I wanted my first public post (public action) to be finding a nice, quirky christmas tree salesperson who would let me stand among her/his trees decorated in tinsel, with a box of ornaments at my feet that prospective buyers could hang on me. I thought I would sing them a carol for each ornament, and hopefully field some questions about the life of a christmas tree from rural childhood to urban maturation and death (I could then appeal to the seller for information and get a conversation started).
I was lucky enough to find a lovely tree salesperson named Bucky in my neighborhood who enjoyed the idea. However, he recommended against it, seeing as it was the day of christmas eve, and almost everyone had their trees already. We decided that an interview about the life of a christmas tree and tree seller wouldn’t hurt though. Here is what Bucky of Vermont told me. I’m counting this action as half a public post, and will do something more public as the second half…
The trees he was selling on Thursday were born in Northeastern Vermont 8 to 12 years ago, in a vast garden of trees (which used to be an old dairy farm), planted in rows. Bucky’s friend, who owns the operation, uses no chemicals. Bucky helps his friend out with the harvesting of mature trees in the winter, and his friend helps Bucky tap trees and make maple syrup during the second half of the year. Bucky grew up in the country, and loves it. He says “where else can you wake up in the morning, look out, and see nothing?”- no crowds, pavement, general city-ness . When he comes to Brooklyn in the winter, he survives by visiting Prospect Park and walking mostly on quiet, residential streets. Bucky says that in his experience, tree sellers consider themselves environmentalists. He says it’s beautiful in the middle of the christmas tree grove, but no one has done a site-specific dance there yet. However, the famous Bread and Puppet Theatre (an activist theatre organization) is his neighbor! He would love for christmas tree buyers to appreciate the passion and hard work that goes into growing and harvesting trees, and spending weeks on the streets of our city to sell them.
