Ideas on marketing dogwood anyone?

Here on the farm we have dogwood growing all over the place. I know that it accumulates calcium and other trace minerals and do plan to use it in hugelkulture mounds and as a top mulch but has anyone heard of a market for this lovely spreading bush?

The wood makes good handles for handtools. Shape it before it dries.

I'm afraid my skills in wood working are limited to nailing skids together to make a composter. Tool handles are beyond me. Plus most of the dogwood we have is no thicker than a pencil.

They may go well with willow branches in an ornamental arrangement, but how to get the attention of those who'd buy the items. The local farmers market doesn't start until the second week of june which is after budding time.

Maybe some of the group here would be into making baskets. I'm willing to try but my wrists and manual dexterity are fairly shot.

Oh, you have the "Red Osier" dogwood? Well I suppose you could try harvesting the stems and sorting them for basket-making materials and package them by the gross or the hundred. Maybe ebay or Craigslist would be the way to go.

From what I can tell we have at least two types of dogwood and I would venture to guess that one of them is red osier as it has the bright red stems and stays low and bushy, growing in large colonies. But dogwoods are hard to tell apart (for me  at least). Then there is a second type that grows more like a tree. We have a few that I've seen which are 40 feet tall or more. Quite a site!

Thanks for the ideas. Our local craigslist gardening page is somewhat sad in terms of amount of traffic, averaging about 2 posts per month. I suppose it's worth a try.

It doesn't have to be your local list, does it? Or maybe a basket-making forum would have a few interested parties.

No, it doesn't have to be. I just automatically default to local thinking. I suppose I could send some via express mail.

It would be great if all buying and selling COULD be local, and I think many of us are trying to move in that direction. Historically (think silk road) there's always been some imports. I think for things I would be selling, I don't care where the buyer is, but like Grandma said, "always get yer money son".

Make up 30 bundles of 15 or 25 stems.  Drive to your nearest big city, and go to florist wholesale shops.  Going rate is about 50 cents a stem.

Florists Love dog wood! If it is clean, free of leaves and bundled like mentioned before, any florist would love to buy it......
It is best to harvest and offer as early as possible to get a jump on outside wholesalers. You will get a better price from a florist but Floral wholsalers will also purchase your Stems.

pussy willows, forsythia, peach blossoms, quince blosoms, cherry, curly willow, grapevines, contorted filbert and red or yellow dogwood are all very desireable. as long as they are cut well before blooming out and before they get leaves.

also moss and pine cones---of all variety are purchased by florists, again if it clean and Spider free

depending on the type of dogwood (there are many) around here the local native Americans use it to make the most amazing baskets.