Forest farming can be defined as cultivation of plants under a forest canopy (as opposed to wildcrafting, the practice of collecting wild plants and products from a forest). Forest farmers can manage different layers in the forest structure to increase sustainable harvests of non-timber forest products from natural forests or tree plantations. The canopy trees provide timber, nuts and fruits like pecans or persimmons; the middle layer may be full of mayhaw, vines, berries or ornamentals; and the forest floor can be cultivated for medicinal and culinary herbs, roots, mushrooms and landscaping or florist products like flowers and ferns. The multilayered structure of a farmed forest improves wildlife habitat and may also increase the aesthetic and recreational value of the property.
The Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition (ABFFC) is a network of forest farmers, forestland owners, universities, and governmental and non-governmental organizations that share a common goal of improving agroforestry production opportunities and farming capabilities among forest farmers.
Our collective aim is to increase awareness of forest-grown medicinal plants through education and relationship building, and support conservation efforts through stewardship of existing plant populations and forest farming of these native botanicals.
The Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition What is the ABFFC and who is involved? This video explores the coalition, it’s partners, goals, and outcomes. Please watch and consider becoming a member!
27.11.2014 Forest Farming educators and practitioners came together on October 24 and 25, 2014 at Cornell University’s Arnot Teaching and Research Forest in Ithaca, New York to identify a course for the future of forest farming as an agroforestry practice. Combining everyone’s expertise was a productive method for seeding new ideas, identifying road blocks, and learning more about the vast world of non-timber forest products. Adoption of forest farming on a broad scale could potentially have vast implications for food security, environmental change, and the ecological make up of the temperate forests of the Northeast United States. For more information on forest farming, visit http://www.extension.org/forest_farming
27.09.2017
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Videos
2019
30.09.2019 Growing food from logs that were harvested from silvopasture areas is a great way to feed your family tasty healthy mushrooms. Go to greenpasturesfarm.net for more info.
25.08.2019 Two forest farmers in Virginia join a pilot project to sustainably harvest black cohosh, or Actaea racemosa, from their forest lands. Grassroots organizations, Blue Ridge Woodland Growers and the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition, helped to identify markets and pool resources in order to get this test project off the ground. Sourcing forest grown botanical herbs from responsible growers is becoming increasingly important to consumers. The rise of initiatives like Pennsylvania Certified Organic’s Forest Grown Verification program combined with the regenerative practices of forest farmers like Michelle Pridgen and Cynthia Taylor can help address market demands over time..
6.04.2019 We have a lot of fun collecting sap and making maple syrup each year, but is it really worth it? Here are some of the business aspects of making and selling maple syrup from a hobby level with the goal of producing commercially.
2018
20.02.2018 Seth and Sheryl Long’s family tap maple trees on their 50 acre SouthDown Farm in Ermine Kentucky. With 200 taps, the family has been more than busy this season cooking down sap to everyone’s favorite maple syrup.
2017
10.08.2017 Donna La Pre harvests elderflowers and creates an elderflower hydrosol in this video featuring value added production.
30.07.2017 Forest farmer and land steward, Larry Harding, explains his start with forest farming and gives insight into how his business, Harding’s Wild Mountain Herbs, has grown into what it is today.
30.07.2017 Land steward, forest farmer, and owner of Equinox Botanicals, Paul Strauss, explains his relationship to the land and gives insight into how he makes a living from holistic land management. We then take a look at how the next generation is helping the farm to grow and expand the educational component.
10.07.2017 In order to provide a complete overview of the herbal industry from the forest to the finished product, we visited Jessie Dean, owner of the Asheville Tea Company. She sources field and forest grown herbs from local farmers in North Carolina. The availability of ingredients informs her recipes and keeps tea formulas seasonal.
23.06.2017 Perennial plants typically take much longer to grow and mature to seed-bearing age. Their lifecycle makes it even more critical to sustainably harvest adult plants. We take a look at several ways to achieve this including harvesting the stalk as well as planting back the leafy tops.
20.06.2017 Paul Strauss, owner and operator of Equinox Botanicals, creates a Goldenseal Salve out of goldenseal and other forest botanicals in this video.
