FORWARDED FROM DAVE JACKE
Hello friends!
We hope this message finds you fulfilled and healthy after a wonderful
summer/autumn. I'm writing because Mark Krawczyk and I have
begun writing what will be, to our knowledge, the first North American
manual on coppice agroforestry, and we have two favors to ask of you.
For those of you who don't know, coppicing is a traditional forest
management practice where deciduous trees get cut during dormancy and
then regrow from the stump. We can later harvest these sprouts
to make crafts, fuel, fodder for livestock, and many other useful
products. Though humans have coppiced for over 6,000 years, no
comprehensive resource exists that describes coppice system design,
management, and establishment for our continent, well-suited North
American species and projected yields, and the economics of coppice
systems. It's a big gap to fill and we're eager to fill it as
best we can!
We're already well underway, writing, researching, and building
connections and a portfolio of case studies. Mark will travel to
the west coast and Midwest this December to learn more about how folks
have been using coppice there. Dave has begun combing the
literature for any and all existing research on the subject so we can
consolidate what researchers know. He is also building a
database of species and their coppicing characteristics. We hope
to complete our first draft by winter's end.
The first favor: while we've contacted publishers
about this project (and they are interested), we've elected to
self-fund our manuscript development. We ask you, our friends,
colleagues, students and supporters, to help make it happen by
engaging in our Kickstarter campaign. If you're not familiar
with it, this wonderful web-based service enables folks to financially
support creative projects in return for various creative rewards and a
connection to the project's creative process. Like Community
Supported Agriculture, this Community Supported Authoring structure
helps us maintain our financial viability while we create a resource
the permaculture community needs. Even small amounts-$5 and $10
offerings-will help us achieve and pass our $5,000 goal so we can
travel to interview and photograph practitioners, acquire resources
from overseas, and cover at least some of our living expenses while we
work. Check out the write-up, video, and rewards on our campaign
page at:
The second favor: if you or someone you know
already uses coppicing as a way to produce crafts, biochar, animal
fodder, or other products, we would LOVE to hear about it.
Please send the person's contact information to both of us at
the email addresses above. Also, if you have or know of any
written materials, research papers, or references, we'd also love to
hear about those. You can send references to Dave
at davej@edibleforestgardens.com or at 308 Main St. #2C,
Greenfield, MA 01301.
We feel grateful for whatever support you can provide (moral and
otherwise) and will deeply appreciate you passing this email along to
friends, listservs, and networks that may also be interested in
helping support our work. (I guess that makes three favors!
Thanks! :-)
With sincere thanks,
Mark and Dave
Charles Darwin