10 raw acres...and...now what
 

Well, I have been wanting to leave the city and get the family to some acreage. Always wanted a homestead. Well I got it...kinda. I have 10 farly level acreas of brush,vines and misc small pines not worth timber. Too dense to walk through easily. As I make the "must do" list I am getting a bit overwhelmed.

I currently still have the house in the city until we can get some progress and a mobile ohme or something on the land temporarily. I iwll need to clear enough land for the septic...a road in and a road out...a water line road from the street(800 to 1300 ft depending on which side i go up). Have to power company cut a power easement nad lay 2 poles 800 ft back. Put up a high tensile electric fence (i think) and plant some grass

Pretty much the land, septic and a little clearing will bring the reserve cash into the red zone. So still have to get a tractor to dig post holes and help clear brush....a barn to keep it and all the stuff from out house that wont fit in a trailer.........a chicken coop.........WOW!!! Now that this is finally happening, I am overwhelmed.

I have little experience with all this though I am not afraid of hard work. I have worked on farms...just never been a part of starting one. I dont know who to call to do the dozer work....not sure if i should even use a dozer and lose some top soil...but how else can I get the land clear enough to plant grass.......do those mulchers leave too much behind to plant grass over.......I have more questions than my fingers will type.....It seems all the time I have spent reading and dreaming of this I would have a better plan

At one point I was tryng to convince the family to pitch a tent on land until we could get something going!!!!!!!! :rolleyes: My wife didn't go for it.I have noone local to even ask. I have talked to the extension office who said just be sure to plant grass if I clear..........ummm yeah. SO anyway hopefully down the road I will hvave some progress pics.. Pretty much when I said I just wanted some goats...chickens a few small cows ...they were uninterested...

Thanks for all the wonderfull insight on this forum.

I am going to get my H's opinion tonight.
He runs a Grading and Hauling business
and has cleared for people so he should have some advice.
Where are you located??

First things first... pitch your tent and stay awhile. Get to know your land. You can leave the wife at home if need be, but you need to be on it before you do anything to it.
Where is your morning sun, your afternoon sun? Where is the highest point of it? Where is your water? or where do you think the water is under the ground? You should be able to feel it or smell it. Where is your wind? Where is your lee?
Then visualize. Where is your house? Which way does it face? Where is the drive and how does it come in? Where is the garden? Where are the chickens etc... What kind of house does the land call for? Where is your storage for food etc...
And after you can see it all and after you have walked from the house to the barn and to the garden about a hundred times and sat on the porch with a cold beer and hunkered down for the winter, then you can start asking around for info on the 'good' folks to help you. And then you can get started. Have a clear plan and a clear picture in your head before you clear because you can't 'unclear' it!
Congrats on your dream!!!!

Congratulations!!! The journey begins.... Depending on the size of the vines and brush, a medium sized tractor with a bucket may be able to do a lot of the clearing. Many rural areas allow burning, so push it in a pile and burn it (carefully supervised!) For what you pay someone else to do this, you'll end up with a tractor. Take it one step at a time- if we all added up all the tasks that lie ahead of us, we'd all quit! Once you cut your way in, you can start fencing and put the goats to work. They actually prefer brush over grass. There are various ways to establish a homestead at your property. I'm in a similar situation, with 7 acres in SC. My problems are distance and trees. With big mature hardwoods, I'm not going to be able to push them over with a tractor! I'm either going to buy a used RV (they're cheap right now due to fuel prices) or maybe truck camp for a few weeks and build a barn. You can use the barn for shelter for a fair amount of time while you scrounge up better housing. I'm taking a daring approach- I'm going to take a year off from my paying job while I build a house. We will (hopefully) have enough money from the sale of our city house to build the homestead. DW will continue to work while I build. It's going to be tough being apart, but you have to make sacrifices to build on the cheap. Writing checks to have a new house built simply isn't in our budget! In our case, getting the shelter built is Job One. Once the house is done, I'll try to find a decent job so DW can quit her job and join me. Hopefully, she lands a job fairly quickly, and we can get started on the fun stuff- gardens, animals, etc. If the money isn't there- we'll set up a mobile home- anything to avoid having a mortgage! It all depends on your skill and tolerance for what for some would be considered substandard living conditions. Remember- our ancestors did all this without the help of machinery, and if they weren't successful, they either froze or starved! If you buy something, be it an RV to live in, or a piece of equipment to clear with, try to buy it at a price where you can always get your money back out of it when you're done with it. You can also get quotes (get several) on having someone come in and clear- it's surprising how fast someone with the right equipment can clear land. If you're working at a good paying job, it may be worth your while to keep on working, and pay someone else to do the work. In my case, I'm better off doing it myself! That's enough rambling for now- hope you can make sense out of any of this, and good luck!

