Take a moment to think about a farm. What do you envision? Do you imagine a picturesque scene reminiscent of the dairy farms of America’s past? Do you see green pastures encompassed by wire fencing and overgrown hedgerows hiding miles of stone walls? Do you see rolling fields of silk tasseled corn? Perhaps your mind wanders to an image of a red barn where a lonely and dilapidated grain silo stands just beyond its shadow. Chickens are happily scattered about a dirt driveway pecking at dropped grain and a rusty tractor is parked limply inside a barn bay, its last day spent afield many hot summers ago. This, of course, is the image of a classic American farm.
Now, take a moment to think about a forest farm. Have you ever heard of a forest farm? What do you think of? What do you imagine? Do the images of the red barn, the silo, the hedgerows and the rolling corn fields disappear in your mind? The notion perhaps leaves you with vague images of large tracts of row-planted pine trees towering over a clear forest floor, slowly grown year after year for an eventual timber harvest. Perhaps the term conjures thoughts of men wielding chainsaws alongside logging equipment being aggressively worked through aged stands of oak, seeking only the most valuable trees. Yes, tree plantations with sustainable production do exist and logging operations occur regularly throughout the country but this is not forest farming. Forest farming entails so much more than harvesting trees for timber. Actually, by true definition, “forest farming” is the growth, cultivation or harvest of specific non-timber forest products.
The term “forest farming” may seem new or foreign to many. I have noticed the raised eyebrows and contorted faces when I tell my family, friends and others, “I want to start a forest farm.” “You want to start farming what,” they ask? I now understand that this common response likely comes from the reality that our modern view of farming is still truly of that classic, old-fashioned or traditional, red barn farm. As it so happens, mankind has been utilizing and farming the forest for centuries. The idea and the practice of farming the woods, thus, is not so new or foreign at all. Of course, forest farming and traditional farming can be combined into one system. There are many farmers who tend their land in a more traditional farming manner but also manage their woodlots for the purposes of producing products under the practices of “forest farming.” The land I intend to turn into a forest farm is entirely forested - perhaps making it easier to consider a forest farm as its own, single entity, entirely separate from a traditional field farm.
Admittedly, up until late last summer I had not given forest farming even the slightest consideration. Beyond producing maple syrup as a side product to a more traditional view of farming, I don’t believe I once ever thought of how a forest may be farmed or utilized for anything but timber. As Kathleen and I progress through the initial stages of developing Mount Kadam Forest Farm, I often have to take a step back and ask myself, “How did we get here?” Naturally, many of our family and friends must also be wondering, “Why a forest farm?”
As the first years here on the property quickly passed by, I found myself jumping head first into a deeper pool of homesteading activities. I started by raising and keeping ducks for eggs and eventually took to keeping a small flock of laying chickens. The garden continued to grow larger each summer. I hand tilled a 1/10th acre clearing for row cropping that was destroyed in the infamous day of storms in May, 2018. I’ve hunted quite passionately to put healthy, unadulterated meat on the table. Shoot, we even make our own bread weekly. There has always been an obsessive gathering of wood for keeping the house warm. Countless trips were made into the springs woods to search for wild leeks, morels and chaga. On a whim, about half way through the 2017 maple sugaring season I decided to try making my own maple syrup and became obsessed with the process. Then came the bees. A cow almost happened at one point though I try not to think about that moment. Homesteading and farming are closely related but are, of course, two wildly different things. Nevertheless, couple the homesteading I was doing here on the property with a dream of owning and operating a ranch or a farm and… Uh Oh! Then add the passion I feel for growing and producing my own products and sharing these things with my family and friends. I love to see the smiles on the faces of those who try my maple syrup, take a dozen eggs or bite into a fresh summer tomato. With all of this combined, I knew that I wanted to take things to the next level. The farm “ball” truly started rolling for me roughly three years after moving to the property that is now becoming Mount Kadam Forest farm.
But, before the idea of starting a farm began to take on some form of reality, I often dreamed of this forested property one day developing into rolling pasture and tilled crop fields without truly considering the overwhelmingly massive investment of time, money and resources needed to make this dream real. Trees and stumps have to be cleared and that in turn means bringing in large equipment that, of course, requires the development and maintenance of accessible roads. The list continues on and on. This was never a true possibility. In my short-sighted view of farming, most certainly influenced by an image of that classic American farm, I relegated the thought to nothing more than, “Some day… Some day it’ll happen.”
