WILSON: The tree farm is - sort of happened almost by accident. My daughter gave me a book that said "Christmas Trees: For Pleasure Or Profit." And I read it, and I thought, well, I could do that.

The tree farm had been in MacDowell’s family for four generations. It would have been five, if his son had shown any interest along the way – six if it could be handed off someday to the girls.

That image wouldn’t be far off for most of the 15,000 or so Christmas tree farms in the U.S., but it’s not at all what you’d see at Pieropan Christmas Tree Farm, located in a speck of a ...