2/13/09 Friends of Macdaniels Nut Grove
Are you interested in agroforestry and/or forest farming? We are sending this to folks who have expressed or might be interest in agroforestry-related activities including students who have taken the *Practicum in Forest Farming* (PFF) course at the MacDaniels Nut Grove (MNG), and others within and outside the Cornell communirty. Several of us involved in agroforestry locally are in the process of reactivating a club called the *Friends of MacDaniels Nutgrove,* and we thought you might be interested. If so, please read on. *Agroforestry* is an environmentally sustainable land-use system in which woody perennials are grown on the same land as other crops and both are managed to maximize positive ecological and economic interactions among them. The MNG is an example of a particular agroforestry practice known as *Forest Farming* in which non timber forest products are grown beneath the canopy of an established forest or woodlot. Another agroforestry practices is alley cropping which is underway at the adjacent Dilmun Hill farm. Other agroforestry practices including silvopasture, riparian buffers, and windbreaks might be suitable for Upstate New York. The MacDaniels Nut Grove forest farm is located on the south edge of the Cornell campus, along Cascadilla Creek. It is adjacent to and part of the Dilmun Hill Student Farm. At MNG, students have been growing a variety of non timber forest crops including fruits (e.g. berries, paw paw), nuts (e.g. hickories, walnuts) gourmet mushrooms (e.g. shiitake, oyster), botanicals (e.g. ginseng, goldenseal), and ornamentals (e.g. ferns, hosta). These are all growing beneath the canopy of and established forest that was originally planted to nut trees by Lawrence MacDaniels in the 1930's. The mission of the site is to promote education in forest farming including but not limited to the *Practicum in Forest Farming* course. In addition to Cornell students, MNG has been open to, but not very well know by the wider Ithaca community and beyond. We hope to make it better known as an agroforestry education center. Why now? Because students in the Practicum in Forest Farming class, associated staff, and Steve Gabriel undertook an ambitious planning process that will be the basis of a major site improvement project at MNG. Steve Gabriel, who is Coordinator of the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute, worked with students last Fall to apply a permaculture site assessment and design approach to the MNG forest farm. This approach is quite similar to Dave Jacke's Forest Gardening (“gardening *like* the forest”), except that it involves “gardening *in* the forest”. Implementation of the plan will include increased production of mushrooms and other non timber forest crops, construction of a pavilion and other infrastructure, and more effective use of signage to facilitate public education. We envision that members of the FMNG club will help implement the plan in the spirit of hands on learning, and contribute to the ongoing evolution of the MNG, as well as initiate and take part in other agroforestry-related activities at other locations (speakers, work days at member’s farms, field trips, etc.). So, this is an invitation to Cornell students, staff, and community member to come to an FMNG information meeting on Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 2:00 PM. The meeting will be held in Room 37 Plant Science Building, on Tower Road. Ken Mudge, and Steve Gabriel will talk some about agroforestry, forest farming and its relationship to permaculture; setting the sage for all present to have a discussion about starting up the FMNG club. Please RSVP to this email address, or just show up. Please pass this invitation along to anyone you think may be interested. For more information contact Ken Mudge ( *[email protected]* <[email protected]>, 607-339-6950). Thanks. -- LOCAL PURE MAPLE SYRUP *support us with community supported sugaring share!* www.SAPSQUATCH.com Work With Nature *ecological design solutions* 303.815.3535 [email protected] www.WorkWithNature.net Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute *design certification, apprenticeships, workshops* www.FingerLakesPermaculture.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
