One Redmond farm family is not giving up, yet, as they weather climate extremes

This summer, record-setting temperatures, and a scorching heat-dome took a big toll on Christmas tree farms in the Northwest. Swaths of trees were severely burned by the heat. Sunburned, in fact. Many seedlings didn't survive at all.

Last week, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm took a trip out to McMurtrey Farm in Redmond. Jana Sifuentes and her husband Pablo run this U-cut tree farm. It’s been in their family for nearly 50 years.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Jana Sifuentes: Christmas trees put out new growth in the spring. In about May, they start having a very soft, tender, bright green growth. It starts to harden off a little bit as we get into summer. That 110-degree heatwave hit just at the peak of that new growth, which hadn't had a chance to harden off yet. It burned the new growth.

As you walk through the trees, you'll see where the new growth has just turned brown and shriveled up and died on the trees. What that means is we have lost an entire year's growth on that tree. That's lucky because for other people the trees completely died from the sunburn.

Kim Malcolm: You lost many seedlings as well.

I did. I probably lost 90% of the seedlings that we planted last year. We sell out every tree we have available in our U-cuts. That means in five, six, seven years, we're going to have less inventory. We'll have to take the inventory that we planted last year and divide that out.

What are you thinking as you're looking into the future, and planning for your business? These climate events are not going to stop.

All I can work on is my own little plot of land and just try to do the best I can with that plot of land. We're trying to diversify so that our income isn't quite as heavily dependent on one crop. We started pumpkins this year. We've started doing some events at the farm. That's because I need to make sure I have a secure income for the farm.

When you're talking with your family about the future, maybe your kids, about the family's investment in this land, what do they tell you? Is it in the cards for them?

We haven't really decided on that yet. Our family is very supportive of us. This summer, as we were trying to open the pumpkin patch, we put out a call and all our kids came home and helped. There's been several times when we've had to do that, where we have had to put out a call to our kids because we need help on the farm. Everything you do is for family.

Do you ever just look at all of these stacked-up challenges and think, I'm done?

Absolutely. My husband and I are definitely approaching retirement age. We definitely go, "Can we do this again?" or "Are we done?" But we keep doing it and probably will keep doing it until we die.

Why? What keeps you in it?

The love of the land. When you own land, you have a responsibility to take care of it. We try to do our best to take care of the land. And the enjoyment when all our children come home back to the farm. That's priceless.

So you're not giving up?

Not yet. Ask me next year!

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.