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

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!

this is a great book for beginner or intermediate mushroom lover - much for than foraging.

Absolutely indispensable for the home nature library. At the intersection of delightful and practical. Bursting with tips and ideas.

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.

I thought this was a really detailed and nicely written book with excellent instructions and photos. I previously reviewed Integrated Forest Gardening and the two books together do a good job of supporting the others weak spots. I'm not going to go into as deep of a review as the two previous reviewers, but this book does a great job of detailing mushroom cultivation, forest polycultures, and alternative crops along with some economic info that isn't usually found in most books within this category. As an individual growing and managing my small forest for myself and not for profit/market, I didn't pay too much attention to that aspect; it is nice to know it's there if I change my mind. Also, like the previous reviewer mentioned, the ginseng grading checklist and other nifty tools are an added bonus with this book! Don't hesitate, buy it and you won't regret it!

I have been involved in Permaculture for a few years, and always on the look for very High-end books on the subject. Very hard to find, and extremely expensive. Saw this as a reference in another tome. This book is the ONE you'll want. All the info, charts, maps, color plates, and tips on possible income streams (Bonus!). I have large volumes that cost a small fortune that provide the same info. I applaud the authors for the time and effort it took to compose this volume, and Thank them for giving it to us at a price that we can afford.

This book details how existing wooded lands can be used to generate income generating products like marketable mushrooms and highly profitable herbs that only grow in forested shade. It also discusses how nuts and other tree-grown products can be integrated into an existing farm or planted to create a more sustainable farm economy. Covers all aspects of agro-forestry, useful to the homesteader and small or large scale farm as well. Highly recommended for anyone with an existing woodlot they want to use to produce food either for themselves or to sell, or anyone wanting to add forest-based permaculture to their yard or farm.

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

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.

Thank you!

je recommande ce livre pour découvrir la culture dans les bois en pays tempéré. la place des espèces sauvages est encore sous-représentée pour un tel projet... mais c'est un bon début.

Incredible. Really, really. Super well explained - clear- concise - developing the thought. Photos are detailed and support the information. This should be a mandatory learning resource *textbook for all permaculture, farming and landscaping courses. I am not in any of these classes and am engrossed in it.. learning so much - to apply to my own place.. Love the real life accounts of how people put this material to work... I will be looking for everything written by these authors. They are excellent!!

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.