What We've Been Up To

With summer in full steam, we have been putting together our finalized plans for the recipients of the Planting Stock Access Program. Through this program, we are working with six aspiring forest farmers across the state of Missouri to provide the initial planting stock for their forest farms! Our order form for these forest farmers currently includes American ginseng seed, black cohosh rootlets, blue cohosh rootlets, false unicorn rootlets, goldenseal rootlets, bloodroot rootlets, stoneroot rootlets, and ramp bulbs all sourced from sustainable growers. 

Our hope is that, with the addition of 6 new forest farms in Missouri, we can start to build a greater local supply of planting stock for future forest farmers!

In other news, our friends at The Southern Ohio Chestnut Company farm 30-some acres of chestnuts, and recently received a grant to grow bolete mushrooms (Boletus spp.) symbiotically with chestnut trees as a secondary crop. This practice is a sub-discipline of forest farming sometimes called mycoforestry or mycosilviculture. Inspired by chestnut growers in Italy, Iberia, and China, they strive to farm king boletes in a Chinese chestnut orchard - to harvest, eat, sell, and make money. Foraged from the wild, these mushrooms retail for $50/lb fresh or $160/lb dry in the US. Yields of 30-40 lbs./ac./year are reported from Europe, yet nobody in the US is doing king bolete mycoforestry yet. Part of their goal is to learn how to apply this practice in the Midwestern US and open a door for others to follow. 

To learn more about this exciting project, check out the blog post on their website, as well as the infographic and video from their partner company MidAM Mushrooms linked below.

Blog Post: https://paradiseecologicalservices.com/2025/06/15/2025-06-24-research-update-on-chinese-chestnut-seedling-mycorrhization-with-porcini/ 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xGgJBZ63PU

Forest Farming Handbook

We are excited to announce a new handbook co-authored by Raelin Kronenberg and Ezra Houston as part of a SARE PDP grant awarded to Raelin and Dr. Sougata Badhan - Forest Farming In Missouri: An Overview of the Production of Non-Timber Forest Products - 1st Edition.

Although much has been written on the subject of forest farming in the context of Appalachia, few resources exist on this practice in the context of other regions in the U.S. This book is interspersed with references and applications that are relevant to Missouri and the Ozark region while also providing an overview of the practice that aspiring forest farmers anywhere in the temperate U.S. will find useful.

Upcoming Events

Click the link below to register via zoom. If you have specific questions you would like to discuss, send them in advance to [houstone@lincolnu.edu]. 

Call for Directory Entries

Are you a forest farmer or part of a business that engages with forest farming, herbal products, or other related fields? The MWFFC is putting together a directory to help connect forest farmers in the Midwest, facilitate resource sharing and trading, and foster business connections within the community. The first version of the directory will have 4 categories: 

• technical service providers
• farms and growers
• herbalists and herb buyers
• education and community groups.

If you are based in the Midwestern US, fit into any of these categories, and are interested in being added, inquire with Ezra Houston at houstone@lincolnu.edu. 

MWFFC University Partners