Tag: Forestry

Native Trees

Shadbush blossoms (Amelanchier). Kerry Hardy photo. One Tree-Hugger’s Opinion by Kerry Hardy It’s hard not to notice the foliage on our beautiful native trees at this time of year, and it’s worth remembering that “the spring of the leaf” in May and “the fall of the leaf” in October are the sources of those seasons’

Read More »

Forest Management

by Mitch Lansky A thousand-year forest management plan. Am I joking? After all, the United States is only a little over two centuries old. We live in a world of rapidly changing technologies where, in just a decade or so, people have started using personal computers and cell phones on a wide scale. It is

Read More »

LIF Workshop 2003

Belgian gelding Nick is a patient teacher at MOFGA’s Low-Impact Forestry Workshop. Nan Brucker photo. MOFGA’s Woodlot Plan By Nan Brucker The woods are full of horses. A team of Suffolks pulls up to the landing with a load of logs, as a team of Percherons leaves with an empty scoot. Soft bells announce the

Read More »

Low Impact 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

Read More »

LIF February 2008

  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.”

Read More »

Ramial Chipped Wood

by Ann Currier       It has been encouraging to see the attention that Ramial Chipped Wood (RCW – chips of deciduous tree branches that are smaller than 7 cm in diameter) is getting in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. I first read about RCW in this paper in an article written by Tom

Read More »

Agroforestry

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

Read More »

Low Impact Forestry and MOFGA

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

Read More »

Chainsaw Safety for Women

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

Read More »

Lansky Editorial

By Mitch Lansky In agriculture, some interests are promoting expanded use of herbicide-resistant crops, and thus, by definition, expanded dependence on herbicides. Some interests are promoting expansion of monocultures of specialized crops that are highly susceptible to insect infestations and thus more dependent on chemical insecticides. In forestry, some interests are promoting expanded even-aged management

Read More »
Categories
Scroll to Top