The 2026 WV Forest Farming Forum addresses a variety of forest farming topics, including opportunities for generating agricultural income while conserving and rejuvenating forested land through the cultivation of medicinal herbs, mushrooms, and maple syrup.
West Virginia
Forest Farming Field Day
Session Descriptions
Forest Farming Expert Panel
– Ed Daniels, Will Lewis, Wes White, and more TBA
We will be hosting a long format Q&A with forest farmers across the region who span from beginners to experts
Site Selection
– Will Lewis
This workshop session will focus on how to use companion plants and other biological indicators to identify suitable planting sites. Time will be spent discussing companion tree, shrub, and herb identification, reading the landscape, and other assessment tools.
Forest Botanical Propagation
– Ed Daniels
Ed offers a practical and sustainable approach to growing at-risk forest botanicals using organic methods and is one of the best at propagating forest botanicals and expanding their populations.
Getting Started with Honey Bees
– Will Lewis
Learn all about honey bees from our resident beekeeper and owner of Blessed Bee Honey,
Silvopasture and farming your forest margins
– Wes White
Wes will guide us through the process of combining animals as part of your forest farm and forest edge as well as using them to help control invasive species.
Maple Syrup: From Tree to Table!
– Joey Aloi
Maple syrup is a great backyard activity that combines tree science and agriculture. This talk will walk you through a brief overview of the tree science; why maples, and why does sap flow in spring. We will then move into how to make maple syrup in your backyard, talking about sap collection, evaporation, and bottling. At the end of the video, we will briefly touch on the more commercial side of maple syrup, looking at marketing and value-added products. By the end of the talk, we hope you have enough information to get started on your own backyard maple adventure.
Wild Appalachian Sericulture:
Collaborating with North American Silk Moths
Collaborating with North American Silk Moths
– Mary Hufford
If you’ve spent much time in Appalachian forests, you’ve probably encountered the Saturniids, also known as North American Silk Moths: lunas, cecropias, prometheus, polyphemus, Ios, and more. Over the past few decades their populations have declined, due to pressure from pesticides, habitat destruction, and climate change. Have you ever wondered about accomodating these magnificent creatures in your forest farming? This workshop will introduce you to resources for, and benefits of, wild, sericulture (silk production) with native Saturniids, intewoven with a few songs and stories of your own experiences with these extraordinary life forms.
From Totems to Beds:
Cultivating Gourmet Mushrooms in Your Forest Garden
Cultivating Gourmet Mushrooms in Your Forest Garden
– Joe & Brenda
Join E.B. Fungi at The Yew for the Forest Farming Field Day! Learn how to grow your own gourmet mushrooms right in the forest. Perfect for gardeners, foragers, and anyone curious about sustainable food systems.
Three Sisters of Silvaculture: Living in Covenant with the Land
– Larry Jent
Through his masterful storytelling Larry will share his perspective on Appalachian foodways and how people can live in relationship with the land. In this session listeners are invited into a world where land, culture, and memory are intertwined. Raised in a family of storytellers—where it was once called “swapping lies”—Larry carries forward a rich Appalachian tradition, reminding us that all stories are true… and some are factual.
Workshop Schedule
Event Details
Registration Includes:
Full Day of Workshops
Lunch & Dinner
Forest Farming Materials & Technical Assistance
Full Day of Workshops
Lunch & Dinner
Forest Farming Materials & Technical Assistance
COST:
The WVFFI works to make learning opportunities accessible for all, regardless of ability to pay.
The true cost of this field day is more than $150 per person, but because of grants and donations, we can offer it to participants for a lot less.
We offer you a sliding scale pricing menu to help sustain our initiative.
You can help grow our community by paying a registration fee that supports our scholarship fund (Sustaining Rate), pay our base registration fee to cover the essentials (Essential Costs), or contact us for a scholarship.
This fee includes all instruction, lunch, and dinner.
Any option you choose, our forests and families win when we come together to learn and grow!
Sustaining Rate $100
Essential Costs $60
I will apply for a scholarship $20
Scholarships:
Scholarships are available for people who need financial assistance to attend this workshop. If you are interested in a scholarship, please send a scholarship request to [email protected] before registering.
Location:
The event will take place at the Yew Mountain Center which is around 30 minutes from Marlinton, WV. GPS is not always reliable. (Do not take George Hill Rd.)
For driving directions to the Yew Mountain Center, click here.
