This product has a 4.7 out of 5 rating as of Mar-2024
Agroforesty and incorporating the woods into your permaculture plan
I like this book because it takes permaculture one step farther to incorporating the woods into your plans – through agroforestry, growing mushrooms, managing trees, and herding and feeding your livestock through the woods.
Description:
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.
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.
