Welcome to our Resource Library. One of the main purposes of our website is to maximize connectivity, and access to valuable information pertaining to land stewardship and related fields. With your help and our continued evolution, this section will be constantly expanding. These are a few of the resources that have helped us. We welcome your suggestions.
Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP)
Their mission is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food.
Biodynamic Agriculture
Biodynamic Agriculture is a method of organic farming that employs what proponents describe as “a holistic understanding of agricultural processes”. It has taken root in a variety of agricultural fields, perhaps most notably in viticulture.
Blue Ridge Forestry
Blue Ridge Forestry provides timber assessment and appraisal, road and trail planning and layout, mapping and geospatial analysis, property line relocation and marking.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an alternative, locally based economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA also refers to a particular network, or association of individuals, who have pledged to support one or more local farms, with growers and consumers sharing the risks and benefits of food production. CSA members, or subscribers, pay at the onset of the growing season for a share of the anticipated harvest. Once harvesting begins, they periodically receive shares of produce. In addition to produce, some CSA services may include additional farm products like honey, eggs, dairy, fruit, flowers and meat. Some CSAs provide for contributions of labor in lieu of a portion of subscription costs.
https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/community-supported-agriculture
Earthships
Earthships are a type of passive solar house that are made of both natural and recycled materials (such as earth-filled tires). Earthships are intended to be “off-the-grid ready” homes, with minimal reliance on both public utilities and fossil fuels. Earthships are constructed to use available natural resources, especially energy from the sun. They are designed to use thermal mass construction and natural cross ventilation, assisted by thermal draught (stack effect), to regulate indoor temperature.
http://earthship.com/http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthship.htm
Ernst Conservation Seeds
Ernst Conservation Seeds grows, processes and sells over 400 species of native and naturalized seeds and live plant materials for restoration, beautification, reclamation and conservation.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests.
Hempcrete
Hempcrete is a bio-composite made of the inner woody core of the hemp plant mixed with a lime-based binder. It is used as an insulating material.
Hugelkultur
Hugelkultur Is a composting process employing raised planting beds constructed on top of decaying wood debris and other compostable biomass plant materials. The process helps to improve soil fertility, water retention, and soil warming, thus benefiting plants grown on or near such mounds.
Hydroseeding
Hydroseeding is a planting process that uses a slurry of seed and mulch. The slurry is transported in a tank and sprayed over prepared ground. Hydroseeding is an alternative to the traditional process of broadcasting or sowing dry seed.
International Association of Hydroseeding Professionals (IAHP)
Invasive Plant Identification Resources
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/resources/identify.shtml
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/unitedstates/tn.shtml
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/2013/09/26/guide-to-invasive-plants-in-southern-forests
http://ncbg.unc.edu/plants-to-avoid
http://www.ncwildflower.org/invasives/list.htm
https://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious?rptType=State&statefips=37
Land Trust Alliance
Land Trust Alliance is a national conservation organization representing more than 1,700 land trusts across the United States.
LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design
LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design,is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices.
Mycorrhizae
Mycorrhizal fungi are an essential family of organisms found in soil that create a symbiotic relationship with plants. They exist in association with plant root systems, acting as a delivery system for water and nutrients in exchange for carbohydrates from the plant. Areas low in mycorrhizal fungi will not support vigorous plant growth and will be more susceptible to contamination and draught. Mycorrhizal fungi are an important ingredient in hydroseeding mixtures, and for plants and trees of all species. Learn more from Christine Jones 2009 article.
Native Warm Season Grasses
Native Warm Season Grasses are annual and perennial grasses historically native to an area. Unlike cool season grasses, such as those brought by European settlers and familiar to most of us as lawn grasses, NWSG sequester carbon more deeply in their tissues enabling them to flourish in hotter, dryer climates. The restoration and use of native grasses is gaining in popularity in many parts of the U.S., especially for wildlife habitat, livestock forage, erosion control and improvements to water quality.
https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1752.pdf
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs143_010044.pdf
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/quail/nwsg.asp
http://www.ncwildlife.org/portals/0/Conserving/documents/TarheelWildlife/Tarheel_Wildlife_ch_5.pdf
http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/land_management_tips.html?id=13107
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.
Nature Conservancy
Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.
Neptune Organics
Neptune Organics is a division of Ocean’s Crest Seafoods, Inc. that utilizes the inedible portions of fish to produce liquid fish fertilizer.
NC Forest Service
NC Forest Service ensures adequate and quality forest resources for the state to meet present and future needs.
Parelli Natural Horsemanship
The Parelli Program is a people-training program focused on the study of horse behavior and horsemanship skills.
Pastured Poultry
Pastured Poultry is a sustainable agriculture technique that calls for the raising of laying chickens, meat chickens, and/or turkeys on pasture, as opposed to indoor confinement.
Permaculture
Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction, and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems. Permaculture is the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient.
Pine Savannas
Pine Savannas are found in the lower Coastal Plain on wet, flat areas, and occasionally low “islands” in peatlands or swamps, and are saturated at least part of the year.
Polyface Farms
Polyface Farms is a family owned, multi-generational, pasture-based, environmentally friendly, local-market farm and informational outreach in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.
Prescribed Burning
Prescribed Burning helps reduce the catastrophic damage of wildfire on our lands and surrounding communities by safely reducing excessive amounts of brush, shrubs, and trees, encouraging the new growth of native vegetation, and maintaining the many plant and animal species whose habitats depend on periodic fire.
Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA)
Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) is a non-profit wildlife conservation organization dedicated to ensuring the future of white-tailed deer, wildlife habitat and our hunting heritage.
Rod Norton Land Surveying
Rod Norton Land Surveying provides topographic surveys, American Land Title Surveys (ALTA), FEMA elevation surveys, easement surveys, site plans and permitting, and commercial surveys in Waynesville, NC and surrounding areas.
Seed Companies, Non GMO
Sow True Seed http://sowtrueseed.com
Johnny’s Seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com
Horizon Herbs https://www.horizonherbs.com
FedCo Seeds https://www.fedcoseeds.com
Seed Savers Exchange http://www.seedsavers.org
Silvopasture
Silvopasture is the practice of combining forestry and grazing of domesticated animals in a mutually beneficial way to promote enhanced soil protection and increased long-term income due to the simultaneous production of trees and grazing animals.
https://archive.org/details/org.centerforagroforestry.practices.3
Society of American Foresters
Society of American Foresters is the national scientific and educational organization representing the forestry profession in the United States.
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is a land trust engaged in conservation projects in the North Carolina and Tennessee mountain region.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for developing and executing federal government policy on farming, agriculture, forestry, and food. It aims to meet the needs of farmers and ranchers, promote agricultural trade and production, work to assure food safety, protect natural resources, foster rural communities and end hunger in the United States and internationally. To find your personal representative, go to:
http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=nc&agency=fs
US Green Building Council
Western North Carolina Green Building Council (WNCGBC)
Western North Carolina Green Building Council (WNCGBC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote environmentally sustainable and health conscious building practices through community education and innovative programs.
Western North Carolina Green Builders Directory
Zero Carbon Footprint (Carbon Neutrality)
Zero Carbon Footprint (Carbon Neutrality) refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference.
http://onlyzerocarbon.org/definition.html
http://timeforchange.org/what-is-a-carbon-footprint-definition