This year, WUWM has committed to covering issues our listeners say are top priorities, including the economy. As part of that coverage, we’re exploring how the economy is impacting Wisconsinites with different financial needs and concerns through our Economic Check-In series.
This month we revisit Tom Oberhaus, a co-operator of Cozy Nook Farm in Waukesha County. Cozy Nook is primarily a dairy farm, supplying milk to Prairie Farms mainly for their cheese products. The farm supplements its dairy business with seasonal pumpkin and Christmas tree sales.
When Lake Effect’s Sam Woods last spoke with Oberhaus in October, pumpkin sales were going strong. This month, the two discuss how Christmas tree season went, and how Cozy Nook is preparing for 2026.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Sam Woods: As we've transitioned from pumpkin season to Christmas tree season, how has that transition gone?
Tom Oberhaus: Pumpkin season ended up very, very good. Christmas tree season started off with the biggest bang it's ever started off with because you may remember we had the snowstorm come in on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So that Friday was a tremendously busy day. Then the winter weather hit, and so our business slacked off significantly, and we just had a so-so kind of year. We are used to selling out of trees, but this year I'm sorry to report, we did not.
I think the weather played a major role. As the season goes, we usually get quite a few people that come out from the city as their day out to come visit the farm and get a Christmas tree. And that business dropped off significantly because the weather was cold and wintry.
What's on the horizon for Cozy Nook Farm?
So right now it's our business planning time of the year because first of all, the books have to get wrapped up for last year. There's a lot of work to do there financially. Then we need to make plans for the next year as far as cropping, fertilizer and seed-buying, and prioritizing for the next year what kind of capital projects do we want to go for. You know, farm always has to make improvements every year. If you don't make improvements, you slowly just kind of godown the tubes. So right now is more of a planning time to get ready to rock and roll come spring.
Have you noticed bigger economic trends affecting prices for the seeds, capital improvements, and everything else that you're looking at right now? I'm thinking impacts of tariffs and changes to global supply chains that are new this year.
Fertilizer prices are up, not drastically, but they are up. Seed prices look like they're maintaining because I think the seed companies are well aware that the agriculture economy in general is not doing very good because our crop prices are quite low right now and so seed prices have maintained. So it's on to the next year and we'll hope for a good growing season and hopefully a little better prices on our crops, which include corn, soybeans and a little bit of wheat because we need the straw for the cattle.
