It happens more in sessions — there might be some weeks that I’m just working in the forest, but then I might be doing something else for a while. In the summers, we mostly live in the house on the farm and spend time maintaining paths and doing other work. In winter, I go to the forest once in a while.

Atli Freyr Steinsson for The Reykjavík Grapevine

I mostly work alone in the forest, chopping trees, but if there’s a lot to do, like dragging them out, someone might help. I enjoy working alone. None of my kids are interested in taking over the farm — they all have other careers. But I’m getting older and need to start thinking about it. Something has to happen in the next five years.

Tree farmers unite

I don’t know if people are buying fewer real trees these days, but it feels like artificial trees are becoming more popular. My sales aren’t dropping because of that. I have a fixed market here, a contract with the Search and Rescue in Borgarnes, and a wholesaler in Reykjavík that buys from me and is selling to IKEA.

All the profit goes directly back into the land — the forest, the house there and any equipment we might need for work. I’m not doing this to live off it, I have my pension for that.

I want to leave the land in a better shape than it was when I took over.

My dream is for the forest farmers in this area — there are maybe 10 of us — to form some sort of working group. We could sell together and register how many trees each of us has. It’s

good to have some kind of cooperation. I’ve just started talking about this idea, but it would be good for us not to work in isolation, each in their own corner, but to connect and support one another.

We would know of each other’s stock and could help in times of need. For example, if someone called me asking for 20 trees and I didn’t have enough, I could refer them to someone else.

We haven’t done anything yet, but that is the idea.

The Christmas tree market here is still very new. Most of us have only been selling trees for about 10 years or even less. It isn’t fully developed yet, but there’s so much potential. According to some statistics, imported trees have been the majority up until now, but I feel that Icelandic trees make up almost half of the trees sold now. We could be producing and selling much, much more than we currently do. We just need more people.

Hydrate and decorate

The valleys here in Borgarfjörður are good areas for growing trees. Being inland, we don’t get the harsh, salty weather that comes from the sea. The winters are cold, but we get decent temperatures in the summer. The conditions here are similar to those in Skorradalur, but there is much more farmland here. It’s much more challenging to grow trees in areas like Snæfellsnes, which is much closer to the sea.

Atli Freyr Steinsson for The Reykjavík Grapevine

We have 70 hectares of land, about 30 of which are forest, with around 150,000 trees. Most of my trees are around two metres high, but I’ve grown trees as tall as three metres. Some companies bought the larger ones to put outside.

I cut the trees around a month before they’re sold and store them outside. I’ve had unsold trees remain in good condition as late as January or even March. Once brought inside, the trees typically last about a month, maybe a month and a half. I’ve often put my Christmas tree up in early December, and they’ve remained in great condition through Þrettándinn [Epiphany].

It’s a good idea to add water to the base of the Christmas tree stand, especially during the first week. After that, they usually manage well without much additional water. Some people recommend putting the tree in boiling hot water, but that applies more to the European spruce because they shed their needles more. I have myself just kept them in water and that has gone well.

At 75, Guðmundur is just getting started

When I’m not in the forest, I woodturn, making candleholders and small wooden Christmas trees. It’s just a hobby, but I sell some of them at markets and give the rest to the kids.

I also have five horses that I ride in the summer. Every Sunday morning, I play Ringo — a game very similar to volleyball. There’s a net, but instead of a ball, you throw rings across it. We always play as a group, mostly people aged 50 or maybe 60 plus. This morning, though, I didn’t go because I also take care of the cemetery and I had to go dig a grave.

I try to be socially active — I am the foreman of the parish council and also the treasurer of the Vintage Car Association of Borgarfjörður. There’s always plenty to keep me busy.