South Jersey Christmas tree farm closing after 40 years; what you can do to support it

MULLICA TWP. – Lanza’s Tree Farm has been a staple of the community here for four decades with families coming by to get their fresh-cut Christmas trees each holiday season.

The farm has had three generations of farmers and must now be sold due to the illness of current owner, Richard Lanza, who suffers from an incurable neurological disease.

Lanza, 52, can no longer work, so the family felt it was in the best interest of all to sell the property to help care for him. They’re hoping the community will help give the tree farm quite a sendoff in its last season.

Any size tree can be bought for $20. Customers must come with their saw, cut it and load it. In years past, Richard Lanza would assist customers.

“It’s very emotional,” Richard’s wife, Lynn Lanza told the Courier Post. “We sat down and talked to our kids (three daughters). Richard and I talked about it before he really started really getting sick. It was just one of the options that we’re thankfully able to do for him to have the care he’s going to need.”

Lanza’s Tree Farm has been all in the family

Lynn said her husband is a third-generation farmer. He ran his father Richard’s blueberry farm, Lanza’s Blueberry Hill, for over 26 years and has run the tree farm for years, which was his grandfather’s (Vincent), then his father’s.

“He’s been there since he could walk,” she added. "He grew up on both farms."

They plan to sell 11 ½ acres of the farm, she said.

“We split it in two,” she added, explaining they are keeping nine acres as well as the house his grandfather bought.

“It’s due to my husband’s illness. He has Huntington’s disease, which is Parkinson’s, ALS and dementia, so he’s fighting three diseases, not one. Life expectancy when somebody gets it is between 20 and 30 years. He’s rounding the corner where he’s going to start needing fulltime care.”

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According to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, "Huntington’s disease is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities during their prime working years and has no cure."

Tree farm has become more of a woods

While people from the community have come to get their Christmas trees for years, Lynn Lanza said the Christmas tree part of things wasn’t a really big business for them.

“The past couple of years, we figured we’d do $20 a tree to sell as many as we could,” she shared. “This being our last year, we wanted to do it again.

“It’s starting to become more of a woods than a tree farm. They’re just growing and they’re not able to get trimmed. The business was mostly for landscapers, contractors, that kind of thing.”

The family says that any money they get over the cost of the Christmas trees will be donated to the Huntington's disease research.

The address of the tree farm is 1100 Elwood Road in Hammonton. The hours are 9 a.m. to dark, Lynn Lanza said.

“We’ve had people go out there in the pitch black looking for trees and it’s self-serve, seven days a week,” she added.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Christmas trees are $20 at South Jersey farm, closing after 40 years