South Hill Forest Products, Ithaca, NY, USA

We are a student-run business dedicated to providing high quality, all natural non-timber forest products.

In today's world, there is a very high demand for timber products, whether for construction, fuel, or any other wood-based merchandise. Both the timber companies and more importantly, the forest are under a great deal of pressue from consumers. Fortunately, timber is not the only resource which the forest has to offer. There are several types of non-timber products, each with different benefits ranging from medicing to eatables to landscape decoration, not to mention, much better for our environment. NTFPs has also been coined as Forest Farming or Agroforestry, all of which exemplify the usage of the natural forested land around us for services other than lumber.

Maple Syrup:
In 2007 a group of students began a small maple syrup production project here at Ithaca College. Over the past few years the project has expanded to include a 75 tap maple syrup operation, 2 edible mushroom farms, and 3 beehives. This year (2012) things have warmed up much faster than anticipated, so we started tapping our trees February 1st! Last year we produced a total of 10 gallons of delicious maple syrup and are keeping our fingers crossed for another fantastic season. Without being too sappy, we would just like to thank you all for being so sweet.

Mushroom Cultivation:
Since the summer of 2009, IC students have been working hard to establish both an indoor and outdoor mushroom farm. Our current indoor facility is dedicated to producing mouth-watering Italian Oyster Mushrooms. Our outdoor facility produces beautiful and delicious, log-grown Shiitake Mushrooms. Perfect for soups, sandwiches, or simply sauteed. Our mushrooms will be available in some of Ithaca's finest restaurants this season so check back soon for updates on availability! We have a lot of fungus among us.

Honey and Hive-products:
This exciting new project is the brainchild of Environmental Studies student Hannah Whitehead '12. Our bee-yard currently contains 2 langstroth hives, presently used by most commercial and hobbyist beekeepers, and 1 Top Bar Hive, an old method of beekeeping which has recently made a comeback due to speculation regarding increased bee health and vitality. We are currently in the process of expanding the project with 3 additional hives. Honey, you better bee prepared.

Make sure to check out our blog, flickr and youtube channel for info and updates! Or drop us a line at mushbeemaple@gmail.com for any questions, comments, or just to say hi!

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/southhillforestprod/
Blog: http://southhillforestproducts.blogspot.com/
Wordpress: http://southhillforestproducts.wordpress.com/
YouTube:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/southhillforest