I'm with chickenista learn the land. My MNL and FNL just came in and placed there mobile home and regret it. With my 5 ac. me and my wife spent a lot of time just picturing where ever thing would go and have been very happy with our lay out.

Thanks for the reply..

I am in Baldwin County Alabama.

You are so right. We have been looking at this land for 6 months with countless trips to see it again. We have looked at so many and always came back to this one. The biggest problem with getting a "feel" for things is the fact it is dense wooded underbrush. (I ma calling 8ft high bushes,vines,briars,small trees and such underbrush. ) They just cut the property lines so I got a good idea of the grade.....be there is really no way to visualize how things are until you can get the brush out.

The property is about 400 ft wide and 800-1300 ft deep(angled at road). Since we are looking at maybe a mobile home we know we want to put the permanent septic down but don't want the trailer in the permanent home site. So when we do get to the point of building the house we don't have to move the trailer.

To put a fence in I will have to clear at least a fence line, but was not sure if the dirt would was away or should I throw rye seed down for the winter....wire of a 5 wire electric fence for goats and let them have at it.

If I could find posts at a decent price and an auger rental maybe I could do most of the land to keep me from having to cross fence right away. I don't want loose goats getting the neighbors mad right away either....although the are pretty far away.

I was told if I am patient I might find an old ford tractor or such with a 3pt for 2-3k.......... but have had no luck so far. It seems thats where I need ot start..

If you could fence it, goats would start clearing that undergrowth for you.

You should not have much trouble finding a tractor for sale. I have a Deere M thats been retrofitted for 3 point for $1800 and a Ford 8n for $2600, yet no takers, and I'm sure that you'll find similar prices in Alabama. you're gonna need a tractor, and then you can pick up an auger for 200 or so, you're in business. Check Ebay, anything there like the thrifty nickel, go to farm supply stores and ask, and keep an eye out for farm auctions. I went to an auction once where several tractors went for under 1500 bucks.

Congrats on getting your land!

I'm sure some will disagree with me, but you don't have to plant grass seed. Grass that is natural to the area will grow. Start cutting it and it will naturally turn into a lawn. One of the advantages of this method is that the grass will be strong and healthy. It will be the type that stays green longer in the fall and greens up earlier in the spring.

Can you get someone out there to locate a spot for a good well? That will make a difference on where you want to build the house, barn, etc. It would be a terrible mistake to start building, then discover the only source of water is on the other side of the property.

If you won't be building very soon, then you might want to get a perimeter fence up and put some brush goats in to clean out the underbrush. After choosing your garden spot, you could fence it and put a few hogs in to till it and improve the soil for the garden.

If possible, I'd prefer to build my place right smack dab in the center of the acreage, but that's personal preference (along with location of water). If I was going to build a house, I'd build it underground for several reasons. A very important one is that it would cost so much less to heat/cool it, along with better protection from forest fires and tornadoes. It would be easy to incorporate a root cellar into the layout. Lastly, the world situation today is so unstable that it would give much more protection that an above ground house if some idiot pushes the button and starts a nuke war.

I have not seen an auction yet. A ford 8n is about what I am looking for...the deer might work too. Maybe I will find one soon in the area.

It rains ALOT here and letting the ground stay dirt until the natural grass grows in is probably not an option. I was thinking of putting the house toward the back side and leaving a buffer of woods in back...there is about miles of hunting land on one side and a pasture across the street. If I put the house toward the back I will have more possible pasture in the front without the house separating it.

If you cant do fencing now could you consider contacting a brush clearing outfit that uses goats? I have no idea what the expense would be but they would most likely provide temp fencing & stay with goats till job is done.
This might help you get a better idea of your initial lay out.

Maybe I'm the only one that read you post but don't worry about a site for your well that you aren't going to have. lol. I would plan on placing the water line along your road in order to save clearing extra land.

