Category: Forestry

by Mitch Lansky Note: These principles and goals are derived from Lansky’s book, “Low-Impact Forestry; Forestry as if the Future Mattered.” They have not been voted on, so are not the official stance of MOFGA’s Low-Impact Forestry Committee. I.    Forests are part of the ecological support system upon which we depend for survival, not simply

  The logging crew at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center, Feb. 2008. Photo by Nick Zanstra. by Pete Hagerty and Sam Brown A Little History “We had a lot of fun, made a pile of wood, and didn’t nobody get hurt. Now, pay attention because it gets complicated for a while before it gets plain.”

Poplars harvested from shelterbelts can provide lumber, veneer and chips. The poplars are harvested just as they begin to compete with ash and oaks planted alongside them.  This shelterbelt at Lakopita College Farm in LaPocatiere, Quebec, also includes a row of fir trees. Story and photos by Jean English Agroforestry, according to Ron Smith of

Low-Impact Forestry and MOFGA: A Program in the Making By Mitch Lansky Copyright 2006 To some, forests are an extension of the farm, but they grow wood and fiber rather than food. Desirable trees are “crops,” other plants are “weeds,” and organisms that might feed on crop trees are “pests.” This viewpoint is formalized within

Under the instruction of Mike Maines, participants in the chainsaw safety workshop held last March get hands-on experience. by Ellen S. Gibson This is the story of how 25 women showed up at the barn on Stearns Hill Farm in West Paris on a chilly Saturday morning in March last year to attend a workshop