At Henwood Tree Farm, a budding Christmas tree venture near Temiskaming Shores, Chris and Isabelle Allen thrive on planning their business for the long-term.
“A Christmas tree farm is a funny business,” said Isabelle Allen, a registered professional forester who purchased the 156-acre prime growing plot in Kenabeek with her husband in 2017.
“When we plant a tree, we’re not going to see a return on that investment for 10 years.”
The first crop of 600 seedlings, comprised of native species like balsam fir and black and white spruce, was planted at Henwood in 2021 on 10 acres that had been previously cleared for commercial logging. The trees will be ready to harvest around 2031.
The Allens plan to sell around 600 trees to the local community each year while having between 10 and 12 field rotations going at once.
The rotations will include more exotic species, including Fraser fir and Douglas fir, which are not native to the area, and white pine, a less traditional Christmas tree.
The long-term planning of their business model seems to suit the Allens perfectly. While building their business from the ground up, they’re also focussed on raising their young family. Their son is the same age as their first crop of trees, and their daughter was born last year.
“It’s almost like a retirement plan for my husband and I,” said Isabelle.
It has sometimes been difficult, she said, explaining to funding organizations that Henwood will not see an immediate return on investments. But this hasn’t stopped them from cultivating steadily growing support.
Last year, they received a grant from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) to help finish building their primary retail space. A beautiful barn was constructed with help from family members using timbers hand-milled by Chris, who designed the timber frame.
As early as next winter, the Allens will use the barn to sell precut trees sourced from other Christmas tree farms that are also members of the Christmas Tree Growers of Ontario.
The Allens hope to use the barn for events, gatherings, and workshops. Isabelle has already hosted a number of wreath-making workshops at Timiskaming First Nation, of which she is a member. All the branches for the wreaths were harvested from Henwood’s wild trees.
The Allens have reached out to local makers to sell potential gift items like pottery, jewelry, and art in their retail space, which will also feature handmade products created from Henwood’s wild trees.
Every year around the May long weekend, said Isabelle, the spruce trees get springy, rubbery, bright green buds that can be processed into salves and balms.
“I recruit my family,” she said, “and we pick the tips. I bring them home and clean them, distill them in oil, and then I mix the oil with Ontario beeswax, vitamin E, and benzoin oil.”
Spruce has traditionally been used as an antiseptic like Polysporin. Isabelle said the salves are also great for dry skin.
“We’ll have the base of the tree farm and continue to add to it,” said Isabelle, who hopes Henwood will occupy a niche like other seasonal outdoor businesses in the area.
“I’m hoping it becomes a big part of the community. We’ll have a fire pit and snowshoeing, and I’m trying to convince my husband to get some reindeer.”
The idea of starting a Christmas tree farm was a natural fit for Isabelle.
Both Isabelle and Chris grew up in the area; camping, hiking, and fishing. Isabelle has many happy childhood memories of choosing a Christmas tree each year.
Her love of nature and the outdoors led her to pursue a degree in environmental sciences from the University of Guelph, and a career as a registered professional forester at Wahkohtowin Development GP Inc.
Wahkotowin is a social enterprise of three Northern Ontario First Nations that works to renew cultural practices and uphold the communities’ rights to create sustainable resource management.
“A lot of my job is helping advance the participation of First Nations in how forestry is practised,” said Isabelle. “[Forestry practices] are supposed to be equitable for First Nations but often that’s not done, so I help to bridge that gap and build the capacity to help the Nations participate more.”
The focus of Wahkohtowin’s practices include sustainable forestry, supporting herbicide alternative practices, wildlife conservation, and carbon management.
Through Wahkotowin, Isabelle has spoken at conferences about First Nations-led forest management strategies, like Wahkohtowin’s Indigenous Lands Symposium, an annual sustainable forestry conference taking place this year from Feb. 3-7 in Sault Ste. Marie.
Isabelle’s own forestry methods at Henwood dovetail with both those learned at the University of Guelph and those practised with Wahkohtowin.
“[Sustainability] is something that we take into consideration with all the decisions that we make,” she said. “So much of my day job is focused on working with the forest as an ecosystem and not just looking at the trees as timber.”
Her biggest commitment so far has been deciding to forgo using herbicides at Henwood in order to grow organic Christmas trees.
The Allens use hand tools to practise manual brushing that controls encroaching growth from the surrounding forest. They’ve also tried laying ground cover as a preventative measure.
“We till the rows where we plant the trees, and plant clover between the rows. The clover is cut with a mower,” said Isabelle.
There’s been some skepticism from local farmers about whether they will be able to maintain their herbicide-free policy, but so far the operation has been a success.
Isabelle’s experience as a forester is also at the core of her growing methods. That includes her belief in inoculating Henwood’s seedlings with mycorrhizal fungi, which allows each seedling’s roots to immediately connect with the other seedlings around them, giving them a higher survival rate.
“The roots make an underground connection, and ‘talk’ to each other,” said Isabelle.
“When seedlings are planted commercially they’re not hooked into the underground fungal network.”
As Henwood grows, Isabelle hopes to introduce an educative component to the business that will focus on bringing schools out to Henwood to teach children about forestry and forest ecology.
In the coming years, the Allens look forward to watching Henwood grow and thrive with the local community.
“Getting a Christmas tree is a very magical experience,” said Isabelle. “We don’t have a Christmas tree farm up here, and we wanted people up here to have that experience as well.”
