The answer to the first question is, “yes,” but the key word is, “potentially.” As with any business venture, some risk is involved, and other considerations must be factored in before deciding if a business is worthwhile.
A primary consideration before beginning forest farming is the productive range of the medicinal plant. Plants, such as American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), do not tend to grow well outside of their …
Since 2001 Adam has worked as the Forestry and Natural Resources Extension Agent serving Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Northern District, a 28 county area from the Shenandoah Valley to Northern Virginia to Fredericksburg and Charlottesville. His professional expertise is in providing informal education regarding forestry and natural resources to address current issues in rural, urban, and rural/urban interface areas to home & landowners, professionals, decision-makers, and the general public. His mission is to enable people to make best decisions regarding the …
Research Forest Products Technologist, Dr. Jim Chamberlain, reviews the steps taken to manage and cultivate ramps, or wild onions. In this video series, the proper soil, shade and forest type are all considered prior to constructing a raised bed for planting ramps under the forest canopy.
Spring is the time to harvest ramps, a popular forest vegetable in the eastern United States. This savory plant is a member of the onion family closely …
Sarah works with Southern Regional Extension Forestry as a faculty member of the Warnell School and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia. She helps provide and edit materials for various eXtension Communities of Practice, notably the Urban Forestry and Energy Conservation community, the Forest Farming community and the Extension Disaster Education Network.
Sarah is engaged in strategic development of partnerships through collaborative work with faculty peers, in grant preparation and programming, and …
William Hubbard has served as the Regional Forester for the Extension Service-Southern Region since 1993. This is a liaison to thirteen 1862 University Land Grant University and the Southern Region of the U.S. Forest Service. His work involves using new and traditional technologies in regional educational programming and enhanced communication and coordination of information and activities across states and agencies in the areas of forestry and natural resource management. He previously held several teaching, research and Extension positions at the …
Dr. Kenneth Mudge with Cornell University’s Department of Horticulture reviews the various stages of shiitake mushroom cultivation in this series of videos. From choosing the correct tree species to the correct shiitake strain, Dr. Mudge examines the science behind mushroom farming and demonstrates the steps needed to grow this non-timber forest product.
Biologically, forest cultivation of mushrooms involves fungal decay of an organic substrate, usually wood. The substrate is the “food source” …
This is a 2012 presentation given by James Chamberlain, U.S. Forest Service Research Forest Products Technologist, at the Society for Economic Botany annual meeting.
The abstract of the presentation is available for download as a pdf file attached to this article. The original YouTube content was made available by the TeachEthnobotany site.…
Introduction
Botanical Information