Slow Wood Talk by Brian Donahue

Join us for a presentation from Brian Donahue, forest historian, farmer, and author. Brian is Brandeis professor emeritus of American Environmental Studies and co-author of the reports A New England Food Vision, Beyond the Illusion of Preservation, and Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities. He is also co-editor of the free e-journal, From the Ground Up. Brian has devoted much of his career to understanding the historical roots and future implications of human/nature interactions in New England. Specifically, he and his colleagues have explored the links among community well-being, sustainable natural resource use, and nature conservation, focusing particularly on agriculture and forestry.

In this talk, Brian will discuss his most recent book, Slow Wood: Greener Building from Local Forests (2024), which documents his experience building a timber frame home from the wood growing on his family farm through the stories of the trees he used while practicing “worst first” forestry. The book also explores the history of Americans’ relationship with their forests. Practicing ecological forestry produces a wide range of both low-grade and high-grade wood while maintaining ecological values in the forest, but it cannot easily compete with larger-scale plantation and short-rotation production and processing, which saturates the market. Brian will address some of the obstacles we face in increasing ecological, local wood use, and the opportunities and levers for overcoming those obstacles.

Parking: Waldorf school parking lot across from the Farm Store

Talk location: The Learning Center @ 327 Rte 21C, Ghent, NY 12075 on the Farm Store side of the road (Between Main House and the barn/CSA pick-up, signage will be posted)