BETHEL -- Little spruce trees from a family homestead in the Kilbuck Mountains tumbled out the back of a pickup truck Saturday as Jeannine Faulkner set up a casual Christmas tree stand outside Bethel's Saturday market.
The trees are her mother's project. "I'm just the tree pimp," Jeannine Faulkner joked.
Her mother, Dolly, pots up trees dug from the family land between Aniak and the old mining town of Nyac, then sends them with her to sell for $10 and $20, depending on the size. Faulkner, 41, flies the trees down a few at a time in her Cessna 172 when she comes to Bethel for supplies.
"These grow right along an airstrip between Nyac and Aniak," Faulkner said.
She has been selling Christmas trees for her mother for years, and come spring many are planted outdoors in Bethel. Faulkner, who lives on the homestead too, said she loves seeing them growing around town.
"We're kinda hoping that people will plant a tree, instead of cut one down, for Christmas," Faulkner said while unloading the truck in the parking lot of the Yupiit Puciryarait Cultural Center.
Mike McIntyre, who sings and plays guitar in a band called Frozen Whitefish, bought two, a taller one that was already cut and a live one to plant. Bethel doesn't have a lot of trees but in recent years some have grown tall.
Last year, Dolly Faulkner published a book about her Alaska life called "Forty Years in the Wilderness," which is selling on Amazon as an e-book.