As the days turned to months and the months to years, I came to be more and more familiar with my land. I developed a relationship with the land. The thought of altering it or changing if for a farm started to sound unappealing. Clearing trees to make a field? I can’t cut down all my trees! After the hours upon hours of hard effort and sweat spent to create new hiking trails throughout, the countless encounters with wildlife - from bears to bobcats to deer and even moose - the many moments spent sitting at the crest of the hill pondering and thinking about the sheer beauty and serenity of this place, how could I possibly think about changing its charm and aesthetic? Despite these feelings, that farm dream persisted - quite naggingly. It continued to nip at my mind and I became consumed with finding a way to make farming a reality on my land. Enter the Cornell Small Farms Program.
The short version of this particular story is that I came to realize one critically important factor of farming almost immediately after starting with the Small Farms Program - That letting your land dictate to you what it’s capable of producing is almost always the ideal. Why force your land to do something it otherwise would not be able to do without those heavy inputs of time, energy and resources, when you can easily tailor the production of product in a more natural and efficient manner? Of course! This land is forested and likely always will be under my watch. As an outdoorsman I have a deep passion for and a strong connection to the forests of the Northeast. I have a strange affinity for trees that falls shy of the “tree hugger” type but well above any normal or sane person. I am already producing maple syrup. Yes! This makes sense. The seed for forest farming was planted.
Through the Small Farms Program I found myself reading, researching and studying for a course in woodlot management. I was consuming the information as fast as it was coming in and then putting it all to use on the ground in my own woods. The points of proper forest management struck a notable chord with me. Caring for the trees and the land by understanding natural forest succession, diseases, soil types and quality, seedling rates, various ecological impacts and a host of other various insights into the world of the forest. Stewardship and carrying the forest into the future by properly identify management objectives and making smart decisions that affect the overall quality, health and wellbeing of the forest. Working with a certified forester to create a proper stewardship plan for my forest. All these things brought a smile to my face. I began to make deeper connections to the various ways I already felt tied to the forest. And through the other courses I was attending, primarily covering the business aspects of starting and running a small farm, I began to develop goals and visions, shaping the image of what Mount Kadam Forest Farm will become. What makes sense here? What will I become passionate about that can benefit all parties involved - from the land itself to the community? I found my answers under the trees.
When I think about all the ways forest farming and being a steward of the land ties in to who I am as an individual, the entirety of it fits quite neatly with my person. There are a handful of people who know me well enough to confirm my harshly conservative view of harvest - in that I have always held myself to a strict standard of never over harvesting. Whether I am hunting, trapping, gathering hickory nuts or felling trees for firewood, I have always adhered to a low or smartly justified approach to harvesting the things I use. I feel that this ties in well with an ability to become an effective steward of the land - the wellbeing of the resource always comes first. I also have a strong desire to live a more natural life - from the food I eat to the products I use, I, like many others, am tired of the processed, the fake and the plastic. Forest farming springs deeply from a connection to the natural processes of life - processes that need to be revered and respected.
Forest farming deeply connects us to the trees, the soil, the wildlife, the land and its history and so much more. How? The very practices and principals of forest farming, known more formally as “agroforestry,” are heavily intertwined with the systems of nature itself. It has become part of the ever expanding practice of “farming in natures image.” Forest farmers are thrust into a position of true stewardship. They become not only caretakers but near symbiotic partners of the very resources that provide us with so many wonderful things. Not because they have to. No. Rather, it is because these men and women want to become engaged as individuals acting as part of our natural world. It is because they want to garner our natural resources into a state of health and wellbeing as a means to to benefit all, from the soils and the trees to the wildlife to our local communities and our future generations.
This is where I now find myself, the fortunate owner of such a beautiful piece of land, chomping at the bit to become a partner for our trees, our soils, our animals, our neighbors, etc. The prospect of aiding or managing our tiny corner of the forested world into a healthful future, all-the-while being able to passionately work to produce products that so many find delicious and nourishing, this greatly excites me. Over the past months I’ve often found myself explaining the principles and practices of forest farming to anyone and everyone who asks what forest farming entails. Yet, I find that my own knowledge of forest farming is constantly expanding and evolving as I, too, am newly pondered to many of the ideas held within. May the learning never cease.
And so, it is from this point that the story of Mount Kadam Forest Farm truly begins. I hope you’ll follow our journey as we experience, learn and grow. I am beyond excited for what the future holds.