The WVFFI works to make learning opportunities accessible for all, regardless of ability to pay.
The true cost of this field day is more than $150 per person, but because of grants and donations, we can offer it to participants for a lot less.
We offer you a sliding scale pricing menu to help sustain our initiative.
You can help grow our community by paying a registration fee that supports our scholarship fund (Sustaining Rate), pay our base registration fee to cover the essentials (Essential Costs), or contact us for a scholarship.
This fee includes all instruction, lunch, and dinner.
Any option you choose, our forests and families win when we come together to learn and grow!
Sustaining Rate $100
Essential Costs $60
I will apply for a scholarship $20
Scholarships:
Scholarships are available for people who need financial assistance to attend this workshop. If you are interested in a scholarship, please send a scholarship request to [email protected] before registering.
Location:
The event will take place at the Yew Mountain Center which is around 30 minutes from Marlinton, WV. GPS is not always reliable. (Do not take George Hill Rd.)
For driving directions to the Yew Mountain Center, click here.
Presenter Bios
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Ed Daniels
Shady Grove Botanicals
Ed Daniels bio
Ed is a forest and market farmer in the heart of the Appalachian mountains. Born and raised in West Virginia, he and his wife, Carole, began planting wild-harvested American ginseng on their farm in the mid-1990’s. They incorporated other forest medicinals, like goldenseal, ramps, and black cohosh, and continue adding other native plants to their properties. In 2016, they started a small business, named Shady Grove Botanicals, where they grow and sell starter kits to beginning forest farmers, as well as produce several value-added products. They attend and present at forest farming conferences to increase and share their knowledge. Since 2016, Ed has been teaching the youth how to grow at-risk medicinals using sustainable and organic methods. Shortly thereafter, they incorporated vegetables into their program to teach kids how to grow their own food. This is how their non-profit, Plant the Seed Project, began. |
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Will Lewis
WV Forest Farming Initiative Coordinator
Blessed Bee Honey Will lewis bio
Will is the Yew Mountain Center’s forest farming coordinator and a technical service provider for the West Virginia Forest Farming Initiative (WVFFI). His degree in Horticulture served as a great baseline for him to launch into the forest farming coordinator at the Yew Mountain Center in 2018. Since then he has been establishing the forest farm at the Yew and has been trained to offer site visits and other technical assistance to forest farmers through the WVFFI. Will, alongside Erica Marks, was instrumental in creating the West Virginia Forest Farming Initiative project of the Yew Mountain Center and regional partners. He also works as a seasonal honey bee inspector for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and manages his own beehives for his business, which sells bees, queens, and hive products. With his years of experience in agriculture, he has a diverse background of whole farm management to help serve farmers that are establishing or diversifying their farms. |
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Wes White
Shadowlands Farm LLC
Wes White Bio
Shadowlands Farm LLC was born from a passion for clean, ethical, and nutrient-dense food. Starting as an urban homestead in KY and evolving to a “Farmette” in CO, we have now blossomed into a full-scale direct-market regenerative farm in the Highlands of Virginia. Since 2021, we’ve been establishing our roots in SW Highland County, building fences, pens, huts, sheds, a barn, and a future butcher shop with a custom exempt processing facility. We’re committed to a resilient future, integrating livestock and poultry to mimic natural systems, seeking to sustain and protect our local ecosystems. We raise heritage Duroc hogs, Boer goats, egg layers, broilers and will be adding grass-fed beef in the coming year, additionally in our woodlot we tend and grow forest botanicals such as Ramps, Goldenseal, Solomon’s Seal, Ginseng, Goldenseal, Cohosh, etc. Our journey is ongoing, and we look forward to sharing more as we grow. |
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Joey Aloi
Future Generations University
Joey Aloi Bio
Joey Aloi is an Associate Professor at Future Generations, where he leads the agroforestry team in the Community Engagement division and serves as the Primary Investigator for the USDA Acer Access-funded project Sweet Appalachia: Building Creative Partnerships to Promote Success in US Maple Syrup. His work in agroforestry builds on years of work in Appalachian foodways, especially local-food-system building, food access, and food sovereignty. His published academic works touch on environmental ethics, economic transition, philosophy of technology, environmental justice, agrarianism, and the role of the forest in Appalachian foodways. Outside of work, Joey likes to read to his daughter, garden, cook, and go hiking, canoeing, camping, and foraging for wild foods. |
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Mary Hufford
Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN)
Mary Hufford Bio
Folklorist and writer Mary Hufford grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania, where she developed an abiding love for the deciduous forests of the Allegheny foothills. As a folklife specialist with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, and on the teaching faculties of the University of Pennsylvania and the Ohio State University, she led documentary field projects on woodland arts and community life in Central Appalachia. In recent years she has directed Stories of Place, a program of the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN), co-producing case studies of Appalachian Forest Farming, Women and Ginseng, and a survey of Central Appalachian Folk and Traditional Arts. With support from Mid-Atlantic Arts, Stories of Place is now documenting woodland arts at the Tug Fork headwaters in WV and KY. Since moving to Randolph County, WV to take up forest gardening with her husband, Steve Oaks and their goldendoodle, Sylvie, Mary Hufford has returned to one of her favorite woodland arts: raising North American silk moths and spinning their cocoons into yarns of all sorts. |
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Joe & Brenda
E.B. Fungi
Joe & Brenda Bio
Joe and Brenda are the owners of E.B. Fungi, a gourmet mushroom cultivation and foraging business rooted in Southern West Virginia. With over fifteen years of hands-on experience in mushroom cultivation and foraging, they have dedicated their lives to connecting people with the natural world and the incredible diversity of fungi. Together, they have built a thriving mushroom farm that combines traditional cultivation techniques with innovative growing practices. Beyond farming, Joe and Brenda lead educational workshops and community programs, sharing their expertise in foraging, identification, and sustainable mushroom cultivation. Their work emphasizes not just the culinary and medicinal value of mushrooms, but also the ecological role fungi play in healthy forests and landscapes. Through E.B. Fungi, Joe and Brenda strive to make gourmet, medicinal, and edible mushrooms accessible to their community while fostering a deeper appreciation for the natural environment. Their passion, expertise, and approachable teaching style have made them trusted voices in the mushroom-growing and foraging communities throughout West Virginia and beyond. |
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Larry Jent
Community Builder and Native American Advocate
https://www.larryjent.org
Larry Jent Bio
Larry has lived from the Bay of Alaska to the Chesapeake Bay, on the banks of the Mississippi River, and in the red clay tobacco fields of North Carolina, picking up a wealth of stories along the way. But his home and heart have always been in the Appalachian Mountains. He tells stories from his Cherokee/Welsh heritage, Appalachian heritage, and a few of his own fabrications. He and his wife, Barbara, are happy to say they have ceased their ramblings, and have come back home to West Virginia. They enjoy panoramic views from a ridgetop above Elkins and treasure time with grandchildren. |
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Margaret Bruning
Farm-to-fiber Weaver
Margaret Bruning Bio
Margaret Bruning is a farm-to-fiber weaver at the 40-acre Poe Run Craft and Provisions homestead (Elkins, West Virginia), which is dedicated to art, nature, food, and community. Working mostly off-grid, creating what she calls "slow fabric" connects Margaret to a long legacy of Appalachian folk arts. Driven both by natural surroundings and tradition, she handcrafts modern homestead goods, such as pillows, table runners, floor mats, and scarves. It is her hope that these objects evoke feelings of nostalgia for the challenges of mountain life and the optimism and beauty that can come from it. Sheep are a part of Margaret’s daily life, with their kind eyes and gentle manner. She says, “On hard days, I work tirelessly in the mud to keep them alive. On cold days, I snuggle into their warm, sun-kissed fleeces. On days with blue skies, I'm outside washing and dyeing wool, handspinning, and weaving while watching our small flock forage across lush hills and explore thickets.” Margaret has a Master's Degree in Art History from Arizona State University, where she specialized in public art and contemporary craft sculpture. As a weaver, she is informally trained and first learned to work with sheep and their fiber from her mother Elena Sette. She has continued her education with Mountain Weavers Guild, WV Humanities Folklife, and on the Poe Run mountainside with her husband David Long. Margaret loves foraging for food, marveling at the night sky, watching the behavior of water, and being a part of the land. She admires the ability of artists and craftsmen to interpret ideas, and create experiences that help us reflect on who we are and where we’re going. Her overarching goal is to contribute to the larger folk arts legacy and economy, which includes demonstrating the beauty and earning power of atypical wool as craft art for the home. For the forest farming festival, she collaborated with West Union (WV) based fiber artist Lynda Beatty to experiment with bloodroot for natural dyeing. |
Lodging:
All of our lodge rooms are filled for this event.
