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

This is an important book within its genre, head and shoulders above the half-dozen others I have read. I really wanted to like this book, and when I began it, I was most enthusiastic. The forward by Dr. Munsell is brilliantly written. The general tenor of the management philosophy is appealing and both reasonably considered and (more importantly) tested over sufficient time to be demonstrative, albeit with some serious flaws I’ll address in a bit. I am giving this book three stars, because its authors are sufficiently capable that they should have done a better job than they did. I hope they take this criticism positively, go find some additional collaborators, and come back with a completed edition.Books like this cannot provide ALL the information necessary to begin a project; they are good for assessing and putting some reality to dreams, which is a valuable service. People interested in actually buying and building a permaculture forest/farm would do well to do a lot more research before actually taking action, including hopefully actually working in an established business with which to develop some of the specialized skills necessary to a successful operation. What these authors uniquely do well, and clearly where much of their work is devoted is to take a hard and objective look at the economics of the few processes they have developed, looking toward a forestry that produces more food: fruit, nuts, mushrooms, etc. Because they are dealing specifically with Eastern forests they are doing exemplary work in considering such terribly complex problems such as restructuring a forest eviscerated by chestnut blight. Yet here I come to a real technical objection.In their pursuit of a viable holistic forest management economy, the authors select varieties of trees that produce larger fruit. In the process, they discounted native genetic site adaptation as an attribute worthy of preservation. Yet the US Forest Service learned that hard lesson in conifer forestry in the 1960s, now planting trees taken only from local stock. The reasons vary from pest resistance to symbioses with local fungi. The authors state that there are but a 1,000 wild chestnuts remaining without advocating even cataloguing and storing their genetics which would be relatively easy to do. One could then develop locally adapted blight resistant varieties as GMOs probably more easily and with fewer complicating attributes than by repeatedly crossing remnant varieties with Chinese trees, a process that takes so long that it must be performed with a relatively narrow breadth of native genetic stock, not to mention the possibility of introducing yet another exotic pathogen. The authors talk about finding and breeding trees with more resistance to chestnut blight and in the same book decide that respecting genetic site-specificity is not that important. I am of the opinion that we are too ignorant of these systems to judge whether these site-specific variations are important or not and would advise more care in making exotic introductions. After all, before there was blight, what use was there in finding the remaining resistant individuals? It would probably be better to breed the genetics for more and larger nuts into local varieties once they were adapted to survive the blight than to simply spread a single variety that they know to be productive virtually everywhere. GMO technology is probably a better way to do maintain those site specific genetics than producing lots of a few hybrids.I bought a book entitled “Farming in the Woods” to learn more about forest farming. As a book, it should have stuck to its purpose, but it did not. Instead, this book offers an overdose of ideology. I don’t need to hear about the Global Warming we haven’t had for sixteen years, while the temperature changes we have seen in recent decades are considerably smaller than the early Holocene or even toward the end of the Little Ice Age between only 200-150 years ago. To claim to sequester carbon by forestry is to oversell the idea, as organic carbon goes back to the atmosphere at a steady state once the forest matures and produces carbon at the rate it absorbs it until it rots or burns. Carbon in soil IS important in soil development regardless of what one thinks of anthropogenic climate change and should be treated as such. The authors would enlist more readers and could have dealt with that latter aspect in more detail to more positive effect because this is where their expertise lies anyway.Meanwhile, one can put more carbon in soils that lasts longer with perennial grasses than with trees, which goes conveniently unmentioned despite the opportunity to accomplish as much with a savannah landscape design that does fit within the scope of the book. They do touch upon it without much in the way of development, probably because this lies outside the authors’ experience. In essence therefore, the book reads as written by academics looking to make their ideas “economic” (with the thinly implied addition of carbon credit money) thus tragically obscuring and curtailing what the book and its authors could have offered.The authors broach a form of broad-leaf forestry with enormous potential without delving into its specifics in nearly the depth as several other topics they treat: integrating animal grazing and browsing with forestry (only 18pp), and here I suspect another PC bias. They speak in laudatory terms about Indian management with fire and their supposedly low-impact semi-nomadic lifestyle, not realizing the source of that pyrotechnical ubiquity was necessity and not necessarily preference. Indians had extirpated 33 large-bodied animal species in the late Pleistocene, several of which had domestic potential: a horse, a camel, an ox, the mastodon, the mammoth… Once those animals were gone, Native Americans lacked the animal power with which to till efficiently, an absolute requirement for a settled society unless otherwise possessing access to large quantities of fish or shellfish. Further, in a classic example of the Tragedy of the Commons, Indians took the remaining large bodied animals down to very small numbers, simply because they evidently remained very effective hunters even after suffering a series of serious European crowd diseases long before settlers even saw them. Hence, because Indians had never practiced extensive pastoralism, they lacked the animals necessary to control senescent vegetation. The only other way for them to deal with large scale senescence was to burn. It was a chain of acts and events with enormous long-term consequences for both humans and the vegetated landscape. Just because they burned does not make burning the best means of controlling excess or senescent vegetation.Now, I’m not knocking burning, especially because I do it. Burning is simply a process tool, with both benefits and considerable risks to developed assets (barns, fences, houses, people…). Nor is burning always as effective as grazing as much nutrient is lost into the atmosphere as nitrous oxides or washes away in runoff while fire can result in considerable channel incision should surfaces thereafter go hydrophobic. On the other hand, burning does promote germination of plants with hard seed coats and can consume weed seeds if conducted at the right time of year.Compared to Indians, we don’t have a lack of controllable large animals possessing attributes very similar to the wild game that once inhabited the landscape. A cow is analogous to elk or bison in terms of its size and food requirements and impact. A goat is analogous to an antelope. Sheep, well, you get the idea. Hence, these animals can be applied to a wild landscape to emulate the impact of their native and less-controllable analogues. Burning and animal husbandry are tools. Books like this are supposed to teach us to use the tools. Yet there was relatively little analysis of grazing and browsing as “dollars per acre,” much less dedicated to management of specific types of understory vegetation. There was no discussion of how much grass versus woody vegetation was desirable for soil development or their cherished “carbon sequestration” or in what patterns when grazed, how to protect smaller plants when getting started, comparing cows and pigs eating acorns, what to do to keep a mixed understory going under browsing pressure… Where is the detail on the trade-offs in terms of cash flow and habitat? I would think such topics essential to “Farming in the Woods.”Much of such data are available from public sources (the US Forest Service has done considerable work with cattle grazing in forests), so they could have been integrated into this book to outstanding effect. There is no excuse for its lack as the Forest Service has done a terrible job of integrating that data into useful form. I am stunned that authors clearly habituated to quantitative analysis had not taken the economics of animal husbandry more seriously. Effectively, what they have presented is somewhere between a third and half of an excellent book, one that capably addresses an introduction into its subject. My hope is that they find a few more collaborators and get to work integrating the whole enchilada.