16.06.2017 The Whitethorn Agroforestry Research and Demonstration Site at Virginia Tech’s Kentland Farm offers numerous opportunities for agroforestry research and student learning. Forest farming, wind breaks, and silvopasture have been established for research purposes. This video takes a look at some of the practices installed at Kentland Farm.
15.06.2017 We take a look at Stone Root Farm in Floyd County, Virginia in this video and see how owners Dana and Jon Beegle use their forest land to farm medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms, which is a great way to keep forest land intact while bringing in additional income.
9.06.2017 Agroforestry not only increases biodiversity but incorporation of trees into farming systems can improve water quality, provide habitats, and can yield income in the form of carbon credits, a method increasingly used to offset the carbon footprint from big business. This collaborative project was led by Virginia Tech with partners from USDA National Agroforestry Center, Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Land Trust, Conservation Services, Inc., and Beegle Landscaping.
12.05.2017 In this video, we look at wild-simulated ginseng. This grower uses a holistic approach to forest farming that considers the natural order of the environment and seeks to foster those natural relationships between plants and animals. This method in turn produces a more natural, wild-looking root, free of pesticides and herbicides. Roots grown with this method command a higher price point in the market for ginseng.
3.04.2017 A botanical raw ingredient supplier gives a behind-the-scenes tour of their facility in North Carolina.
CAMEROON
31.03.2017 A visit to three different farms in Cameroon provides an overview of the conservation initiatives taking place there. Agroforestry enables Ayuk Rudolf to plant his land with a variety of nitrogen-fixing trees, some of which are medicinal. They also improve the soil for his organic corn and fruit trees. Francis Nfongang has been propagating trees at his nursery for nearly 50 years. After passing the forest service on his way to primary school every day, he was inspired to make his own nursery and now he teaches others how to sow seeds. Forbetiah Zaccheous, after constructing a holding tank for water, sees the results this water reserve on his crops during the dry season. These three stories provide some insight into how, by changing methods and thinking holistically, the land’s productivity is improved while benefiting the environment as well.
13.03.2017 In Oku, Cameroon, forest farmer Forba John Tabi grows coffee beneath a canopy of banana, avocado, kola nut, and bee-friendly trees.
2016
11.10.2016 Farmers Stesha and Jeremy at Elianas Garden both grew up with backgrounds in farming, horticulture, and agricultural education. Their holistic approach to land management involves organic gardening, permaculture, and stewardship of existing native plants on their property. Forest farming came easily to them. After joining the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmers Coalition, they became part of a network of forest farmers, universities, governmental and non-governmental organizations that share a common goal of improving agroforestry production opportunities and farming capabilities among forest farmers. This is their story.
11.10.2016 We explore the process of tincture-making at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. A tincture extracts desirable compounds of a plant through a solvent which can be either alcohol or glycerin. In this video, we make a tincture with ashwagandha root.
26.09.2016 Bill Chioffi, Vice President of Global Sourcing at Gaia Herbs in Brevard, North Carolina, explains the importance of harvest times and post-harvest handling practices of plant material. We take a look at a hawthorn leaf and flower harvest and then get a peak behind the scenes at Gaia Herbs liquid phyto-cap production.
26.09.2016 Located in Asheville, North Carolina, Blue Ridge Food Ventures provides facilities and guidance for small businesses to create and market value-added products. Please visit http://www.appalachianforestfarmers.org/ for more information on forest farmed medicinal herbs and value-added products.
2015
16.11.2015 Stropharia, also known as red wine cap or garden giant, prefers to grow in hardwood wood chips rather than hardwood totems. Unlike some of the other cultivated mushrooms, they are less particular when it comes to the freshness of the substrate and don’t mind mixing with other organisms in the soil. Steve Gabriel, Agroforestry Extension Specialist for Cornell Small Farms, explains that the process of spreading substrate and spawn is like making lasagna. Remove leaves to expose the soil. A five pound bag will adequately colonize a four by four foot square. Spread hardwood saw dust on the ground and then break up the five pound block of spawn into small pieces. Spread that across the sawdust and follow with a layer of hardwood wood chips. Watering the stropharia bed will help keep the mycellium moist. Stropharia tend to fruit after rain events and during fluctuating temperatures but their fruiting is somewhat haphazard so it’s best to keep the mushroom bed close to the house, garden, or pathways so as not to miss a flush of mushrooms.
