Working in your Woodlands: Sustainable Income Opportunities 

Often the woods on agricultural lands are perceived as an area not suitable to farm or simply as a place to hunt or to get firewood. Many times these woodlots are degraded from neglect or from unscrupulous logging operations. If you’d like to get more value out of your woods, please join us to learn how to sustainably incorporate them into your overall farm operation. Responsible use of your woodlands can help you generate new products and sources of revenue, access new markets and increase the value and vitality of your land.

This workshop will begin at the Jefferson Ruritan Club in Jefferson, Maryland. Here we will discuss these potential opportunities with professional foresters and other natural resource providers. Participants will then drive a mile down Lander Road to Steve Thrasher’s farm, which has been in his family since the mid-1700s, to see his various forestry projects.  A forester will be on hand to teach participants how to recognize the current and future value in their woodlots, to discuss the process of this farm’s CREP planting project, and observe a portable sawmill demonstration.  Rob Vaughn of Clagett Farm will also be present to discuss shitake mushroom production in woodlands.

Agenda:

12:00 – 12:15 - Welcome and overview – Rob Schnabel and Jeff Semler, Future Harvest-Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture and Craig Highfield, Forestry for the Bay

12:25 – 12:50 – Steps to a sustainable harvest – Bill Bond, Parkton Woodland Services

12:50 – 1:10 – Management planning & cost share – Mike Kay, MD DNR Forest Service

1:10 – 1:30 – Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) – Layne Ballard, Farm Services Agency

1:30 – 1:40 – Overview of the farm – Steven Thrasher

1:40 – 2:10 – Head over to Thrasher Farm

2:10 – 2:40 - Visit CREP riparian planting – further discussion of opportunities & requirements

2:40 – 3:25 – Sample Tree Inventory – determining the potential value in your trees

3:25 – 3:55 – Portable sawmill demonstration – Steve Thrasher

3:55 – 4:10 – Growing shitake mushrooms -  Rob Vaughn, Clagett Farm

4:10 – 4:15 -  Wrap up