Profit from a Rural Lifestyle

I was predominantly a rural real estate appraiser.  The biggest challenge was finding market value that was defensible especially when a large portion of the value could be attributed to lifestyle.  It is much easier to quantify value in an active market such as occurs in a metro area with all the diversity that attracts the majority of people.  But there will always be some individuals that find quality of life in ecstatic values found in many rural areas where balance with the natural world rules instead of monetary values.

I grew up in a fast changing neighborhood in northern Virginia just a few miles from the Pentagon and Washington, D.C. I vividly remember being the last house on a dead-end gravel street before the famous Belt-way around Washington, D.C. was built.  There were woods, lots of woods, and huge gravel pits, winding creeks that went for miles, and lakes nearby.  I always felt more comfortable in those places than I did around people who seemed to leave about the time I really got to know them.  You see, the neighborhood was made up of military and government employees who were predominantly transient, and those that served them that stayed around for many years.  My father was a product salesman in the Mt. Vernon and Alexandria areas.  My values developed from this environment as I saw more stability in nature and less in the people that moved in and left every 2-4 years.  It was this constant changing and development that overwhelmed me as I saw the natural world moving more and more out of balance by the time I was 17 because of the increase human population.  I had the opportunity to move to rural Iowa where the world moved much slower.  When my new husband and I saw a different kind of value developing between the natural world and the monetary acceleration value of big business farming, it was time to move to Missouri.  We bought 50 acres of mostly woods.  We bought a lifestyle.  We lived there for seven years and raised our children until they were school age.

Although we loved the lifestyle and were successful, it was because we made our money away from the land in town with good jobs.  Our successes were many.  We raised rabbits to eat and sell.  We had a couple cows for milk, dairy products, and beef.  We had chickens for meat and eggs.  We had a few pigs.  We had a huge vegetable garden, bee hives, fruit and nut trees, hunted deer and turkey, and fished.  We had help from the local Extension Office when we needed it.  We thought we had enough money to keep it going forever.  But the insecurity of the garment industry where my husband worked and the opportunity for me to work as an appraiser for the state happened.  We moved to town mostly to socialize the children more and had to be more concerned about the market value of our farm should we have to sell it and move for my husband's employment changes.  I still miss the lifestyle we left over 30 years ago.

When I retired in 2011, I looked into becoming a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist through the Extension Offices and University of Missouri-Columbia.  I have learned so much and continue to learn about new ways to return to a beautiful balance with nature and a lifestyle that make my retirement years golden.  I can now share what I have learned that will improve the balance of nature around me.  I hope that it can even reach some young people just starting in life to find their place in the natural world and hopefully find enough Profit from a Rural Lifestyle to keep them on the farm.

One of the requirements to remain a Master Naturalist is eight hours of Advanced Training each year.  This year I chose an Agroforestry Workshop at the Allen Project Site put on by The University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry (UMCA) which is one of the world's leading centers contributing to the science underlying agroforestry.  The Allen Research and Education site is a highly diverse 560-acre farm located near Laurie, Missouri; Lake of the Ozarks area.  There are 80 acres of warm-season grasses (edge-feathered to increase wildlife habitat) growing in a valley that dissects rolling hills covered in typical Ozark forests.  Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) has been conducted on 60 acres and 70 acres of walnut release as a first step towards placing the farm's forested area under management.  The management plan includes a nut species orchard of five grafted cultivars of pecan, walnut, and Chinese chestnut.  The alley cropping has a pitch pine/loblolly pine hybrid.

So what is Agroforestry anyway?  "Agroforestry is the intentional integration of trees with crops and livestock  This integration results in new market opportunities; diversified farm income; improved water quality; habitat for wildlife; sustainable agriculture; land stewardship."  The five key practices include: Silvopasture, Alley Cropping, Forest Farming, Windbreaks, and Riparian Buffers.

Everyone for the workshop met at the barn site.

We all broke out into 2 groups to attend the different workshops presented morning and afternoon.

I am going to explore the areas of interest to me that the workshop featured that can bring Profit from a Rural Lifestyle:

Mushroom Growing
Pine Straw Production
Timber Management
Establishment of Warm-Season Grasses and Pollinator Habitat
Woodland Grazing/Silvopasture
Marketing Specialty Forest Products

Mushroom Growing

No. it has not been found profitable to grow morel mushrooms yet!  If you know where they grow and have more than you want to eat, sell, or give them away, please be careful not to eliminate them by over harvesting.  A more attractive option and much more dependable would be to grow and market mushrooms like Shiitake, Oyster, or Winecap.  It is relatively easy to do but does present many challenges.  Adequate planning, market survey, and a thorough analysis of whether mushroom growing is right for you and your land is essential.  

Basically, Shiitake are grown on logs inoculated with purchased mushroom spawn (drill, fill, plug with wax) and set logs (oak is best) in a laying yard will produce in about a year.

