Farming the Woods: An Integrated Permaculture Approach to Growing Food and Medicinals in Temperate Forests

The first in-depth guide for farmers and gardeners who have access to an established woodland and are looking for productive, innovative ways to create a natural forest ecosystems that produces a wide range of food, medicinals, and other non-timber products.

“What a joy to read! Nice pictures, great case studies, and well organized. . . . Farming the Woods is the source for temperate climate agroforestry.”—Jonathan Bates, Owner of Food Forest Farm

While this concept of “forest farming” may seem like an obscure practice, history indicates that much of humanity lived and sustained itself from tree-based systems in the past; only recently have people traded the forest for the field. The good news is that this is not an either-or scenario; forest farms can be most productive in places where the plow is not: on steep slopes, and in shallow soils. It is an invaluable practice to integrate into any farm or homestead, especially as the need for unique value-added products and supplemental income becomes more and more important for farmers.

Farming the Woods covers in detail:

• How to cultivate, harvest, and market high-value non-timber forest crops
• Comprehensive information on historical perspectives of forest farming
• How to mimic the forest in a changing climate
• Cultivation of medicinal crops
• How to create a forest nursery
• Harvesting and utilizing wood products
• The role of animals in the forest farm
• How to design and manage your forest farm once it’s set up

Forest crops covered include :

• American ginseng
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Ramps (wild leeks)
• Maple syrup
• Fruit and nut trees
• Ornamental ferns
• And many more!
  
  

This book is a must-read for farmers and gardeners interested in incorporating aspects of agroforestry, permaculture, forest gardening, and sustainable woodlot management into the concept of a whole-farm organism.

Ken Mudge has been involved in agroforestry research, teaching, and extension for over twenty years. His research has focused on non-timber forest products including nitrogen-fixing trees, American ginseng, forest-cultivated mushrooms, and others. He teaches courses including a practicum in forest farming, plant propagation, and grafting. He is principal investigator on a NE SARE-funded extension project, in collaboration with the University of Vermont and with established shiitake farmers (including coauthor Steve Gabriel) to train forest owners in shiitake mushroom production as a business enterprise.

Steve Gabriel, author of Farming the Woods (with Ken Mudge), is an ecologist, educator, and a forest farmer who has lived most of his life in the Finger Lakes region of New York. His personal mission is to reconnect people of all ages with the natural world and to provide the tools for good management of forests and other landscapes. He currently splits his time between working for the Cornell Small Farms Program, and developing the farm he runs with wife Elizabeth, Wellspring Forest Farm, which produces shiitake mushrooms, duck eggs, pastured lamb, nursery trees, and maple syrup.