What can I grow bulk amounts of in woodlands?

Hello there! This is my very first post so hope I chose the correct spot to put it

So I live under a whole bunch of giant oak trees, 40 or 50 foot tall. I have a circle of a yard that gets SOME but not a lot of sunlight .. tried to grow tomatoes this year and they barely got two feet tall. I want to have an amazing garden with tons of food to eat that I've made myself. Anyone have any super growers they know of that can make my garden grow out of control? Open to all ideas.
I live in Bedford, Virginia if that helps! Thanks 😊

Hi there! Welcome to permies.

Mushrooms come to mind. There are greens that can grow in some shade. How many hours of sun, if any, does it get?

There are also some trees and shrubs that will bear in some shade. Currants, gooseberries, goumi berry, silverberry, rhubarb, strawberries (to an extent), pawpaws. Quince may fruit if there is a little sun.

I bet that ramps would grow.

If you are not a vegetarian, what about animals? Deer and turkey would certainly love acorns and wouldn't take any work other than hunting :)

Acorn finished pigs are considered a delicacy. Chickens, goats, geese, cows, and sheep would all be fine in the shade.

Matt McSpadden wrote:If you are not a vegetarian, what about animals? Deer and turkey would certainly love acorns and wouldn't take any work other than hunting :)

Acorn finished pigs are considered a delicacy. Chickens, goats, geese, cows, and sheep would all be fine in the shade.

As someone with a mostly partial shade property and not a vegetarian I want to say that other than the hunting, which can have inconsistent results and depends on whether the game is coming onto their land  and your marksman skill, this suggestion has way more upfront cost than growing most plants or fungus and involves a much bigger commitment and effects everyone around you.  
It's not just about being or not being a vegetarian!  Do you have the money for fencing and housing, are you zoned for animals, are you competent with their slaughter or is this a skill you would like to learn, are you competent with butchering animals or is this a skill you would like to learn or is there a facility for this near you?  

I garden for an older woman who has neighbors that got started with cows, horses and yaks that were not properly fenced, housed or fed and she had to deal with animals trashing her gardens, seeing dead animals in the road, seeing undernourished and sickly animals wandering around in search of food... and it just being a huge, chaotic and very sad mess for all the surrounding neighbors and most especially for the animals.  Her gardens that she built over many years and lovingly tended were trashed and it was hard for her to see the suffering and dead animals.  Animal control got involved and so those neighbors now have some barely adequate fencing so she just sees the poorly cared for animals at a distance now.

I've known of other people starting with animals and then not having it in them to kill what they raised and regretting the decision and eventually keeping a few for pets and sending everything  else to auction and feeling like they wasted a lot of money.  Someone I work with just sent their goats to the auction. After bringing in pictures and videos for weeks, full of delight about their new charges clearing the brush on their land- and I was kind of jealous because I love goats and want them so much, but over a few weeks the stories changed to what a pain in the ass the animals were and the goats kept escaping and trashed their gardens and got them in trouble with neighbors they previously had a good relationship with for many years so they were all packed up and sent to auction after 3 or 4 months.  

This is not a suggestion to just toss out there like starting mushrooms.  Even animals you intend to eat are a big commitment.  Will you be there daily for their care?  or have the money to set up something automated or pay someone to do it?  Do you go on vacations, visit family or get busy with work- can you find help and pay someone to help if you do this?  Can you protect them from predators?  I know someone who raises pheasants for hunting and he just lost over 70 birds to a weasel.  

This is slightly one of those 'it depends' questions. In a hot climate shade can be beneficial - plants will need less watering in the shade, but some plants do need full sun to thrive.
I suspect you may find many vegetables perfectly happy in partial shade (potatoes, spinach, parsnip, rutabaga....). Crops that like a hotter climate like corn, aubergine (eggplant) and tomatoes, as you found, will be less happy. There are also many perennial vegetables that are happy in shade: I have woodland sunflower taking over part of my garden (cool and shady in Scortland), a little thinner than many sunroot, but smooth skinned and tasty, Erythronium (trout lily) are another that can be productive and are tasty.
You're also not alone in having this problem, so similar questions have come up before. Try these threads for some suggestions:
https://permies.com/t/271058/Making-Full-Shade
https://permies.com/t/134263/Full-Shade-Edibles-Herbs
https://permies.com/t/215110/Good-plants-deep-shade-food

What about forest botanicals like ginseng, blue cohosh and goldenseal and many others.  You would have to do some research to see if you have the right land for them.  Maybe they won't feed you the way a sun loving veggie garden will, but if you have an interest in herbal remedies and making tinctures and teas, you may be able to have some fun and satisfaction from this.   There are also some flowers that like partial shade, both native and possibly some expensive ones like tree peonies and hellebores.  

Depending on the type of oak tree, it may not be possible. We have several oaks and they do a good job keeping other things from growing too close to the tree. The larger the tree, the larger the "dead zone" around it, so to speak. The only thing that can grow anywhere near them is poison ivy.


allelopathy
al·le·lop·a·thy
the chemical inhibition of one plant (or other organism) by another, due to the release into the environment of substances acting as germination or growth inhibitors.