6.11.2015 Once the lion’s mane mycelium begins colonizing the log, or substrate, it takes on a moldy appearance. As colonization of the log continues, the pieces will become fused together. Roughly 18 months later, fruiting should occur. Hericium erinaceus and Hericium americanum are the two species of lion’s mane that are cultivated in this video. Erinaceus has an interior that is more intact while americanum exibits longer tooths and has open cavities in its interior. Lion’s mane is said to have a taste that is similar to lobster.
5.11.2015 When inoculating a log with lion’s mane or oyster mushroom spawn, the log must first be cut be cut in half with a two inch cookie cut from the top half of the log. Cut the log where you intend to place it so that the order of the log’s sections are not mismatched with other cut logs. A paper grocery bag is folded and put on the very bottom to avoid contamination with the soil. The first handful of spawn is then broken up and spread on the bag. After the first half of the log is placed on top of the spawn and bag, another handful of spawn is broken up and spread to the length of the diameter on top of the log. The next half goes on top of that and creates the totem. Finally, a third handful of spawn goes on top of that log, is spread and is covered with the two inch cookie. A paper leaf bag is then put over the totem and held down with rocks. This is to keep animals away from it and to trap humidity as colonization of the logs take hold over roughly 18 months. A coniferous forest is the preferred location for mushroom farming as it maintains a lower temperature and provides more shade. Mushrooms can also be grown within the shade of a deciduous forest, but a shade cloth should be used to cover the logs once the leaves fall in autumn.
17.08.2015 Robert Eidus, Owner of Eagle Feather Organic Farm, gives advice on how to begin growing and selling forest medicinal herbs. Number one: “Don’t cut down your trees.” We look at stratification – the best method for increasing ginseng’s propagation rate. We follow up with the importance of having a business plan before attempting to supplement income through forest-based medicinal plant production, and we finish with a few bits of advice on cutting costs. Plastic pots can often be obtained for free from other growers or nurseries and leaves can be gathered in the fall once they’re put out for trash collection. However, be careful of collecting any invasive species that may be tossed in with the leaf pile. Leaves contribute to forest soil and can be combined with other organic additives and composted to be used in raised beds and for potted plants.
27.07.2015 Raised seed beds beneath the forest canopy can give ginseng seeds an advantage. By constructing the beds to certain dimensions, screens of the same size can be placed over the planted seeds to protect them from turkeys, mice, voles and other forest dwellers who feed on the seeds. Robert Eidus, owner of Eagle Feather Organic Farm, explains how he plants the seeds, covers them with leaf litter, fits the screen to the raised beds and then finishes by adding another layer of leaves. The screen must be removed in the spring before the seeds sprout. If the screen is left in place, the seedlings will most likely die. The leaves are removed in the spring and straw is put down which allows the ginseng seedlings an easier medium to grow through.
1.07.2015 Associate Professor at Auburn University, Becky Barlow, demonstrates how to use a hand-loaded pine straw baler. Before loading the baler with straw, it must be outfitted with twine in order to tie the bale once it has been packed. All sticks, pine cones, invasive species, and insects should be removed from the pine straw before loading it into the baler. If a burning regime is practiced on the property, only the freshly fallen pine straw should be raked. Burnt or old straw should be left on the ground. Once the baler is fully loaded, it is packed with the wooden plunger and then loaded again. The string is tightened around the bale and then knotted. After opening the door, the bale is pulled out and is ready for sale.
2014
12.11.2014 Specialty forest mushrooms include such delicacies as shiitake, oyster, lion’s mane and wine cap which can be cultivated on wood substrates, as non-timber forest products for forest farming. Unfortunately, other choice wild edible mushrooms like chanterelles, morels, or boletus are not included because they cannot be deliberately cultivated. Shiitake is by far the most developed of the specialty forest mushrooms from the standpoint of both cultivation and marketing. There are four stages that the prospective grower must consider for forest cultivation of shiitake. Acquisition of substrate logs is the first one. What kinds of trees and when to cut them are the main considerations? Shortly after that comes inoculation of logs with the appropriate shiitake strain. The next stage requires some patience. The logs must be managed in a shady laying yard for up to a year to allow the fungus time to adequately colonize the log before it is ready to convert wood into mushrooms. After this so called “spawn run”, the focus shifts to fruiting, harvesting and marketing of the mushrooms. Well managed logs can be productive for 3 or more years.
