The Authors

The authors are available for speaking events and consultations for farmers and forest owners.

Contact us for more information.

 

Ken-Mudge

Ken Mudge is a professor of Horticulture at Cornell University since 1986. He has been engaged in rural economic development through research and education on development of non-timber forest products for over 20 years. He teaches courses on forest farming, plant propagation, and grafting including public online courses in horticulture.

His research has focused on the agroforesty practice of forest farming, with particular emphasis on non-timber forest products including nitrogen-fixing trees, American ginseng, and forest cultivated mushrooms. He is the Primary Investigator on a Northeast SARE-funded extension project to train forest owners in shiitake mushroom production as a business enterprise in collaboration with the University of Vermont and established shiitake farmers.

Ken also conducts workshops and other activities for training forest owners in non-timber forest products. Many activities are centered on the MacDaniels Nut Grove, an agroforestry research and demonstration center at Cornell.

 

steve-gabriel-230x300Steve Gabriel is an ecologist, educator, author, and forest farmer who has lived most of his life in the Finger Lakes region of New York. His personal mission is to reconnect people of all ages with the natural world and to provide the tools for good management of forests and other landscapes.

 

He co-founded the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute, worked as land use manager for Cayuga Nature Center, co-owned a 500 tap maple sugaring operation, and taught hundreds of students about ecological and sustainable design.

 

He currently splits his time between work for the Cornell Small Farms Program, and developing the farm he runs with wife Elizabeth, Wellspring Forest Farm, which produces shiitake mushrooms, duck eggs, pastured lamb, nursery trees, and maple syrup.