Blog Posts

  • Southern Ohio Chestnut Company leases 25 acres, partners with Woodcock Nature Preserve

    A lot has happened in 2020, and we’ve got big plans to expand, so I’m taking the last bit of winter downtime to catch up on the blogging. The pandemic has been a bad/weird time for all of us. But, 2020 was the year that Chris Smyth and I officially put roots in the ground…

  • reflections on teaching my first college course

    This fall I had a really good time teaching a 200-level agroforestry class at Hocking College. The students were very engaged with the homework. Each week we had around three readings, and the students were required to write a one-page summary of what they found interesting from the readings to aid in our in-class discussions.…

  • Travelogue: the Walnut-Fruit Silvopasture of Arslan-bob, Kyrgyzstan and the Wild Apple Forest of Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Editor’s Notes: 1/16/24: The text below was originally shared as a series of personal social media account posts. The text but not the pictures were moved to here for later, easier reference. One topic that has come up in conversation since then is the “Apple Guild” we saw growing amidst the wild apple forest near…

  • Sambucus canadensis

    Sambucas canadensis, “American elderberry” Caprifoliaceae One of my favorite plants! Plant it in every yard! A good plant to put in your medicine prairie, in the more mesic part of the site (in the swale) along with the blue vervain and nettles. This plant is famous as the basis of a medicinal wine. The flower…

  • Verbena hastata

    Verbena hastata, “blue vervain” Verbenaceae Been wanting to post about this after I heard about friends using it for back pain. I believe I have seen it out car windows on the highway, but these photos from Illinois Wildflowers, as I just haven’t had time to go look at these. For cultivation, the preference is…