For most of human existence, our sustenance has come from the forest. Trees and forest crops offer a range of incredible plants and fungi that can be called food-medicines, as they both nourish and restore us. This session offers a conversation about the ways we can both conserve the ,forest while increasing the pallate of useful yields from them. To to this, a farmer must take advantage of the many microclimates and functions trees offer and also possess the long-haul vision of managing a system that develops over lifetimes rather than a single season. Learn from the stories of active forest farmers growing mushrooms, elderberry, paw paw, tree syrups, and integrating animals into their woods, and discuss the ways you can integrate more of your growing within the trees.

1. Farming
the
Woods:
Seeing
the
Forest
for
More
than
Just
the
Trees
Permaculture
Voices
March
7,
2015
Books
available
through
the
book
vendor!
or
online
at:
FarmingtheWoods.com
For
slides:
/2015conference

2. WellspringForestFarm.com
Water in the Landscape
May 2 & 3
Building Living Soil
June 27
Forestry & Agroforestry
Short Course
July 24 - 28
Through:
FingerLakesPermaculture.org
Wellspring Forest Farm
Mecklenburg, NY
Mushrooms & Maple Syrup
Pastured Ducks & Sheep
Homestead Production
Water Catchment
Off-Grid

3. 1620 1850
1920 Today

4. PA 58%
NY 62%
MA 63%
VT 78%
NH 89%
ME 90%

6. 2:
Historical
Context

7. 2:
Historical
Context

8. Forests
are
a
living
library,
a
story
of
a
place
over
Cme

9. “We
don't
see
things
as
they
are,
we
see
them
as
we
are.”
―
Anaïs
Nin
,
others

13. Tree
Sap
drinking
in
Korea
gorosoe, or “tree good for the bones.”

17. Mushrooms
as
a
surplus
of
forest
health

21. Wine Cap Stropharia
Stropharia-rugoso-annulata
Oyster

22. 1. Substrate
Harvest 2. Inoculation
3. Colonization 4. Harvesting

23. Forcing
Shiitake

25. VALUE
ADDED
PRODUCTS
=
ZERO CROP
LOSS

26. Shiitake
Economics
• Costs
including
labor
=
about
$5/log
• Profits
=
$5/year
or
$15
–
20
per
log
over
lifeCme
An
opera>on
that
inoculated
around
100
logs
per
year
un>l
reaching
500
logs
could
be
expected
to
make
a
profit
in
year
two,
and
$4,000/year
profit
in
year
five.
Total
profit
over
the
five
years
=
$9,000

27. Permaculture
+
Academia
CornellMushrooms.org
A perfect union?: Why permaculture
and academia need each other
Permaculture Activist, XX 2014

28. Current Trends
• About
60
growers
and
18,000
logs
in
producCon
in
Northeast
US
• Average
of
$5,637
income
per
grower/year
These
growers
project
to
triple
their
produc>on
over
next
three
years
• 89%
report
far
more
demand
than
supply
• 3
year
Goal:
250
growers
X
$5k
=
$1,250,00

29. The
real
gem:
Stacking
Agroforestry
Systems

34. Hickory
Nut
Milk

35. MacDaniels Nut Grove Forest Farm at Cornell University
Black Walnut

37. MacDaniels Nut Grove Forest Farm at Cornell University
Black Walnut
Pawpaw

38. Paw
Paw,
Asimina
triloba

42. h[p://www.ohiofoodshed.org/wp-­‐
content/uploads/2012/06/Pulp.jpg

44. MacDaniels Nut Grove Forest Farm at Cornell University
Black Walnut
Pawpaw
Elderberry

45. Elderberry

47. Juicing

48. $2
–
5
/oz

49. Aronia
“chokeberry”

50. MacDaniels Nut Grove Forest Farm at Cornell University
Black Walnut
Pawpaw
Stropharia
Elderberry

52. MacDaniels Nut Grove Forest Farm at Cornell University
Black Walnut
Pawpaw
Stropharia
Willow
Elderberry

53. Riparian Buffers

54. Calcium

55. Silvopasture
Shade benefits
Multiple income
streams
Fertility Cycling
Doing work you don’t
want to!
Very appropriate on
much of NE lands

57. Angus Glen Farm, Watkins Glen NY

58. 25 years old and has now been
thinned 3x for about $1500/acre
of fence posts (using value of
$5/post)
MulCple
Income
Streams

59. 25 years old and has now been
thinned 3x for about $1500/acre
of fence posts (using value of
$5/post)
MulCple
Income
Streams

60. Doing
the
work
you
don’t
want
to!

61. Badgersett Research Farm, Canton MN

62. Integration Acres, Athens OH

65. LOGS LOGS
DUCKS DUCKS
Portable Electronet Fence
Ducks visit in May, July, Sept
7 – 12 day rotation
Overall population reduction,
not picking slugs off logs
Also rotated in pasture before
sheep, gardens, cover
cropped areas…
And eggs, too!

66. Maple Syrup, Shiitake Mushrooms, Ducks, and Ginseng
$7,000 grossed on 1 acre in 2014
www.wellspringforestfarm.com

67. FarmingTheWoods.com
CornellMushrooms.org
WellspringForestFarm.com
Water in the Landscape
May 2 & 3
Building Living Soil
June 27
Forestry & Agroforestry
Short Course
July 24 - 28
Through:
FingerLakesPermaculture.org

68. Design
AcJvity:
Stacked
Agroforestry
for
your
ecotype

69. Wellspring Forest Farm
Mecklenburg, NY

71. 1. Identify Ecotype
2. Determine Marketable Species
3. Mimic in structure + function
Get into groups of 3 – 4 people.
Propose a feasible agroforestry system
of 3 - 5 species for an ecotype in
your climate

72. FarmingTheWoods.com
CornellMushrooms.org
WellspringForestFarm.com
Water in the Landscape
May 2 & 3
Building Living Soil
June 27
Forestry & Agroforestry
Short Course
July 24 - 28
Through:
FingerLakesPermaculture.org