Holly Branch – a family business and Christmas tradition | Local News
They did that for a couple of years before they bought a tree farm called Holly Branch in Waverly just northwest of Auburn from a gentleman who had decided to retire. The farm grew Virginia pines and deodar cedars He told the Snells it would take three years to sell all the planted trees. Billy and Heidi did it in one holiday season.
“We were the youngest couple ever to get a loan from Auburn National Bank,” Heidi said. “We had to write an essay telling them what we’re going to do with the money. We had no collateral. We had nothing, so we had to write the essay, and they loaned it to us. We paid them back right before January. We didn’t even have to pay interest.”
The young couple decided growing trees wasn’t for them – the trees required a lot of work with pruning and bush-hogging the rows between the trees. But they kept the name, Holly Branch, and moved their seasonal Christmas tree-selling operation to Dothan…
