Wild fiddleheads have long been a part of the springtime diet for folks over the range of the ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris. Ostrich fern fiddleheads are tasty and beautiful in the landscape. But it’s important to properly identify ostrich fern fiddleheads and to not over-harvest in the wild. Other considerations in the consumption of fiddleheads is proper cooking. If you don’t have wild ostrich ferns growing on your property, perhaps you can establish your own planting for future harvest. Ostrich …
YouTube Channel Native Plant Series
Woodland medicinal, edible and decorative plants can be managed in prepared beds beneath the forest canopy. We take a look at some of the woods-grown plants at Enchanter’s Garden and see how a changing forest may dictate where new beds should be planted and old ones should be abandoned. Once invasive plants or insects enter the picture, various tree species may die off, leaving an open canopy and allowing for too much sunlight to reach the forest floor. A prepared …
Ramping Up to Forest Farm Culinary Delights Webinar with Jim Chamberlain
Edible forest products are becoming more popular in the culinary world. Foraging for wild foods is the latest craze among foodies. But this may be putting excessive pressures on natural plant populations, and the long-term conservation of the plants requires sustainable production. Forest landowners may have opportunities to produce edible forest products under the shade of their woodlots. Though this presentation focuses on forest farming wild onions (aka, ramps or leeks) it includes discussions of other edible forest products, as …
Forest Brews Webinar with Al Robertson and Mike Burns
Al Robertson and Mike Burns 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. Al Robertson covers the basic steps of creating apple cider, from selecting the right varieties to fermentation and bottling. Mike Burns explains how to use forest ingredients to advance the flavor of beer.
Manage Your Forest for Pine Straw and Rake in the Profits Webinar with Becky Barlow
Tired of raking those hardwood leaves in your yard? Maybe you should consider raking pine straw from your forest instead! Pine straw is a non-timber forest product that is produced when southern pine trees such as longleaf, slash, or loblolly pines drop their needles in the fall. The resulting pine straw can be raked by hand or harvested using a mechanical raking machine and turned into bales. Landowners can manage their forest to harvest and then sell the straw on …
Art from the Forest with Allaire Diamond
Non-timber forest products include plants, lichens and mushrooms used for specialized art and craft practices: basketmaking, fiber dyeing, and more. Artisans who gather and use these species have specialized knowledge of their micro-habitats and require certain qualities in the material they use. This session will focus on northeastern species including black ash, paper birch, red spruce, red osier dogwood, surprise webcap mushroom, and rock tripe lichen, but its concepts can be easily extended to other geographic regions and are informed …
Joshua Idassi- NCAT- Cooperative Extension Program
Dr. Joshua Idassi has eighteen years working with Cooperative Extension Program in the USA. Currently, Joshua, is the Natural Resources Specialist at the NCAT- Cooperative Extension Program. His responsibilities are to develop outreach and applied research in agroforestry to assist underserved and limited resources farmers and woodland owners in North Carolina establish sustainable farming practices to enhance their livelihoods. The main focus of this Agroforestry program in 2011-2015, has been to to develop educational tarining materials in agroforestry. Currently, Dr. …
What is the difference between forest farming and wild crafting?
The two practices may produce the same products, but key differences exist between them. Forest farming is more sedentary in that it is practiced through deliberate cultivation under an established forest canopy. It requires planning, inputs, and farming activities like tilling, planting, and management. Wild crafting is more nomadic, requiring the wild crafter to search through the forest for the desired product. Consequently, finding the product, as well as the quantity of the product, is not guaranteed.
The inputs required …
YouTube Channel Maple Syrup Series
Late March marks the beginning of the sugar maple season in the Northeast United States. Freezing nightly temperatures followed by a daily thaw causes the rise and fall of sap within the cambium of maple trees. During the daily thaw, sap that was pulled up within the tree falls with gravity. By tapping the tree, a syrup producer is able to collect the sap that is released through the tap via pressure. Cornell University’s Director of the Uihlein Forest, Mike …
How is pine straw harvested?
Pine straw may be harvested mechanically or raked by hand. Mechanical operations are often conducted by a contractor who has a tractor-drawn rake that pulls the needles into piles between the rows of trees. Once the needles are raked into piles, a tractor-drawn baler collects and bundles the needles into bales that are bound with twine or wire. Bales may be round or square depending on the baler type used. Round bales may weigh as much as 40 pounds and …