Several oak tree types exhibit allelopathy, including Red Oak, White Oak, Post Oak.

If you are looking to grow bulk edibles in a forest or woodland then plant hostas.  

They are pretty, perennial and edible ... they love shade!

https://permies.com/t/74610/perennial-vegetables/Favorite-Hosta-varieties

I would think about the acorns themselves for food! The leaching process sounds scary and you can make it scary but oftentimes it doesn’t require much active effort.

What kind of oaks are they?

If you are patient, oak forests are known for being a site for ramps.

wild ginger, currents, gooseberry, pawpaw, fig, cornelian cherry, and hazelnut trees can grow under oaks- or so I have read as I have some big oaks on my property that I  hope to plant some guilds under someday.  Miners lettuce and regular lettuce and other leafy greens supposedly do ok.  From my research, oaks are not considered strongly allelopathic like black walnut, locust and some others.  There is often more a problem with getting things planted among the roots or competition for resources than allelopathic issues so it's about providing a deep layer of compost and fertilizing- or so I have read.   I haven't actually planted them all together and am pretty new to stuff so I don't know.  Some native plants even do better under oaks and have symbiotic relationships with them.    
Check out this previous thread for ideas from people who know more than me-
https://permies.com/t/11894/White-Oak-Guild-Emphasis-Edibles#:~:text=Jordan%20Lowery%20%2C%20pollinator,does%20well%20in%20open%20shade.
here's one from reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Permaculture/comments/16tmr4u/looking_for_tips_to_start_a_mini_food_forest/#:~:text=If%20the%20oak%20is%20leafed,is%20your%20mini%20food%20forest.

If you do want to raise goats, and have poison ivy growing under the oaks they love to eat poison ivy and it's very nutritious for them.  I was caring for a sick goat at a meat goat farm I worked at that the owners had given up on.  I brought her all the poison ivy I was clearing out for the farm and she made a full recovery and astonished the owners who had been raising goats for decades.  

Jolene Csakany wrote:  Do you have the money for fencing and housing, are you zoned for animals, are you competent with their slaughter or is this a skill you would like to learn, are you competent with butchering animals or is this a skill you would like to learn or is there a facility for this near you?  

These are all very serious and valid questions, but apply to both domestic *and* wild animals. I cannot garden without fencing, and places I've used crappy fence systems due to it being a temporary situation, either the deer have broken in, or it's been a pain for me to get in and out.

When it isn't the deer, it's the rabbits, so I need protection from low chewers and high jumpers! Yes, rabbits can chew through chicken wire if they want what's on the other side.

So for me, the suggestion of Hostas won't work - both the deer and the bunnies think they're yummy!

Jay Angler wrote:So for me, the suggestion of Hostas won't work - both the deer and the bunnies think they're yummy!

When I lived in the Piney Woods of East Texas, we had lots of deer and rabbits.

My neighbors whole yard was nothing but Hostas.

I assume there was such a abundance that deer and rabbits shared with the humans.

  "These are all very serious and valid questions, but apply to both domestic *and* wild animals. I cannot garden without fencing, and places I've used crappy fence systems due to it being a temporary situation, either the deer have broken in, or it's been a pain for me to get in and out.

When it isn't the deer, it's the rabbits, so I need protection from low chewers and high jumpers! Yes, rabbits can chew through chicken wire if they want what's on the other side.

So for me, the suggestion of Hostas won't work - both the deer and the bunnies think they're yummy!"

I've had deer and rabbits every place I've lived and gotten by with cheap, crappy fencing or no fencing with ok results.  At least if things go wrong, the damage is only to what you planted and won't get you in trouble with the neighbors.  
I started two white feather Hosta roots where I am now, and have them each next to a sage and chives.  The deer have chewed them a bit, but they are surviving.    I also planted a stained glass hosta root in a different place without herbs nearby and there is no sign of it so I think the deer ate that one out of existence.  
I think if you start with bigger Hosta plants they can sometimes grow faster than the deer will eat them because I see Hosta everywhere, even in places where there are a lot of deer.

At my last home, the yard was frequented by rabbits more so than deer and I had pretty good success growing tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers and other stuff without any fence after I adopted a very predatory dog.   She was not outdoors unattended, but when she was she chased the rabbits and killed a few.  I put the house sweepings with her hair in the garden too and it seemed to do a reasonably good job at keeping them away.  Every once in awhile we'd spot a rabbit or groundhog in the garden and let her chase it away.  Before I adopted the dog and started the garden, my ex boyfriend and I had spent many an evening watching the rabbits in our yard and let patches of the lawn grow long for them, so they were plentiful in the area.  I've also known people to put row covers over their garden to protect things from rabbits, deer and insects.  There are options.  