Oyster mushrooms grow on totems.  Specific timing and types of wood are essential.  Inoculate shaded logs with purchased mushroom spawn between log sections, cover with plastic bag for about 3 months.  Do not let logs dry out and mushrooms could appear as soon as a few months later and will produce for many years on the same totem.

Winecap mushrooms grow on straw/woodchip beds.  Semi-shade 5'x10' area cleared of leaves and vegetation is layered with soaked straw/woodchips then sprinkled with purchased sawdust spawn, repeat layers, cover with clear plastic.  After 2 months, uncover and mushrooms should appear within several weeks.

Additional Resources:

Missouri Extension

PSU Extension
Farming the Woods
Fungi

Gregory, Education & Outreach Coordinator, says the short drill is important when you are doing more than 10 logs as it is much faster.

Gregory shows the inoculant tool and the bag of Shiitake mushroom spawn.

Hot food-grade wax is used to plug the holes so the spawn can grown throughout the log.  Mushrooms will pop up through the holes pushing out the wax plug.

Gregory shows that a cattle water tank works well for soaking the logs.

Gregory shows a newly constructed Winecap mushroom bed.

Totems are used for growing the Oyster mushroom.  
They will pop out all around the cut log sections.

Pine Straw Production

There is a huge market for mulch as more and more people realize the benefits of conserving water and weed control in landscaping.  Why pine straw?  It is more cost effective than wood chips as well as in retaining moisture and suppressing weeds.  It does not require replenishing as often as other mulches and is attractive on the landscape.  It creates a more favorable soil nutrient balance than wood chips with minimal effect in altering soil pH.

Each year a pine tree sheds its old needles and if the needles are of sufficient length and quality, they can be harvested and sold as pine straw in bales.  Of the pines available for a pine straw industry in the Midwest, a pitch pine (P.rigida) x loblolly pine (P.taeda) hybrid is probably one of the best.  First harvest of pine straw will occur when the tree is 7-8 years old.

Additional Information:  Pine Straw Advice

Gene, Senior Outreach Specialist, talks about his successes and problems in the Pitch Loblolly Pine area that has a 60'-90' alleyway in between that can be used for growing other crops such as pumpkins or used for grazing livestock on warm-season grasses.  People are sitting on the small bales of pine straw and there's a pile of pine straw inside the circle everyone is around.

Pitch Loblolly tree with pine straw piled around.  
Mature trees can get 40' in height producing much mulch.

Establishment of Warm-Season Grasses and Pollinator Habitat

Fescue is a cool season grass.  Native grass is better than fescue because it is not as thick and is more compatible for small wildlife such as quail. Wildflowers for nectar used by insects need more cleared areas to seed out as we want to promote bees and monarch butterflies.  Jody from the Missouri Department of Conservation presented good information about the promotion of native grasses and wildflowers for pollinators and quail to thrive.  She showed the life cycle of the monarch and what we can do to ensure they continue.  Jody works closely with our Master Naturalist group and we work closely with the Missouri Prairie Foundation and Missouri Monarch Butterfly Pollinator Habitat Restoration Project.

"Prescribed fire is the process of applying a controlled fire to a predetermined area to meet certain goals and objectives."  Prescribed burning is a tool used by a qualified person to manage natural communities and planted grass/wildflower stands.  It can control woody invasion, improve wildlife habitat by stimulating desirable and suppressing undesirable plant species, improve poor grazing distribution, and reduce wildfire risk.  It can also be used to prepare sites for planting or seeding, remove slash or debris, and enhancing seed production of target plant species.

For additional information on prescribed burning, contact your local USDA Service Center or Missouri Department of Conservation office.  Ask for Prescribed Burning - Conservation Practice Information Sheet (IS-MO338).

It was then time for the class to participate in a prescribed burning with Dusty, the Director of Natural Resources Management, Office of Research and Extension, CAFNR (MU)...

Dusty checks for wind, humidity, and temperature just before he sets the fire.

Ready - Set - Burn!

People spreading out as does the fire.

Some areas can burn faster than others.

Sometimes the wind changes and you have to be ready!

Getting close to the electric power lines...but okay, this time.

It can move very quickly...

...so the water tank truck follows close enough.

Several people used water tanks to keep the edges from burning.

At the edge, a yellow rocket (mustard family) lives on!

Timber Management

Dusty Walters, PhD took us out into the deep woods.  His presentation was done as we all stood around enjoying the woodland all around us.  He talked about timber management from the viewpoint that it's your land and only you know what you value.  When you know what you have, you can then know the value of what you have.  Regeneration was the key to management and diversity gives the forest the ability to adapt to changes.  He talked about selling timber and working with a professional forester.  Some helpful publications from the University of Missouri Extension 

would include Publications:

G5051 Selling Timber: What the Landowner Needs to Know
G5055 Determining Timber Cost Basis
G5056 Managing Your Timber Sale Tax
G5057 Basic Elements of a Timber Sale Contract
G5999 Forestry Assistance for Landowners

Another good source of information is the Missouri Department of Conservation's Publication "Timber Stand Improvement - A guide for improving your woodlot by cutting firewood."

