Blog Posts

  • Some of the ingredients for a Prescribed Burn Association in Appalachian Ohio?

    For the last few years, I have volunteered to teach people about prescribed fire. I am an Ohio Certified Prescribed Fire Manager, so part of my motivation is develop a client base, as well as a pool of gig workers to staff my fires. The teaching is pretty straightforward. We spend a few hours in…

  • Neo-tropical migratory “coffee birds” find home in both temperate and tropical agroforestry systems

    tl;dr: check out theses links to see Maggie Musto’s coffee bird series. Coffee birds are neotropical migratory songbirds that live on multi-strata coffee agroforestry farms in Central America during the winter. In summer, coffee birds live in Appalachian Ohio, including within and beside the multi-strata chestnut/pawpaw agroforestry happening at Woodcock Nature Preserve. As you read…

  • 2025.06.24 research update on “Chinese chestnut seedling mycorrhization with porcini”

    Introduction  Supported by SARE, the Southern Ohio Chestnut Company has begun a farmer-led research project. “Chinese chestnut seedling mycorrhization with porcini”. This is our first quarterly update to the public. Porcini mushrooms go by many names. This project works with porcini specifically –Boletus edulis– and also a group of other closely related “King Bolete” mushroom…

  • Woodland roses, invasive and native

    We kill a lot of invasive multiflora rose. This organism was brought here by the USDA as a living fence species and escaped captivity. Living fences are better accomplished with trees grown in place, with any wire tacked onto a floating piece of treated lumber so that the wire doesn’t get swallowed by the radial…

  • Chinese chestnut seedling mycorrhization with porcini

    I am delighted to report that a SARE Farmer/Rancher grant which I submitted has been fully funded. The funding will go to a research project, where we’ll study a forest farming practice known as mycosilviculture. In particular, we are seeking to colonize the roots of a new orchard’s worth of Chinese chestnut seedlings, with a…