“At last, a comprehensive forest farming guide for cool temperate climates! The authors have done a superb job explaining forest ecology and describing how to integrate fruits, nuts, mushrooms, medicinals, animals, and more into forest systems.
A must-read for anyone interested in agroforestry, forest gardening, or utilizing forests for specialty crops.”
--Martin Crawford, author of Creating a Forest Garden
Steve Gabriel is an ecologist, farmer, educator, and consultant living and stewarding lands at Wellspring Forest Farm in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. Throughout his career, Steve has taught and consulted with thousands of farmers and land stewards on a wide range of agricultural practices including water management, agroforestry, silvopasture, and mushroom cultivation. He also collaborates on agroforestry work with the Farming with Trees collective.
At Wellspring Forest Farm, Steve and his family steward about 40 acres of land in a lifelong practice of restoring healthy water, soil, and forests. The farm produces mushrooms, pastured lamb, maple syrup, and nursery trees, while offering a demonstration site for regenerative farming practices.
Steve co-authored Farming the Woods in 2014, and is author of Silvopasture, released in 2018. He previously worked for 12 years with the Cornell Small Farms Program, as extension specialist focusing on mushroom and agroforestry systems.
Ken Mudge has been involved in agroforestry research, teaching, and extension for over twenty years. His research has focused on non-timber forest products including nitrogen-fixing trees, American ginseng, forest-cultivated mushrooms, and others. He teaches courses including a practicum in forest farming, plant propagation, and grafting. He is principal investigator on a NE SARE-funded extension project, in collaboration with the University of Vermont and with established shiitake farmers (including coauthor Steve Gabriel) to train forest owners in shiitake mushroom production as a business enterprise.