Dusty loads everyone up to take us into the woods.

A wonderful classroom to talk about trees!

Woodland Grazing/Silvopasture

"Silvopasture is the intentional integration of trees, livestock, and forage into a managed system to yield production and environmental benefits.  It has great potential throughout the central hardwood region and in the Southern pine region.  Because the practice requires simultaneous production of forest products, high quality forage and livestock on the same parcel of land, intensive management is required."  The benefits of Silvopasture includes reduced animal stress with improved health and calving success.  There's increased feeding efficiency with superior weight gain.  Noticeable improved tree performance can be seen in its health, vigor, height, and diameter.  There is improved financial performance over pure forestry or pure livestock management.

Additional information is available:

Center for Agroforestry, University of Missouri
Cornell University
Silvopasture

Marketing Specialty Forest Products

No one has ever made any money growing specialty forest products (SFPs).  They make money selling them.  Producing SFPs can be a profitable enterprise but the producers must thoroughly understand the unique nature of niche markets before they make production investments.  Producers are required to spend much more time and energy in marketing than is needed for traditional "commodity" row crops.  Producers cannot expect to control the market although a few do such as cedar oil.

There are generally four categories of SFPs:  medicinals and botanicals, forest-based food products, woody decorative florals, and handicraft products and specialty woods.

There are four types of SFPs:

1.  Edible - nuts, berries, fruits, mushrooms, syrups, herbs, roots, ramps, fiddlehead ferns, etc.
2.  Medicinal - ginseng, goldenseal, black cohosh, stoneroot, etc.
3.  Decorative - dogwood, willow, wildflowers, ferns, vines, etc
4.  Handicraft - vines, burls, dogwood, ferns, mosses, cedar, etc.

There are some strategies for marketing Specialty Forest Products:

1.  Know your customer - "Heavy users often make up 20% of the population of users, but consume 80% of the product."
2.  Identify your marketing options - Sell direct to consumer, retail, wholesale, and/or via distributers. 
3.  Develop niche products with multiple markets - Only one market increases your risk as a producer because if that market fails to materialize at harvest, you have limited options to move product.
4.  Secure markets ahead of time - "Be a price maker, not a price taker."
5.  Thinking small can pay off big - "if you compete with the big boys, you must find areas where you will always win."
6.  Setting prices - "Don't underprice your products or your time!"

Additional sources for information:
Agroforestry and Specialty Forest Product Marketing Information
Fruits and Vegetables: A Niche Market for Small Farmers

Some of the successes of Agroforestry in Action in Missouri are growing Chinese chestnuts, propagating pecan and black walnuts, and growing and marketing elderberries.  Check out the 10th Annual Missouri Chestnut Roast event Saturday, October 8, 2016 less than 10 miles north of I-70, off Hwy 5.  It will feature agricultural crafts and products!  It is in the heart of Missouri wine country.  There is also the annual Walnut Festival early in October at Stockton, Missouri featuring Hammons Products.  The demand for elderberry wine is increasing driven by increased consumer interest in personal health.

It is my hope that young people can have a more complete vision of living off the land and not have to settle for anything less than they deserve by becoming more informed and learning from the experiences of those that came before.  There is so much more information available now than when my husband and I "Mother Earthed"or hobby farmed back in the 1970's & 1980's.  If I could take one thing away from this day of learning and sharing, I would say that I may think very seriously about putting in a beehive in my backyard.  We did it before on the 50 acres and now I think we could do it better.  The honey is amazing!

Our final presentation was from Leo Sharashkin, PhD.  He and his family are from Russia and he presented "A Vision and Practice of Natural Apiculture."  I was so impressed, I bought one of his books, Keeping Bees with a Smile by Fedor Lazutin, one of Russia's foremost natural beekeepers.  It was translated by Mark Pettus, PhD and edited by Leonid Sharashkin, PhD.  Deep Snow Press, Ithaca, New York.  The book describes a beekeeping system based on a trust of a bee colony as a living being capable of solving life's challenges without human assistance.  It is for independent-minded beekeepers who are seeking ways to keep bees without treating them with chemicals, disrupting their homes, and otherwise intruding on their lives.

I may write another whole article when I know more and read the book.  For now I will share Leo's website and enjoy the amazing honey I bought from him ($20 for 8 ounces and worth every penny!)
Horizontal Hive

Outdoor classroom with Leo about natural beekeeping.

Leo talks about obtaining bees easily from tree hives then transferring them into horizontal hives.