Selling products-syrup-resin

[JesseB]

I’m not sure if this would be the right location to post this but I figured it was general enough.

I have a side arboriculture business on top of my real job as a wildlife biologist and per firm job as a FF/EMT. What I’ve seen people wanting to get a lot of is natural products-syrup, beeswax, resin etc. these are things I’d love to be able to harvest eventually once I move into a location with decent acreage.

My question is, does anyone do this? I was looking at harvesting resin as a salve to start but does anyone harvest other products aswell from their forest to sell?

 

[sgbotsford]

Google "Wild crafting" the process of harvesting certain materials from woodlands. There are co-ops that can help with the distribution, or buy from you in bulk for resale.

Notable markets:
* wild mushrooms.
* balsam poplar buds
* ginseng
* snake root
* seeds -- tend to be very specific -- harvest to meet a particular need. E.g. I'm currently looking for 1 kg of red maple seed harvested from Canada zone 2-3 on land with a limestone or dolomite parent rock (soil pH above 6.8)
* Intact clumps of caribou moss. (Used as faux trees by railroaders, and architectural models)
* decorative items -- dogwood twigs, ***** willow, birch twigs. Marketing is all important. Willow products -- wreath cores, willow balls.

This can be lucrative, but tends to be tedious, and won't pay nearly as well as being a biologist.

If you like working with young people, hire kids from the local high school to help. Teach them how to collect. Initially you should be with them to check they are collecting the right stuff.

Markets, and products tend to be fleeting. To make money at it, you have to have multiple strings on your bow. You get much better returns on added value. E.g. jars of salve make more money that pails of sap.

 

[Beetlejuice]

Google "Wild crafting" the process of harvesting certain materials from woodlands. There are co-ops that can help with the distribution, or buy from you in bulk for resale.

Notable markets:
* wild mushrooms.
* balsam poplar buds
* ginseng
* snake root
* seeds -- tend to be very specific -- harvest to meet a particular need. E.g. I'm currently looking for 1 kg of red maple seed harvested from Canada zone 2-3 on land with a limestone or dolomite parent rock (soil pH above 6.8)
* Intact clumps of caribou moss. (Used as faux trees by railroaders, and architectural models)
* decorative items -- dogwood twigs, ***** willow, birch twigs. Marketing is all important. Willow products -- wreath cores, willow balls.

This can be lucrative, but tends to be tedious, and won't pay nearly as well as being a biologist.

If you like working with young people, hire kids from the local high school to help. Teach them how to collect. Initially you should be with them to check they are collecting the right stuff.

Markets, and products tend to be fleeting. To make money at it, you have to have multiple strings on your bow. You get much better returns on added value. E.g. jars of salve make more money that pails of sap.

That is great info..I kinda knew that those products were out there but how it comes about I hadn't a clue. I learned something new today and and so early.. Maybe I can get another "learn" in before the sun goes down.

 

[BC WetCoast]

The other search item is call "non timber forest products".
Other items which tend to be more west coast would be salal leaves for florists or extractives from cedar foliage.

 

[Beetlejuice]

The other search item is call "non timber forest products".
Other items which tend to be more west coast would be salal leaves for florists or extractives from cedar foliage.

You're right about the cedar. I'm just south of you in Washington. But different cedar for different products.. A.E. coastal cedar as opposed to inland.. I m just talking here. I really don't know.. Sh*T burns.. THAT'S what I know

 

[ironman_gq]

We have a guy that taps the maple trees around town and makes syrup, several block radius of tapped trees. Lot of work in syrup though.