Cedar post last for a fair amount of time. Are the trees big enough at all to use them as posts after they are limbed? You mentioned renting an auger, shouldn't be too difficult. One can always just dig a few by hand each day in between doing other things in order to vary routine.

Not sure how much use you will have for a tractor if you can hardly move through the brush and undergrowth as it is. One would be nice for pushing brush around though.

Oh, almost forgot. Welcome to the forums and congratulations on your purchase. Having a chunk of land you can call your own is wonderful.

Best wishes, Windy in Kansas

Congrats on your land!

I agree with those who say get to know your land. One thing I haven't seen mentioned (unless I perused too quickly past it) was... pick one of those rainy days (or 3) to spend time there. Watch the natural run-off patterns and look for any drainage issues. Appearance can be deceiving... what looks level may NOT be. You don't want to build a house or barn (or pitch your tent, for that matter) right where all the run-off is coming at ya!

ETA: ...or chicken coop, as quadcam can tell ya! :D

if I were just starting out with bare land, I wouldnt plant grass. It's a waste of space and water and all you do is spend money on fuel to mow it, especially here in the south, it grows fast. After I had cleared the areas that I wanted cleared I would plant a groundcover instead of grass. Figure out where you want your pathways and fill in the other areas with a low , evergreen groundcover.

something I learned from this tropical storm as chickenista mentioned , learn the lay of your land. find out where your low and high spots are, do you have areas prone to flooding? when I built my chicken coop, i just picked an area of our yard and put it there, well turns out thats a low spot and at the moment it's totally flooded and looks like a lake, I had to go rescue the baby chicks from the coop today.

also along those same lines, place your house on the highest spot you can, you're in alabama so you are probably close to sea level like I am. luckily someone either got lucky of had to foresight to place our house on the highest spot in the yard.

think ahead about the placement of your home as far as efficiency and passive solar heating during the winter, use the sun to your advantage.
if you can get a satellite shot of your property from google, print it and overlay that with grid paper, then you can work on your layout. make a few designs with locations for your house, gardens, play areas (if you have kids)
, recreation area (bbq/pool etc), fruit tree orchard? , think of all the things you would like on your property and lay out a few designs

oh yeh and watch out for snakes..I'm sure you'll run across a few when clearing the land

Native red cedar (with a good red heart) will last a lifetime... so that's "fair".

Reply
 

Call around and find somebody with a brush rake (sometimes called root rake) on a good-sized dozer, they can clear what you need in a day or two and not take very much topsoil at all. They'll push it up in decent sized piles for burning, cheaper and safer than you can do it with a little old tractor.
Then start going for some good long walks and sitting spells to see what you have to work with.

Yeah it will be city water. :) I agree with putting th water line on the main road...not sure if I can run it along the easement the powercompany will make for the 2 power poles. They have not given me a clear answer if I can run my road and water lines and fence for that matter within 10 feet of the easement.


I was thinking the tractor would be used for root raking, leveling. pulling logs/small limbs and making and keeping a road.....and possibly using an auger attachment for poles.

The land is not flat....It is high in the back and has a gentle roll for almost 600 feet or so then has a "less gentle" roll for the next few hundred feet to the street. I was thinking a 1 1/4" water meter line (they charge $400 more than the 3/4").

Someone near the land I am buying said they had 6 acres cleared for $1000.00 using this method. He said it was so much an hour and took about a day with a dozer. I did not get the guys name and have been unable to find a "company" to get near that amount. I thought about renting a dozer but think a pro could get it done more efficiently and more importantly with less top soil torn away.

Anyone know if those big forestry mulchers are affordable to rent/hire for my small acreage? I have seen a video where they went into land like mine and left a completely mulched and cleared area.

Let the pine trees grow and sell them for poles when they are big enough (10 years old). It is a way to make a few bucks out of the place. You can put a fence in by bush hogging around the outside edge if the trees are not too big and using Tee posts and corner post of cedar or any types of post that you can get a holed of. Tee post can be driven in without much effort and corner post can be set using a post hole digger. You can get someone to bush hog around the outside with out much trouble. Then you can use cattle panels and fence it so that goats will stay in. Tye the panels to the tee post with wire. You can groew poles with the goats in their.

