On a chilly Friday in December, kids scamper among the evergreens at Pine Patch Tree Farm in Hastings while owner Joe Kindig ’16 prepares a seven-foot spruce for one delighted family.
With a practiced rhythm, he guides the tree into a shaker that rattles loose needles and debris before he trims a one-inch puck from the trunk. He presses a small branding iron into the slice, stamping it with the Pine Patch logo to create a keepsake ornament. He wraps the tree in netting, and a worker hoists it onto the roof rack of the family’s gray SUV.
One more Christmas memory is heading home.
In the Pine Patch barn, where giant nutcracker soldiers stand guard, shelves and tables brim with Christmas decor for sale – wreaths, porch pots and table arrangements. Nikayla Kindig, Joe’s spouse, and their three-month-old son, Jax, greet customers and offer candy canes and Christmas coloring books while holiday music plays in the background. A few lucky kids even get to talk to Santa on a walkie-talkie.
“The tree farm during Christmas is never a transaction; it’s only tradition. I get so much joy,” said Kindig, who began working at the farm as a Hastings College student and bought the place in 2021. “I’ve been taking photos of the same families since 2011 and watching their kids and grandkids grow, seeing families as they change. It’s a tradition that has far surpassed a price tag. It’s a lot of fun when you see people coming to Hastings from Salina, Kansas; Beatrice, Lincoln, Grand Island and Omaha, just because we’ve created a tradition.”
From the 1,000 evergreens Kindig cultivates on a one-acre plot, he sells about 100 each year and lets the others continue to mature. He sells another 500 large pre-cut Christmas trees shipped in from Michigan.
“Nikayla and I got engaged at the tree farm, and her dad built the barn,” Kindig said. “Everything I hate doing in a business, those are her strong suits. As a tandem effort, we are an entrepreneurial couple.”
At Pine Patch, Christmas trees make up 20 percent of the inventory, while the rest are landscape varieties such as oak, maple, birch and locust. Kindig grows 700 landscape trees each year and sells roughly 500 to area households and businesses. He offers his expertise to Hastings College as a member of its Tree Campus USA Committee.
The barn, in addition to serving as a showroom during the Christmas season, doubles as an event venue for weddings, showers, graduation parties and other special occasions. Constructed from pine and douglas fir, the charming structure includes a kitchenette, buffet line, restrooms and even a bridal dressing area on the top level.
“We built the barn in 2022,” Kindig said. “From November to December, it’s a Christmas wonderland. From January to the end of October, Nikayla runs the venue portion. We can accommodate about 100 people.”
Branching out in other ventures
As if running a tree farm didn’t keep them busy enough, the couple also owns Barista’s, another local business where Kindig worked during college. They bought the original location in north Hastings in 2020 and last spring added Barista’s Downtown.
“I graduated from Hastings College and bought the two businesses where I used to be an employee, so here we are,” Kindig said.
Yet another venture — Hastings Complete Lawns, a mowing business he started after graduating from St. Cecilia High School — shares employees with the Pine Patch Tree Farm. In addition to mowing lawns for customers and for several rental properties Kindig owns in Hastings, the employees hang Christmas lights at local residences and commercial properties, even decorating Downtown Hastings for the annual Celebration of Lights festivities.
Kindig’s three local businesses employ more than 20 full- and part-time workers. He estimates that 75 percent are attending or have graduated from Hastings College.
“My education at Hastings College played a vital role in learning how to run a business,” Kindig said. “In addition to the courses in my business major, my communication studies major helped me be more relatable in dealing with customers and staff. I pride myself on the fact that my current and previous employees become friends for life. Without communication, you have no business.”
Kindig’s entrepreneurial mindset even extends to his eventual retirement plans 30-40 years down the road. He bought a home in Estes Park, Colorado, a beloved location where his grandparents owned property, and is renting it out as an Airbnb.
“We want to buy at least one Airbnb rental a year in other states we enjoy, like Arizona,” Kindig said. “That’s our retirement plan. We can go and visit each one.”