It’s always a question after Christmas: when to take down the Christmas tree and what to do with it? Here are five ways to dispose of your tree in Sebastopol and west county.
For cut Christmas trees
- You can take your tree to the Sebastopol Corporation Yard, 425 Morris St., between Dec. 26, 2020, to Jan. 8, 2021, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. This is a free service.
- Graton Fire Christmas Tree Farm is also accepting your old Christmas tree for free. The tree farm is located next to the fire station at 3750 Gravenstein Hwy. N, just north of Graton Road. According to their Facebook, “Please bring your old tree to the farm out back along the gravel road Jan. 1, 2021 through Jan. 31, 2021. We have already started laying trees along the road with stumps inward. We ask everyone to place their trees in the same configuration for ease of chipping. The back gate onto Hicks Road will be open for exit only.”
- Our personal favorite: Take your tree to Badger Ranch to be devoured by goats. According to the Badger Ranch Facebook page, “We will be running our Christmas tree recycling program again this year. Drop off your tree in the nursery parking lot anytime (access via frontage road seven days a week) and the goats will do the rest. We will be running this program now through January. Goats don’t mind dry/crunchy trees either.” (No flocked trees or tinsel.) Badger Ranch is located at the site of the former Grow Gardens Nursery, 1841 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol.
- On your regular yard waste collection day, unflocked trees may be placed inside your green waste container for pickup. The tree must be cut down into less that 4-foot pieces to fit inside the bin with the lid closed.
- Compost it. Cut off the branches and shred them before adding them to your garden compost pile. Chop up the trunk for firewood.
For potted, living Christmas trees
This marks the sixth year that the Lake County Gifting a Tree project has been giving trees to fire survivors in Lake and Sonoma counties. They have gifted approximately 2,500 trees so far.
This is how the project works: If you bought a live tree from a participating nursery (see list below), return it to the nursery by Jan 10.
The Gifting a Tree Project will collect the trees and give them to fire survivors the weekend of Jan 23-24.
Participating nurseries:
- Harmony Farm Supply, Sebastopol
- Urban Tree Farm, Santa Rosa
- Prickett’s Nursery, Healdsburg and Santa Rosa
- Central Valley Garden Center, St Helena
- Cloverdale Nursery, Cloverdale
- MIX Garden, Healdsburg
- Star Gardens, Middletown
If you have a healthy potted Christmas tree (or any other kind of potted tree) that you didn’t purchase at one of these nurseries, but would like to contribute to the Gifting a Tree Project, reach out to founder Kathy Blair through the project’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Lakecountygiftingatreeproject/
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