We do have camping options.
Contact us directly at 304-653-4079 or [email protected] for discounted event camping rates.
We do have camping options.
Contact us directly at 304-653-4079 or [email protected] for discounted event camping rates.
There are many places to stay in and around Hillsboro and Marlinton.
Housing options can be found on Airbnb and
the Pocahontas County CVB webpage.
Housing options can be found on Airbnb and
the Pocahontas County CVB webpage.
The West Virginia Forest Farming Field Day is a collaboration between the
Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition and the West Virginia Forest Farming Initiative.
Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition and the West Virginia Forest Farming Initiative.
Other Forest Farming Weekend Events
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Resources
The WV Forest Farming Initiative works to help grow forest farmers. Get started right or expand your operation with technical assistance, workshops, and more. Mini-grants are available to help with start-up, expansion, and certification costs for West Virginia residents.
The WV Forest Farming Initiative works to help grow forest farmers. Get started right or expand your operation with technical assistance, workshops, and more. Mini-grants are available to help with start-up, expansion, and certification costs for West Virginia residents.
Mini-Grants
Apply for a cost-share mini-grant to help with start-up, certification, or expansion costs for WV farms. These grants are available for forest farmers in WV.
Apply for a cost-share mini-grant to help with start-up, certification, or expansion costs for WV farms. These grants are available for forest farmers in WV.
We are excited to be a part of the new West Virginia Forest Farming Initiative, a collaborative project of the Yew Mountain Center, Sprouting Farms, Appalachian Sustainable Development, Rural Action, United Plant Savers, and Natural Capital Investment Fund. This project will help WV take its rightful place as a leader in responsibly supplying non-timber forest products to the world. Stay tuned for more!
Forest Farming is the practice of cultivating non-timber forest products that have medicinal, culinary, or decorative uses. This practice can help protect wild population of sought-after plants, enrich and restore forest ecology, and provide income to owners of woodlands.
The goal of the Yew Mountain Center's forest farming project is to provide support for small-scale, low-capital, ecologically-sound forest farming through study, demonstration, and training.
Our educational forest farming project is supported by the WVDA Specialty Crop Block Grant, USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, One Foundation, and Sacharuna Foundation. We are also grateful for the generosity and expertise of local native plant growers such as Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm and Gardens, and Ed and Carole Daniels of Shady Grove Botanicals. Paul Strauss of Equinox Botanicals, Tanner Filyaw of United Plant Savers and Rural Action have donated technical assistance. These supporters and our volunteers have enabled us to plant beds of goldenseal, black cohosh, ramps, Solomon's seal, and over a dozen other native plant species. Signs help visitors identify these and other native plants of interest along our tails.
With the help of volunteer botanist, Ken Hiser, and a team of trained volunteers, we are doing an inventory of plants with a focus on the "at-risk" and "to-watch" species identified in this list from United Plant Savers.
For more information, visit here: http://www.wvforestfarming.org
Forest Farming is the practice of cultivating non-timber forest products that have medicinal, culinary, or decorative uses. This practice can help protect wild population of sought-after plants, enrich and restore forest ecology, and provide income to owners of woodlands.
The goal of the Yew Mountain Center's forest farming project is to provide support for small-scale, low-capital, ecologically-sound forest farming through study, demonstration, and training.
Our educational forest farming project is supported by the WVDA Specialty Crop Block Grant, USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, One Foundation, and Sacharuna Foundation. We are also grateful for the generosity and expertise of local native plant growers such as Barry Glick of Sunshine Farm and Gardens, and Ed and Carole Daniels of Shady Grove Botanicals. Paul Strauss of Equinox Botanicals, Tanner Filyaw of United Plant Savers and Rural Action have donated technical assistance. These supporters and our volunteers have enabled us to plant beds of goldenseal, black cohosh, ramps, Solomon's seal, and over a dozen other native plant species. Signs help visitors identify these and other native plants of interest along our tails.
With the help of volunteer botanist, Ken Hiser, and a team of trained volunteers, we are doing an inventory of plants with a focus on the "at-risk" and "to-watch" species identified in this list from United Plant Savers.
For more information, visit here: http://www.wvforestfarming.org
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Participate in our Forest Farming Project at the Forest Herbs Weekend.
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