Pioneer Tree Farm

This was the first time we visited Pioneer Tree Farm and we loved it! We got a beautiful 6 ft tree that I enjoy knowing was grown organically and helps the environment. The experience was great, friendly staff, wagon ride, warming house and free hot chocolate. If you are looking for a tree that had been dyed and shaped and sprayed with chemicals this is not the place for you. If you are looking for a good experience, an organic real tree and helping the environment I encourage you to check them out!

I love this place! We have come here for many years and will keep going back.
Note: this is an organic tree farm. The trees are not treated, they aren’t dyed, they aren’t shaped. They will look funky. And they will look like trees.
We bought a lovely tree this year! They have tractor-​pulled hayrides to take you closer to the field and to help you bring your cut tree to the parking lot. They have saws. They have a warning tent with free hot chocolate and coffee. They also have some nice pioneer life demos (this year was woodworking and candle making) and chickens to feed.
The staff/​volunteers are super friendly and helpful. And all trees are the same price: $ 45, and some of the proceeds support the McHenry County Defenders. We paid much more for a similar sized lot tree last year that ended up raining needles by Christmas.
If you are looking for a no-​frills cut-​your-​own tree experience, this is it. And if you want to know that your tree is organic and that it will be replaced and cared for by other organic tree farmers in the future, this is the place. You can comfortably say that you are doing something good for the environment by chipping down a tree here.

This place was a bust. We hauled it out there from the city, about 90 minutes, to pick out a tree. The people were charming and the setup was welcoming, but the trees were about 3 – 4 feet high at most. This would have been helpful info to have on the website. Apartment dwellers with very, very limited space might like the trees and the overall experiences (tractor ride, hot cocoa, some homesteading-​type craft/​skill demos), but for us, it was a big disappointment and waste of time.

We really wanted to love this place. Charming, friendly, helpful. BUT, there were NO trees that we could cut. We simply wanted a six foot tree. Most of their tree were 4 feet at most, and most look worse that a Charlie Brown X-​mas tree. And they wanted $ 45 for these trees (they would cost $ 15 at a nursery, if a nursery would sell them). Nice place, nice people, NO TREES (and I don’t see how this could change by next year). Go to Richardson’s!

Love this charming little Christmas tree farm — they open their doors during the Christmas season to people to tromp through their fields and cut down a Christmas tree. It’s a small property, with a limited selection, thus they have a very limited season.
The trees are grown organically.
They have a nice sized warming shed, where they sell hand made items (grape vine wreaths etc.) and serve hot chocolate and have a little bit of educational information on the environment. Outside they always have the requisite tractor rides and fire ring.
This year they had a wood working display, using antique tools. The man doing this work was more than willing to sit and talk about tools with hubby.
They do work with McHenry County Defenders — if I’m not mistaken, some of the proceeds from the sale go to this group.
With warm and friendly volunteers, it’s always a pleasant visit.
Sorry — the tree season is over for 2009. They are working to replant using hardier species, so expect more tree availability in coming years.
Would I recommend: Yes — and bring your (leashed) dog too.
Would I return: Yes — best tree farm we’ve found.