Travis Long Continuing a Holiday Family Tradition
The holiday season is an extra busy time for Travis Long of TriNav Marine Brokerage.
Since he was a young boy, Long has been helping out on the family Christmas tree lot. The family tradition goes back to his grandfather, who would sell single loose balsam fir trees in Pomquet, Nova Scotia.
From there, he spread the tradition to all of his sons. All of Long’s uncles owned land that they grew trees on, a trend his father joined in on with his first parcel of land in 1974.
“I just grew up into it,” said Long from his home overlooking acres of balsam fir trees. “I’ve been holding shears since I was three.”
At 23 years old, he managed to get his own 15 acres to start a Christmas tree enterprise. By age 27, Long managed to grow his business even further.
“I did well with it, so at 27 I bought the big farm and I’ve been doing it independently ever since,” said Long.
Over the course of about seven years, Long and his family were hit with a string of unfortunate luck that forced his hand, leaving him to sell the family farm. He chose to involve himself more heavily in the fishing industry, moving from working as a fisherman’s helper in Guysborough County and Antigonish County, to working as a supervisor of a snow crab unloading crew in Cheticamp, Cape Breton.
Since the start of 2022, Long has been working as a marine broker with TriNav Marine Brokerage, focusing on Cape Breton, Antigonish and Guysborough region.
“A few different things went into it — life problems and struggling with the business itself,” explained Long. “I sold the big one and opted to move more into the fishing industry, but I still lease about 70 acres of Christmas trees. It’s still the family farm, I just lease it from my father.”
He always found the Christmas season rewarding and relished in the demanding work that goes into it. Long and his crew usually work around 32 days straight leading up to Christmas with little to no downtime until the season is over.
“It’s cute when the little kids come out, like for my little daughter, to go get a tree, along with other little kids,” said Long. “But the appeal we find, me and the boys who work it, is that once you start into the harvest you work seven days a week… It’s so demanding, it’s fun. There’s a bit of that nostalgia, that I put a lot of Christmas trees into people’s homes every year.”
Despite growing up harvesting trees, Long is fonder of the fish harvesting industry that he came to know as a young man.
“I got the fishing bug, I guess. I like the fishing industry,” said Long. “Christmas trees is what I was born into and I’m really good at it, but fishing is where I’ve made the most money and have more ambition.”
Despite being more involved in the fisheries these days, Long plans to buy the land he currently leases from his father and keep it within the family. Everything is being left to his seven-year-old daughter. What she eventually does with it is up to her.
“My daughter is only seven, but she will have the choice someday,” said Long.
Photos Submitted by Travis Long