Will the goats eat the pine trees(bark). Most are 4"..some are 6". Lots of little saplings. I was thinking of leaving the pines whatever I pasture for a few cattle (possibly Lowlines). I think this is called silvapasture or some such...Thats not right but it is close I think.

The area I am in is rural zoned, but I think they may restrict pigs even in the county now. I have been unable to find that in writing, and the zoning office "will let me know".

I have a question....How big of brush can a bush(brush) hog handle. Does anyone have some before and after pics....once bush hogged everything will just grow back if you don't disc and plant grasses right?

They might eat a few of them but not all of them. Usually they eat the top and nothing else. Cows will eat the bark and the top if they can get to them. IF your trees are 4 to 6 feet now by spring they will be 5 to 7 feet and then you don't need to worry about them unless you get pine beetles. The goats will clear out any vines under growth and such and cows will not. even if you get cows you need a few goats to clear out under brush so that the grass can grow for the cows.

We aren't fans of disking. The grasses will have a better advantage if you don't disk it. Keep it bushhogged and seed with whatever grass/grain mixture you want.

Anything more than a light scratching of the soil surface exposes weed seeds that are further down in the soil. They stay dormant until exposed to light and air. We made that mistake (because we listened to a man down the road) one time. We have since maintained, seeded, and fertilized with NO disking resulting in MUCH better pasture and hay field.

Oh, if it hasn't already been mentioned, it would behoove you to get your soil tested in random areas and apply lime, if necessary. Without healthy soil, you'll never get a good stand of anything other than weeds.

Thanks EasyDay, That seems like good advice about not using a disk...I had never thought of that.

Also I do play to do soil tests. I ordered some ag. books from the local university on grass and groundcovers. I am still doing research about high tensile fensing and what it would take to have seperate sections with gates and what now...not sure how to wire that just yet.

I did take others suggestion about using graph paper and a ariel view to lay out my proposed home site. Wish I had someone local that could sit down over coffee and give me some advise on barn placement and so forth.

I think that's up to you. Once you figure out where you want your house, image/play/draw where outbuildings should go, keeping these things in mind:

How far from the house... short walk, leisurely stroll, 4-wheeler? What you have IN the barn may dictate how far you want it from the house.

Put the weather at the barn's back, if possible, to avoid rain/snow/cold winds from rushing into the barn. We have sliding doors at both ends, so the weather is towards one side instead of front/back.

Again, drainage. You don't want run-off coming in under the barn. I guess if you have a raised cement floor, it's not as much an issue, but we don't have a cement pad.

Will you want/need water at the barn? If so, keep it reasonably close enough to run a water line from your house well, etc.

I, personally, like the chickens right in my backyard. Close for morning and evening attention, close for gathering eggs, and most importantly (mine free-range) it keeps them a little closer to home, so less chance of predators. I only lose one to coyotes when they venture into the woods. No coyote has ever come into the yard for them. Your mileage may vary on this.

Don't forget to think about where you'd want your garden. Again, think about water. We have to use two LONG hoses to water ours, which isn't often, but it happens. Lay of the land can be important, or you can do raised beds. We like our raised beds. It makes everything easier and more organized.

Just some thoughts. I'm sure others here will add more ideas.

Oh... I'd like to add...

when planning outbuildings, do take into account what you want to see when you look out of your house windows! My big thing is the over-the-kitchen-sink window. I can see across the side yard to the front of the barn and the goat yard. It allows me to spy on my goatios. ;)

One more thing about disking... (yes, DH says I have "blabber finger", sorry!)
... but, ROCKS! Even if it seems you don't have many rocks, just wait until you disk it all up! Oh, boy! But we live in STONE County, AR... and it ain't named that fer nuthin'!!

The #1 most important Question (at least to me)...
Do you have to deal with Building Codes?

If not then why waste money on a septic system. Go humanure!

http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html

Saves water, better for the planet, much cheaper!

Yes, unfortunately there are "county" building codes...even though this is an unzoned rural area. I believe a permit is required to even build a barn. Must have septic, water line inspected...etc. We thought of going to another county that was not restricted at all, but gas prices and having to still work full time for now makes that..........well.....about a $25 a day difference in fuel.

If you're connecting to city water and electric, consider that those runs are EXPENSIVE! Siting the house a reasonable distance from the road and planning landscape for privacy might be a better bet than the middle or the beck of the lot.

