Christmas Tree Farm Shed in Jarrettsville, MD

Gary Thomas owns a delightful Christmas tree farm in Jarrettsville, Maryland. When the holiday season comes around, hundreds of people come to his farm to buy trees and wreaths and enjoy hot chocolate around the bonfire. In recent years, Winterfarm’s original building was no longer adequate for all of their needs, leading them to build a shed designed for their specific needs.

Winterfarm

The Winterfarm Christmas Tree Farm was started in 1961 by Gary’s father and uncle. Gary grew up working on the farm and took ownership of the 54 acres in 2016. 

Gary is well known in Christmas tree circles. He has been the past president of both Pennsylvania’s and Maryland’s Christmas Tree boards and is currently involved with the National Christmas Tree Association. Winterfarms has also made it onto Country Living’s top Christmas tree farms the past four years.

Winterfarms has over 40 acres of trees on its property, with over 38,000 trees in the ground. Gary’s specialty is growing Fraser Firs, and his years of experience have taught him how to ensure the perfect growing environment for his trees. He pays careful attention that the soil’s ph levels are perfect and provides the trees with the best fertilizer. His skill and knowledge of growing trees have caused his trees to grow at an accelerated rate. Instead of the average 10 years for a tree to mature to cuttable size, his trees are ready to cut in 7 years.

The Best Time of the Year

Gary enjoys taking care of the trees and walking through the fields during the summer months at the farm, but his favorite season is the holiday season. He enjoys the excitement when they open up their shop in late fall. 

[My favorite time is] when we open! The weekend before Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend.

Before they open their shop up the week before Thanksgiving, they deck their property out in holiday style. They prepare for the influx of people coming in over the holiday season by  decorating and preparing their sheds and booths. 

We are typical Christmas nuts…we are all about Christmas!

Winterfarms offer more than just Christmas trees. They have a wreath-making corner where Gary’s wife makes and decorates around 600 wreaths yearly. They offer hundreds of options of ribbons, specialty chocolates, kissing balls, and any equipment needed to set up a tree. They also build a daily bonfire for people to sit around and enjoy hot chocolate and s’mores, creating the perfect cozy holiday atmosphere for their customers.  

New Sheds for the Farm

In 2017, Winterfarms needed a shed in which to sell their hot cocoa, marshmallows, and cupcakes. They began their search for a new shed at their local shed companies, but they couldn’t find quality customizable sheds. 

When they found Sheds Unlimited’s website and later visited the sales lot, they knew they had found what they had been searching for: high-quality sheds and customizable options. Several years later, they bought another shed to store chemicals in and to use as a well-house.

We were really happy with the quality, and we were able to tell them what we wanted, and they were able to build it pretty much to our designs.

A few years later, Winterfarms ran into a problem. They had been using a small shed (not a Sheds Unlimited shed) to sell their items. The shed, however, was getting too small for what they wanted to use it for, and they were concerned about the floor’s durability. They started looking for a larger building at Sheds Unlimited.

Design and Installation

Sheds Unlimited had an 8-month waiting list, so Gary used that time to design a shed that would meet their needs perfectly. He decided to purchase a 28×48 Workshop Garage with a few modifications. He added skylights, an overhang on double french doors, sliding doors, and a 6ft wide window to display their large train display. 

The day the shed was installed, the crew rolled in around 5:15 AM. Winterfarms had a concrete foundation poured in preparation for the shed to be installed, so the crew started building right away, and by 6:30, the first wall was up.

It was quite impressive the way they had everything on one tractor-trailer to come in

The crew left by 5:00 PM that evening and returned the next day to finish up. Gary was impressed by the installation team.

The crew was always helpful, and they were always nice

Thoughts on the Building

Gary says that since they bought it, the building has exceeded their expectations.

We have come a long way from a little… not-high-quality sales building to this [building]. We love it!

Words of Advice

Gary advises others to take their time when buying a shed or garage. He says it is essential to look over the drawings and ensure the building is big enough for their needs. Gary also would point people to Sheds Unlimited for a building. 

 “I would recommend Sheds Unlimited for their quality and expertise.”

Gary’s wife, who has worked in construction and has high standards, says she “has no complaints. [Sheds Unlimited] did it all.”

Christmas Trees

We enjoyed working with Gary at Winterfarms on this project. If you want a cozy Christmas Tree farm experience, visit Winterfarms at their location in Jarrettsville, MD. Visit their website for more information about their tree farm. 

Design Your Own Shed

If you need a building on your property to sell hot chocolate and Christmas trees or to simply make your life easier and streamline your business, check out our selections of sheds and garages. If you also need a customized shed, you can use our 3D Shed Builder to create a shed designed perfectly for you.