U-Pick Christmas Trees and Conservation at Erin’s Farm

A farm centered on family and ecological conservation invites you to cut your own Christmas tree and connect with nature.

April 06, 2024

In the southern part of the Lower Cumberland watershed, thousands of Christmas trees, blueberries, prairie grasses and wildflowers adorn the hills of Erin’s Farm. This idyllic farm is located on just under 250 acres in Cunningham, Tennessee, about 30 minutes south of Clarksville. First-generation farmers Linda and Gary Hamm own the farm and tend it with their daughters and grandchildren.

During the winter holiday months, the public can visit the farm and cut their own Christmas tree. You’ll find the perfect tree for your home with a selection of white, Scotch and Virginia pines in all shapes and sizes. And you can rest assured the Hamm’s natural farming practices mean you’re not bringing home any unwanted chemicals. While you’re there, enjoy a steaming mug of cocoa around a fire while your kids bundle up and hop on a hayride.

Winter isn’t the only time to enjoy all that Erin’s Farm offers. U-pick blueberries and a large field of butterfly habitat offer warm weather opportunities to visit the farm and learn more about the Hamm family’s commitment to the land. Professional photographers are encouraged to contact the Hamms about using the farm as a shoot locale.

While the U-pick berries and Christmas trees are (mostly) for us humans, the ponds, forests and pollinator and prairie fields of Erin’s Farm are expressly for nurturing wildlife. Frogs, crawfish, songbirds and monarch butterflies are beloved species found on the farm.

The Hamms are doing their part to restore bygone prairies by eliminating fields of invasive fescue and lespedeza and replacing them with native, warm-season grasses. Twenty-seven acres of native prairie grasses control soil erosion and aid in water purification. The grasses are drought-tolerant and do not require chemical fertilizers or herbicides. Growing as tall as 8 feet, they provide food sources, good nesting cover and brood areas for birds. The grasses encourage native wildflowers, which have room to grow in the spaces between the clumps of grasses.

These prairie restoration efforts and commitment to natural farming practices earned Erin's Farm its River Friendly Farm certification status. As a certified River Friendly Farm, Erin’s Farm ensures cleaner water for residents of the Lower Cumberland watershed.

Through its River Friendly Farms program, the Cumberland River Compact celebrates farms like Erin’s Farm and their conservation efforts by highlighting their farming practices, offering marketing support and connecting them with funding resources to further their sustainability initiatives.

Support Erin’s Farm by treating yourself to a U-pick experience on their farm. Cut your own Christmas tree in the winter and come back in the summer to pick sun-warmed blueberries and experience the magic of a field of flowering native plants.