29.09.2014 Al Robertson’s hard cider is always a ‘best seller’ at the Tree Farmer Convention and we eagerly await Mike Burns’ visits to the American Forest Foundation in D.C. because we want to taste what new brews he has concocted. Both men love exploring and experimenting with everything they can find in their forests. Your forest may contain the key ingredients for delicious all-natural beverages. Learn how to tap into some non-traditional forest products to create hot, cold and even adult refreshments.
7.09.2014 Plants can be propagated through a variety of ways. Seeds might be the most obvious method, but a rhizome can be divided to yield several plants. Plant cuttings can also be made by taking clippings as Ian Caton demonstrates in this video. Seeds generally take the longest to develop, especially if they require a cold period to germinate, but root and plant cuttings are also viable methods for propagation and should be considered if the plant has a large rhizome that can be divided or a fibrous root system that can yield many plants.
25.08.2014 Wasabi is generally thought of as a pungent green paste that accompanies sushi. That green paste is more often than not made up of grated horseradish. In this video, we take a look at the plant whose grated root makes up the real wasabi. Joe Hollis, founder of Mountain Gardens, explains what wasabi is and where it prefers to grow.
11.08.2014 In this video, we take a look at syrup production for the hobbyist. Producing maple syrup can be fairly straight-forward when making smaller quantities.
6.08.2014 Steve Caccamo, President of Next Generation Maple Products, explains how making maple syrup has become a growing hobby over the years. This video provides an overview of small-scale maple production.
31.07.2014 Maple and walnut trees are quite different, especially when it comes to the amount of heartwood vs. sapwood within each species. Maple trees primarily have more sapwood and little heartwood, whereas walnut trees have a greater amount of heartwood and less sapwood. This translates into walnuts producing less sap, as there is less sapwood within the tree. Maple trees can be tapped at around 20 to 25 years of age while walnut trees can be tapped at 10 to 15 years of age. The reason that a walnut can be tapped at a younger age is because the sapwood that should be tapped will turn into heartwood anyway. Another difference lies within the sap itself. Walnut sap has much more pectin in it. This is the same kind of pectin that is used in jams and jellies. Filtering the syrup is therefore much more difficult in the presence of pectin.
30.07.2014 Tapping walnut trees is similar to tapping maple trees. The main difference is in the amount of sap collected from walnuts vs maples. Walnut trees have more heart wood and less of the white sap wood while maple trees have more sap wood which provides a greater yield of sap. Michael Farrell, the director of Cornell University’s Uihlein Forest, explains the process of tapping walnut trees.
2013
18.11.2013 Herbalist Ben Kitchen explains what to look for before forest farming goldenseal. Deep feeding trees often provide the best location for a goldenseal plot while shallow feeders should be avoided as they will compete with the goldenseal for nutrients.
30.10.2013 Andy Bojanowski explains agroforestry cultivation of shiitake mushrooms at Eddy Farm in Middlebury, Vermont.
18.11.2013 Herbalist and forest farmer, Ben Kitchen, explains goldenseal’s medicinal properties. It’s one of the most powerful medicinal plants and can be ingested with other herbs or used in a topical application for its antimicrobial properties.
31.10.2013 Ginseng expert, Bob Beyfuss, explains how to plant ginseng in the forest. After identifying a site with adequate shade and the proper calcium levels, it’s time to plant. In a wild-simulated situation, the plants shouldn’t be crowded and fertilizers are not recommended.
1.07.2013 Dr. Kenneth Mudge at Cornell University’s Department of Horticulture explains the life cycle of a mushroom. From spores, to mycelium, to mushroom, Dr. Mudge reviews the various stages of the shiitake mushroom and illustrates the science behind shiitake mushroom logs.
1.07.2013 Inoculated logs are placed under a tree canopy or artificial shade to prevent them from drying out. Monitor rainfall and consider irrigating to prevent the logs from drying. Various strains of a species may be available, so check for one that best matches your temperature and production conditions.
1.07.2013 Different stacking techniques can result in different yields. Lower A-Frame stacks receive more moisture from the ground but can be contaminated more easily. Dr. Kenneth Mudge reviews high A-frame stacking and low A-frame stacking in this video.
