In Saint-Thibaud-de-Couz, the family business Rat-Patron owns 30 hectares of fir plantations: spruces and nordmanns. They are planted, well aligned according to their species and collected, gradually, over several years. During this pre-Christmas period, the company, which employs around ten employees, employs six additional people to select, cut and protect these trees in the nets. These Chartreuse fir trees are then sold in nurseries, florists and garden centers. The largest fir trees (more than eight meters) will join the squares of towns, villages or stations.
“My advice” says Charlotte Rat-Patron, the manager, “it is still necessary to wait before bringing the tree into the houses or apartments. You can buy your tree in advance and have it wait outside. On the other hand, we can clearly see that on store shelves, Christmas decorations have been on sale for several weeks already.”
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The rush of activity before Christmas
Rat-Patron Jardin, a landscaping company, puts its other activities on hold before Christmas, everyone mobilizes around the “king of the forests”. On the Chaplet plot, three employees collect the fir trees cut by their colleagues and net them using a special machine. “This is a big time for us“confirms Fabien, who works on this plot with Antoine, in professional retraining”before I was a kindergarten teacher for three years. But I quickly realized that I needed more physical, outdoor work. So I'm employed for the season here and I started a BTS.”
A little further, another plot, another atmosphere. We are above the road, on a sloping area. Alain, chainsaw in hand, is a regular “it’s physical in this sector, you have to do everything with a chainsaw and then reassemble the trees by hand. But we like it, that’s why we do this job”. In Chatreuse, this family business owns around thirty hectares, divided into around fifty plots. “this requires more logistics, more work” explains Charlotte Rat-Patron, the manager. “But on the other hand, if there are climatic incidents such as hail in one area, the other plantation sectors are spared. This winter, despite the drop in purchasing power or inflation, sales of these Chartreuse fir trees are stable.
