It's a gorgeous time of year to be in the woods in Vermont. Leaf-out is just beginning in the canopy, and spring ephemerals can be spotted on the forest floor.

Small pink flowers in front of some brown moss.
Virginia spring beauty. Photo by Elodie Reed.

Ephemeral flowers like the small pink and white Virginia spring beauty, the yellow, bell-like trout lily, and the tri-petaled red trillium are pretty, and also helpful. Where they grow, the soil is likely rich and moist. They can be an indicator of calcium in the soil, too.

A yellow flower with raindrops on it drooping from a curved stem. Green is blurred in the background.
A trout lily. Photo by Elodie Reed.

Spring ephemerals as well as other herbaceous plants and certain tree species are among several indicators that people might consider before selecting a good site for what's known as "forest farming."

If you haven't heard of it — forest farming can be described as a low-intensity, wild-simulated cultivation of shade-tolerant high-value crops under a managed tree canopy.

A hand holds up a cellphone and the screen is a camera, showing a red trillium that's in front of the hand and phone on the forest floor
Another red trillium at Jericho Research Forest. Photo by Elodie Reed. 

At the University of Vermont Jericho Research Forest, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and UVM Extension are piloting, expanding outreach and providing education on forest farming. The work so far is supported by the USDA Northeast Extension Risk Management Education Center and the USDA Northeast Climate Hub. 

A couple dozen people stand on grass outside a white building. A woman in a pink shirt and jeans points in the middle of the group
As part of the University of Vermont's pilot project for forest farming, it's expanding outreach through workshop events, like this one pictured on Tuesday, May 6, 2026. Photo by Elodie Reed. 

UVM collaborated with Smokey House Center, Vermont Forests, Parks and Recreation, and the Northeast Forest Farmers Coalition to host two workshops in the autumn of 2025. Participants learned about site evaluation for forest farming, and they planted 6 pounds of ginseng seed on about a quarter of an acre.

People are raking, bending over and working in autumnal woods.
A UVM workshop for planting ginseng in October of 2025. Photo by Suzy Hodgson. 

A follow-up UVM workshop took place this week on Tuesday, May 6, during that brief period when ephemeral flowers bloom between snowmelt and tree leaf-out. A couple dozen people took the opportunity to not only enjoy the beauty of the spring ephemerals, but also to learn more about forest farming.

A group of people in a room with windows and a screen up front.
A couple dozen people attended a forest farming workshop on May 6, 2026 at UVM's Jericho Research Forest. Photo by Elodie Reed. 

To start, UVM Research Forests Manager Jess Wikle explained the history behind the nearly-500-acre Jericho Research Forest. She noted the area's generally sandy soils, due to it once being covered by a glacial lake around 14,000 years ago. Then shortly after the Revolutionary War and until the early part of the twentieth century, most of the property was cleared for farming. The soils became so depleted over time that, when UVM acquired the property in 1937, "it was described as sand dunes," Wikle said.

A woman holds up a small poster showing water covering a region with some small islands of land poking up.
UVM Research Forests Manager Jess Wikle shows the Coveville stage of Lake Champlain, when it covered most of the area at the Jericho Research Forest, around 14,000 years ago. 

Initially, UVM decided to reforest the property, mostly with trees that would grow fast and provide straight timber.

"But with some management and also some of those trees dying, we do have native hardwood species coming back," Wikle said.

A zoomed in photo of tree trunks, some white, some brown, mixed with the light green speckling of spring leaf-out.
Some native hardwood tree species in the Jericho Research Forest. Photo by Elodie Reed. 

Extension Assistant Professor of Forestry Ali Kosiba said the landscape legacy at UVM's Jericho Research Forest is a common one across Vermont.

"A lot of our forests are simplified by this land-use history, so they might be missing key components," Kosiba said. "And now we have increasing pressures on forests." Things like deer eating small tree seedlings and understory herbaceous plants, invasive insect species like the emerald ash borer, and a changing climate.

A woman in a hat and flannel shirt points to a larger tree in the foreground, with more trees up a little hill in the background.
Extension Assistant Professor of Forestry Ali Kosiba points out a tree damaged by the invasive emerald ash borer beetle. Photo by Elodie Reed.

But now that we understand how important biodiversity is to the resilience of forests, Kosiba said, there are a lot different ways to achieve that. That includes restoring herbaceous species in forest understories, like ginseng.

Hands holding a tan packet of small round white seeds.
What ginseng seeds look like. Photo by Elodie Reed.

This week's workshop group visited UVM's pilot ginseng site in the research forest, located in one of areas with better soil health.

"We [were] hoping that our ginseng would have germinated, but it hasn't yet," said Suzy Hodgson, project leader and an outreach specialist with the UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture. "It's just been too dry. We're hopeful — we'll just check it next year."

A wide-angle view of a number of people in a forest with tall trees that have light green buds.
A walk into the Jericho Research Forest. Photo by Elodie Reed.

The ginseng's early germination can also be hard to spot because the planting area is intentionally blended into the forest. The workshop group discussed how this light touch of wild simulation differs greatly from row cultivation of crops in fields, and how the repopulation of native plants on forest floors, an ancient practice by Indigenous peoples, is having a "modern moment."

"Partially because of the global predicament that we're in, I think we're looking for practices that are more in alignment with the ecology of the place," said Walker Cammack, the program director at the Smokey House Center in Danby, Vermont. "The more we can be in relationship with these plants, actually, the more we can help them spread back across their landscape."

A picture of a person's hands holding a clipboard with writing on it.
A workshop participant keeps track of the spring ephemeral flowers visible during the group's walk through the research forest. Photo by Elodie Reed.

For workshop attendee Haven Herdlitchka, who plans to help their spouse start a market-garden-type farm in Chittenden County, this was their first time learning about forest farming.

"You hear 'farming,' and you think you're just, obliterating whatever's there," Herdlitchka said. But hearing about the ecological health aspect of forest farming — that makes them interested in trying it.

"I'm glad I learned that," Herdlitchka said.

A person bends down and photographs yellow flowers along the edge of a wooded dirt road.
Workshop attendee Haven Herdlitchka photographs coltsfoot along Tarbox Road, where UVM's Jericho Research Forest is located. Photo by Elodie Reed.

Herdlitchka's mom, Kim Smith, also joined the UVM forest farming workshop during a visit from Oklahoma. She said they came because they're "science nerds," and that they're always interested in furthering their education.

"I'm impressed with the stuff that Vermont's investing, as far as what they're doing in the long-term for their environment," Smith said.

From her perspective, there's a big return investment on climate resilience initiatives like the forest farming pilot.

"It's really the foresight of the future generations," Smith said.

One person holds up a wire rope while another person walks underneath, and they smile at each other.
UVM Extension Center for Sustainable Agriculture outreach specialist and forest farming pilot project leader Suzy Hodgson clears the way for workshop attendee Kim Smith, in red, to step into the Jericho Research Forest. 

Learn more about UVM's Jericho Research Forest.

A dark green sign reading jericho research forest university of vermont is seen through small green plants poking from the ground.
The Jericho Research Forest, located along Tarbox Road, is nearly 500 acres. Photo by Elodie Reed.