It really is eye-opening to what I believe many of us could begin returning to. I was recently reading another book that had a chapter on reforestation, mycology, and wildflowers called "Invent Soup" by Brock Bachelder. I'm actually reading several books on the atm, but this book is very thorough and digestible. I don't feel like it's too over my head, but here's to the future of many, many future forest-dwelling, soup, and dessert lovers! Once the machines do what they do! The Forests and the Soup are Real! The Dessert Too!

Enjoy it so far and will be great as part of my reference library.

We live in the forest and grow 7 different varieties of mushrooms, keep honey bees, and have a large vegetable and herb garden. Every year our harvest increases, and last year after feeding our family, giving friends, neighbors, and family fresh vegetables, and canning and storing, we had so much extra that we were literally having to compost a lot of fresh produce. Some stuff was literally rotting on the vine/plant because we had so much extra. So we figured maybe this year we will set up a little vegetable stand to sell the overflow. This book is great when it comes to the details of growing and selling forest grown products, especially mushrooms. But is lacking in what I really wanted more information about; leeks, wild ginger, ginseng, tapping trees. We already have mushroom garden beds and logs, this will be our third year, but we have some new varieties and this book will be a great reference for us. The reason I deducted a star, is because although this book goes into great detail on mushrooms , I feel the other chapters are lacking in information. I purchased it specifically for the information on Birch syrup and taping Birch trees. We have many stands of birch trees in our forest. We've tried our hand with the maples, but there are a plethora of birches, and it will be more sustainable to harvest from those. They also are tapped after the maples, so we could do both. Just for the family to enjoy the fresh syrup(I don't enjoy the tapping process and worry about the tree). I wish there was more detailed information on tapping in general, as we are new to it, and want to do things in a way that are best for the trees. I found more information about tapping trees online then in this book. The chapters on leeks, wild ginger and ginseng are okay but again, I wish their was more information on growing them and less about how much money you can get for them. The mushroom information and instructions are really the star and highlight of this book. It is mostly centered around making a business out of mushrooms with forest agriculture. There is information on profiting with forest edibles and medicinals, but the book was written in 2014, so the pricing and agricultural numbers they give are not going to be the same 6 years later. I'd like to point out that we live in New England in the US, and I feel this book is perfectly suited for the climate we live in. I feel as though we've taught ourselves (my family and I) much of what is written in this book, but it's nice to know we are doing things the right way and pick up a bit of knowledge here and there.I think it would be a 5 star book for beginners if the authors updated the current 2013/2014 information in the book with an updated version. The style of writing can be a bit dry at times, and has a textbook feel to it. The sentences seem to run on frequently in a lecture sort of way(like the author is trying to cram as much information into a sentence as possible) It would be a much better read if the flow of the book was better. It is decently illustrated with the authors hand drawings and photos. Overall I give the book a 4 star rating because it does seem great for beginners, or someone that wants to grow or grow and sell mushrooms. I like that they give you yields of different forest crops, but I do wish they would update the book when it comes to the pricing of the agricultural products, how much is being farmed etc.

