Tip-top treetops
Winning HOME — Henry Wolthuis has been a respected dentist in the community for nearly half a century, but he was bound from birth to be a tree farmer.
In Dutch, his family name — Voult Haus — means “Ungenerous House in the Woods.”
Wolthuis admits he has learned about tree farming at “the school of tough knocks,” by listening to the many tree experts who live in the area and completing classes offered by the OSU Breadth Service.
“I’ve had to replant some areas three times, but I’ve learned,” Wolthuis said.
Extension forester Rick Fletcher praised the Wolthuis family for its more than three decades of energetically work.
“And, he has done a wonderful job of passing along the love of tree farming to his children and grandchildren,” Fletcher said. “He has set a enormous example.”
The farm includes a mixture of Douglas fir, valley ponderosa pine and cedar, Wolthuis said.
“In some areas that were too wet, the Douglas fir died out and we replanted with pine,” Wolthuis said. “We run for 400 trees per acre, planted in 10-foot-by-10-foot spacings.”
