About the quilt & barn

Address:

8711 Stanhope-Kelloggsville Road, Williamsfield Township

Directions:

From Route 11, take the Route 322 exit; head east on Route 322 to Stanhope Kelloggsville Road; turn right (south). Farm will be on the right, shortly before the Trumbull County line.

Owners:

Larry and Diane Stevens, Log Barn Christmas Tree Farm

 

The quilt:

Pieced Christmas tree, 4X4 feet. Painted by Larry and Diane Stevens.

The farm:

Jim and Mildred Dolan operated a dairy farm on this property until the late 1960s, when a fire claimed the house and barn. They sold the property on land contract, but the buyers defaulted.

Larry and Diane Stevens purchased the farm in 1973 with a plan of converting it to a Christmas tree farm. They planted their first trees in 1980.

There are 88 acres on the farm, and about 35 of those are in Christma trees. They raise six varieties: Frasier fir, Colorado blue spruce, White spruce, Norway spruce, white pine and Scotch pine. Cutting of trees for the wholesale customers begins Nov. 10; the tree farm opens for retail sales on the day after Thanksgiving.

The tree farm is full service, offering trees already cut as well as the cut-y0ur-own experience. Customers can ride on a covered wagon to the fields and bring their tree back to the log house on the wagon. Bailing is part of the service.

The log barn was constructed in 1993 by Larry and Diane.

“We decided we needed a building to get people into and out of the cold,” Larry says. “We had all these large pine trees across the road that had been planted in the 1940s. So we harvested them and built the cabin.”

The structure measures 35l-by45-feet and has a dirt floor. The single-room cabin has a loft and is heated with a fieldstone and concrete, circular fire ring with a suspended metal chimney.

The barn quilt pattern reflects just one of the products produced at this farm. The family also raises Scottish highland cattle, the meat from which is sold direct to the consumer at the farm.

There are 11 ponds on the farm and Larry uses them to raise bluegill for the frozen fish market.

The log cabin is a popular gathering place for the family and the Kinsman-area neighbors and friends of this couple.