I have an electric fence around my current garden, but only had it charged in April as I moved the charger to a fence I have around bee hives to keep them safe from bear.  I think the deer must have gotten zapped initially because they haven't bothered it.  This fence is not meant to be used in the snow and while it may be used for some rotational grazing with domestic animals, it could not be used all year round in a place with snowy winters.  It was a little pricey, but is pretty easy to set up and take down.

I have tomato and pepper plants in 5 gallon pots with no fence and the deer have left them alone.  There is a pond right across the street from these plants where I watch the deer come and drink water at during sunset almost everyday, so there are lots of deer here.  I scoop up a lot of deer poop and add it to my gardens too.  I think they may go after new, small plants or maybe I'm just lucky.  

I was worried about groundhogs, but my neighbors up the road also have a garden and they shoot them and I think that takes care of the ones I see at my place.  These neighbors feed the deer corn and have them all over their place, and still have a nice veggie garden with just a low, crappy fence around it.  

Jolene Csakany wrote: ... These neighbors feed the deer corn and have them all over their place, and still have a nice veggie garden with just a low, crappy fence around it.  

Maybe they leave the gardens alone because corn is yummier, higher calorie and easier than browsing?

Feeding wild animals is strongly discouraged at my urban/rural interface, so it's best I don't try that.

Jay Angler wrote:

Jolene Csakany wrote: ... These neighbors feed the deer corn and have them all over their place, and still have a nice veggie garden with just a low, crappy fence around it.  

Maybe they leave the gardens alone because corn is yummier, higher calorie and easier than browsing?

Feeding wild animals is strongly discouraged at my urban/rural interface, so it's best I don't try that.

As someone with a degree in wildlife biology I strongly disapprove, but my spidey senses tell me that these people aren't going to get it and I spent my youth irritating and alienating people when I thought I was sharing knowledge and being helpful and creating discussions I found interesting about the pros and cons of various things as opposed to the usual boring small talk most people engage in.  These neighbors have been very helpful and generous to me and sometimes you need to pick your battles.  People like to feed wildlife and feel good about it, and at this point with all the other changes of massive lawns and nearby farm fields of corn..., it's not drastically affecting the deer population or ecology in this region.  If I were in real wilderness as opposed to a rural area I might feel differently.

I hope I can set an example of getting some native patches of sedges and grasses that wildlife would benefit from, and planting flowers, both native and non-invasive ones I love seeing, instead of putting up humming bird feeders.  I think creating a good example will be more powerful than any words I could say, but I'm off to a slow start because native plants and seeds can get pricey and it's a lot of work to get things going- especially when another helpful neighbor mowed down my patches of native flowers I had circling the trees.  I want to grow more native plants and share the hell out of them.  So many nice people have been giving me invasive plants and it hurts to let them die when I want more diversity and flowers around my new home.  

It may be the opposite, the corn is bringing more deer into their yard and they just go lucky this year.  The deer did eat all their beans climbing on the fence and the things they could easily reach. I regularly see a fox at the pond across the street but it seems to leave my chickens alone, even when they used to free range (now they're inside the electric fence with the bees).  I have read that if a fox is seen often, but hasn't attacked your animals it may not yet think to eat them and is best to leave it alone rather than kill it and open up the niche to someone new. If the rabbits and other game have kept it's belly full it just doesn't think about trying chicken. Animals aren't always curious to try new foods until hard times drive them to it.  

But I think a crappy fence, or border of stinky herbs or other measures are often good enough and people don't garden out of fear and a need for perfection.   You learn through trial and error what you can get away with, you learn to do smaller efforts so you're not devastated when something fails, you learn that something may work most years but not the extra cold or dry years when animals are extra hungry.... It just seems like people let the perfect be the enemy of the good and it stops them from gardening.  In one place something works, in another it doesn't and if you don't invest too much it's ok to experiment and find out rather than letting the desire for an expensive fence stop you from having a garden.  With goats and other domestic animals that will wreak havoc, it's a whole other story!

I almost didn't have a garden this year because the money I had planned to use for a fence is now going toward a new roof and other repairs my home inspector missed.  While I am delaying on planting expensive fruit trees, or will cage them with hardware cloth if I do plant some, it would have been silly for me to not enjoy my own tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and potatoes.  I am only sorry I didn't get started sooner and plant more stuff, but everyone kept insisting I couldn't have a veggie garden because of the deer and rabbits and I let it get in my head.  The effort was low, I filled some boxes with forest dirt, leaf mold and lots of deer poop because the deer are so damn abundant here, and I started tomato from old seed I bought years ago, and purchased the other plants for under $20.  Even if it had given me less food or been a total failure, it would have been worth this small effort to see what is possible here. If it had failed, I could have just planted deer resistant flowers in the boxes and still put my effort to use.  

the OP said, I want to have an amazing garden with tons of food to eat that I've made myself. Anyone have any super growers they know of that can make my garden grow out of control? Open to all ideas.

https://permies.com/t/215110/Good-plants-deep-shade-food

https://permies.com/t/5868/permaculture/growing-Shade

https://permies.com/t/273985/Breeding-Shade-Tolerant-Fruit-Trees