Learn how to rejuvenate forested land through the cultivation of medicinal herbs, mushrooms, and maple syrup during this full-day event at the YMC Forest Farm.
Registration Includes:
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.
- Full Day of Workshops
- Lunch & Dinner
- Forest Farming Materials and 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.
Meet The Presenters!
Ed Daniels
Shady Grove Botanicals
https://www.shadygrovebotanicals.com
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.
Will Lewis
WV Forest Farming Initiative Coordinator
Blessed Bee Honey
https://www.wvforestfarming.org
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.
Wes White
Shadowlands Farm LLC
https://shadowlandsfarm.com
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.
Joey Aloi
Future Generations University
https://www.future.edu/joey-aloi
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.
Mary Hufford
Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN)
https://www.likenknowledge.org/likeneers/mary-hufford
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.
Joe & Brenda
E.B. Fungi
https://www.ebfungi.com
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.
Larry Jent
Fungi Deputy Director of the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area
https://www.larryjent.org
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.
Ed Daniels
Shady Grove Botanicals
https://www.shadygrovebotanicals.com
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.
Will Lewis
WV Forest Farming Initiative Coordinator
Blessed Bee Honey
https://www.wvforestfarming.org
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.
Wes White
Shadowlands Farm LLC
https://shadowlandsfarm.com
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.
Joey Aloi
Future Generations University
https://www.future.edu/joey-aloi
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.
Mary Hufford
Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN)
https://www.likenknowledge.org/likeneers/mary-hufford
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.
Joe & Brenda
E.B. Fungi
https://www.ebfungi.com
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.
Larry Jent
Fungi Deputy Director of the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area
https://www.larryjent.org
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.