The electric company quoted me $30k to run power half a mile from the nearest pole to my house. Fortunately a co-op took over, but even with them it was $7k. Water lines may be cheaper but won't be cheap.

We had that done on about a 1/4 acre this past spring. Company came in and made mulch out of all standing pines and other trees and brush. Cost about $2500.

Make a mint o money- raise lychees

The power company said they will clear an easement through the woods 800 feet long and place two poles for FREE.....So I guess we are putting whatever we live in 800 or so feet back :) .

As for water...I am going to rent a ditch witch once we get a row cleared from the road to the back of the property and lay the water line myself. Locals wanted 5' a foot. I am hoping to be able to lay it down the power company easement they will clear but am unsure if they will let me. Also I am going to talk to the septic company when they dig the field lines and see what they would charge to dig the 1200 or so feet of water line.

I was thinking of putting the barn one the power pole and water side so that would be less lines to run if they were already close to the main lines....but who knows if that would be optimal.

WOW...thats expensive! I am going to call around tomorrow and see if I can get some local quotes. Once the mulch is down then what...can you plant grass or do you have to rake the mulch off....Will the weeds and vines grow back fast or does the mulch help prevent this?

You can find a tractor and brush hog for 3,000 or less. You can mow anything too small to sell for pulp wood. A used chain saw is 50 to 100 dollars. Cut and sell all that can't be brush hogged as pulp wood. Don't make any exposed dirt and you won't need to plant grass.

I did this in MS. in the early 80's on 7.5 acres, except I sold the small and large pines to a pulp wood cutter after brush hogging all the smaller stuff.

PS. A brush hog will take down a 3" pine tree.

Check with local 'small' land clearers. We have one who's fairly new to his own business, and he's available for about $800 a day, and he gets amazing amounts done and is VERY hardworking and honest. He also is building a reputation and needs 'good' references. He considers a day to be 10 hours, and only charged about $400 for a job we expected to cost far more, because he got in and out quickly. Perfect job too.

I second understanding the land. Dense or not, spend time on it. Sleep there. Walk and KNOW before you start cleaning, digging or planning. There is no substitute for this.

Check for local Mennonite community builders. They built us a two story barn that could have easily been lived in if we'd have needed too, then converted to a working barn later, for FAR less than a mobile home. Might could convince the wife to go along with that... less like camping.

dawn

On my land, I dropped some 4" thick pressure treated lumber across the road ditch to make a bridge.

Then, I drove my riding lawn mower across it, and I mowed down young osage orange trees that were up to 3' tall. It worked like a charm.

It needs doing again, as osage orange trees are hard to kill, but it did work. This might be cheaper than hiring somebody else to clear the brush for you.

The little trailer, used, was maybe $250 and the riding lawn mower-which we already had- was $1500.

I visited my land on a rainy day. I was surprised by where the water was! I changed my plans, a bit!

I bought my 20 in 1979 bare
 

And have regretted it ever since. I can witch water, but I have NEVER (felt, or heard) it from the surface. After all this time , 30 yras next year, I can see where I pout buildings inplaces I wish I hadnt. I lived here in a tent while the family lived in Tulsa for around 3 mos, Working in a town the oppoisite direction of Tulsa. I thought I had everything in the best places, but I have moves some things, and have decided, in old age, to live with others. BUT, ID HAVE GIVIN ANYTHING TOBE ABLE TO BOUGHT A FARM WITH THE BUILDINGS ALREADY ON IT, AND READY TO USE, Building a buiding before useing it is the pits, It drains the cash needed to use in what the building was to be used for, Many times it can cost way more than buying what the building was going to be used for in the first place, Take for instance, say, you want to raise hogs. If you have a hog shed already there, your good to go. All your available money is available for you to buy the best hogs, and the feed needed for them. If time and expeerience shows that the existing hog shed is not big enough, then, you have had the experiencer of raiseing them on that farm, selling them, and can decide if the profit in hogs substanuates the building of a bigger shed or not, It may be, that the market in hogs will go down after you build a big hog shed on your bare land, then you have the big expense for a building that is not going to produce the income to justify building it in the first place. , however, you dont have a hog shed, you have to build that first, That will cost at least the amount you was going to spend on hogs and their feed, and likely much more so you go ahead with the building, and because of that, you buy cheaper hogs than you would have,. you feed leas feed to them, as you have less money to buy it,