Love this book. Super helpful

I got this book at the same time I bought Restoration Agriculture. At first I was a little disappointed that Restoration Agriculture was written more as a casual conversational style book, with the author expressing his opinions and providing defence of them, (though it won me over and I came to love it), this book is the distinct opposite. It is a deep dive into different growing projects and the permaculture philosophy behind it, even going so far as to give cost estimate breakdowns of multiple methods of growing mushrooms, propagating plants for sale and raising ducks among others. They use a control group and test several methods and give the breakdowns for each. This is not a light read at all. It’s very in-depth, though less so on the philosophical side, and more on the practical side. If this is what you’re looking for, it’s totally worth picking up. If you’re looking for more of a read-on-the-couch-with-tea book about permaculture, try Restoration Agriculture instead. This book is a hold-my-calls-for-the-next-three-days-I’ll-be-in-here-taking-notes kind of read.

Excellent book! It thoroughly covered many interesting aspects such as ginseng cultivation, mushroom cultivation as well as other aspects of forest farming. My one criticism would be that it could have had a more extensive chapter on the wood products and overall stand improvement, but I also understand that those topics start to get away from the topic of forest farming. The case studies were good, and the authors recommended other good books when topics went beyond their level of expertise. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone with a woodlot and who may want to make some extra money.

Lots of useful information in this book!

This is a very complete and up to date book on Forest Farming. For those of you which are new to the concept, the matter is clearly explained in as much details needed to fully understand the matter at hands. Also, it has a nice part of the introduction addressed to beginners, which in my opinion makes it very accessible.The subjects of the book are as diverse as they are well explained, illustrated and analyzed. After a bit of history, the book brings us to most likely the biggest challenge of our age, climate change. I liked the hands on approach and that it provides solutions and how to exploit this, instead of mourning something that would eventually end.Next up is the actual food part, fruits, nuts, and more. It presents the better adapted plants, discusses yields, harvests, etc. But, forest cultivation is so much more, and next chapter brings us to mushrooms and even medicinal plants.Those two subjects each have their own chapter, and cover about 100 pages together. This made me very happy, as I had been thinking about buying a book on mushroom farming, but I don't think I need to do so anymore with all the info in this one.Since a forest is also about renewal, the following chapter is on how to manage a nursery and propagate your plants.Since trees are also plants, they need to be managed as well, but the author explores a multitude of things to do with the wood.... what is good for woodworking, how to calculate the amount of wood to heat your home, or how to choose an efficient stove to burn it in... They have a talk on mass heaters, which I think is the future of all heating.Last chapters talk about animals, and finally, once you have every aspect covered, it's time to design YOUR forest, in terms of your needs, your location, and they show you how to achieve your goal with permaculture and ecosystems that you create.What I really liked about this book, is that it's been written with the results of experimental grounds in mind. The author often can explain why they made their choices, and explain a particular situation very well. On top of this, they backed themselves with lots of environmental data (current or projected), studies and other scientific papers. Diagrams explain systems and processes, charts explain numbers and lots of pictures allow easy showing of projects. The book is literally littered with tidbits of information, like how to make tincture from hawrtorn berries, or make yourself a cup of birch twig tea. It really is an approach that implies no waste, or at least, as little as humanely possible.If you have a green fiber, are interested in permaculture, sustainable practices, want to be more self-sufficient, want to go off the grid, or just want to read a damn good book, this was a buy worth my money and my time. Has a place of choice in my library.

much to learn about what the fotest can provide