A small, decades-old honor-system farm with a season on the calendar and a $25-in-2014 price on record, but a 2017 news report of critically low inventory was never publicly confirmed as resolved -- the real question here isn't when to go, it's whether there are trees left to cut.
Cut-your-own trees were $25 each on an honor-system cash box as of a Nov. 2014 Grand Forks Herald article; not confirmed for the 2026 season.
This is a small operation with a real history: started in the 1970s by Michael “Skip” Kotchman, and as of the mid-2010s run by his daughter, Margaux Lindsay, and her husband, Shawn. It sits on roughly 4-5 acres, which is modest next to some choose-and-cut farms, and the whole visitor experience is built around trust rather than staff. As of a 2014 news article, you’d walk the field, cut your own tree with a hacksaw left out near the farmhouse, and drop $25 into a cash tin on your way out. No cashier, no check-in desk.
The single most important thing to know before driving out here isn’t the price or the hours – it’s whether there’s anything left to cut. A 2017 news feature on the farm reported that inventory had dropped so low the operation might not have marketable trees again until roughly 2023. That’s a specific, sourced claim, not a guess, and it’s a serious one: a tree farm that’s run out of mature trees to sell is a tree farm you can drive to and leave empty-handed. No search turned up anything from 2023 through 2026 confirming one way or the other whether that recovered. It may well have – six-plus years is enough time for a young stand to mature – but there’s no evidence either way, and this page won’t pretend otherwise. Call 701-265-7420 before you make the trip.
The season is listed as running daily, all daylight hours, from the Friday after Thanksgiving through Christmas Day. That’s a wide-open schedule with no set business hours to work around, which suits a self-serve, honor-system farm well – there’s no staff schedule to coincide with. The dates themselves were resolved from a “Thanksgiving weekend until Christmas Day” description rather than a farm-published 2026 calendar, so treat them as a reasonable estimate rather than a confirmed listing.
The $25-per-tree figure comes from a 2014 newspaper article, over a decade old at this point. It’s real information, and it’s honest to share it as a historical data point precisely because it’s the only pricing information that exists anywhere for this farm – but it would be dishonest to present it as this year’s price. If you call ahead about inventory, ask about current pricing in the same conversation.
No hayrides, concessions, or other add-on activities are mentioned anywhere in the sources checked. This reads as a straightforward, no-frills cut-your-own outing: find a tree, cut it, pay on the honor system, and go. If you’re looking for a full agritourism day out, this isn’t likely to be it, even if it is operating normally.
Listed as daily, all daylight hours, from Fri. Nov. 27, 2026 through Christmas Day (Dec. 25, 2026) -- resolved from a directory's 'Thanksgiving weekend until Christmas Day' description, not independently reconfirmed for 2026. Given the inventory uncertainty below, earlier in that window is the safer bet if the farm does have sellable trees this year.
Not documented, but this reads as a bare-bones, walk-the-field-and-cut-it-yourself operation with no other draws listed, so likely a shorter visit than a farm with hayrides or concessions.
Not documented directly, but a small (roughly 4-5 acre) farm that reportedly draws visitors from as far as Grand Forks and Jamestown, combined with an inventory shortage never confirmed as resolved, points to real risk of picked-over or unavailable trees if you wait.
Not documented in any source checked.
Not documented. An honor-system, walk-the-field operation with no staff on site implies unpaved, natural field terrain -- a general inference for this kind of farm, not a specific claim about this one.
Skip this one, or call ahead first, if you want any confidence there will be trees to cut, since a 2017 news report described the farm's inventory as extremely low and possibly not recovering until around 2023, and nothing found since then confirms whether that's changed.
Page's Perfect Pine Plantation, also in Cavalier and covered elsewhere in this directory, is a much larger (~60-acre) choose-and-cut operation in the same Pembina County area -- worth calling as an alternative given the inventory question here.
Genuinely unclear. A 2017 news article reported the farm's inventory had dropped so low it might not have marketable trees again until around 2023, and no source from 2023 through 2026 confirms whether that recovered. Call 701-265-7420 before planning a trip.
The only figure on record is $25 per tree, from a 2014 news article describing the farm's honor-system cash box. That has not been confirmed for the 2026 season.
Historically, an honor system: drop payment into a cash tin near hacksaws left out by the farmhouse. The farm's directory listing also lists check as accepted.
Black Hills spruce, Colorado blue spruce, and Scotch pine, according to the farm's directory listing.
November 27 – December 25, 2026. Daily. Hours: All daylight hours.
Trees start at $25. Cut-your-own trees were $25 each on an honor-system cash box as of a Nov. 2014 Grand Forks Herald article; not confirmed for the 2026 season.
Yes. It's cut-your-own and choose-and-cut (staff cuts it for you), and a saw is provided.
12989 92nd St NE, Cavalier, ND 58220, in Pembina County. It is one of 2 farms we track in Northeast ND.
There is 1 other farm we track in Pembina County. All Northeast ND farms →
pickyourownchristmastree.org · kotchmantreefarm.com
Checked September 2026.