The Natural Life - Conquer the Land

Develop your piece of heaven.

Hello Frens,

Welcome back to The Natural Life, we got all them seeds planted and they are starting to sprout as I showed here on my twitter profile. Things went perfect with a light rain for a couple of days after I planted the seeds so we are well on our way to a great season.

I’ve gotten a few messages/mentions from anons stating they are looking into purchasing or moving out on some land. Some are looking for pointers on clearing the land and making their dream a reality. Today I decided to take a break from the garden and talk about farmers method of clearing land and some general information on setting up your property for success.

I know when you hear me talking about clearing a piece of land by hand you think I’m crazy, well yes, I am. But that’s why no one really clears their own land anymore. It seems like there are millions of small land clearing businesses with a skid steer mulching operation. These guys come in and clear out a couple of acres in a day or two, but they charge a pretty penny for their work. However, depending on what your land looks like and what types of plants need to be cleared, doing this yourself can be rewarding and save you lots of money. You can tell your grandanons that you cleared this land by hand.

IN THE BEGINNING

First step is determining what area of your lot you want to clear. You most likely want to clear a spot for your home or some sort of structure. Therefore, you need to decide on the best location for the structure before you can start clearing the land. Picking the best location for your dwelling or structure will be based solely on these three things: energy, water, and access.

Energy - Energy is a necessity. It comes in many forms including sunlight. You will want to make sure your location receives the right amount of light based on your needs. If you plan to use solar power, this light is crucial. Extra sunlight can also reduce amount of heating and lighting energy required inside your building. So I would pick a spot on the land with full sun most of the day. However, if you are in a warm climate, you may want a shady spot to keep your place cooler during the day. Tree shade and structure orientation will reduce the amount of heat your structure receives. Wind power will need wind obviously so keep that in mind. You can possibly generate power from running water. If you plan to run power out to the structure, the power company will provide guidance as to what is feasible. The farther you are from the power source, the more expensive it will be.

Water - You will also need a source of water. It’s important to think about where your water source will be for your structure. If you plan to run water piping from the utility or even a well, you have to make sure you clear a place that will make this project feasible. Running water pipe through rock, accress roads, through swamps, is very difficult and costly, so keep this in mind. If you have a well already located somewhere on the property, that’s the simulation giving you a hint as to where to build your structure. You may want to be close to a stream or creek for obvious reasons. Rainwater collection barrels are an option for a water source if you are in an extremely remote location, where the other options are not feasible.

Access - Remember to think about how you will get to your structure. It’s a good idea to have your building accessible by a vehicle. Whether by boat, plane, atv, truck, donkey, just remember to think about how you are going to access your structure anon.

I also advise you to look at a satellite image, topography map, drone footage, and walking the land on foot doing a visual survey to come up with the best location for your building. Another great idea is to get a local professional builder to come by and give you his opinion, and maybe get a second opinion.

NOW THE FUN PART

Next step is removing the large trees. Depending on the size of your lot, you will probably have large trees. There is no easy way around removing large trees. I recommend hiring someone with heave equipment to remove your large timber. If you plan to do this, Farmer would recommend walking the land and selecting the large trees you would like to KEEP. Place an orange marking ribbon around the trees you want to keep and you can also mark certain locations you want to keep wooded or cleared such as a trail you would like cut into a forest. Now is a good time to locate and dead trees near your planned building site and have them removed.

Most of the companies/people that clear land for a living use the same types of equipment. They will have access to a bulldozer, excavator, dump trucks, and skid steers with mulchers. Its a good idea to make a list of all of the work you want done and try to get it all done at one time, this will reduce cost of mobilization.

If you need any roads or trails cleared, this is the time to get it done. If you are thinking about digging a pond, go ahead now while the equipment is on your property. These guys are going to charge a fee per day no matter what type of work they are doing with an exception to hauling in dirt, that will cost extra. A heavy equipment operator can easily knock the trees over and bury them or pile them up to burn. I would suggest burning them, or simply piling them somewhere out of the way. Burying things can be a problem down the road.

NOW THE HARD PART

Now that you have the large trees out of the way, you are left with thick brush to tackle. On a positive note, if you brought in heavy equipment in to tackle the big stuff, they most likely left some nice trails for you to drive a truck, tractor, or atv down so you can access your property alot better. Now you have your work cut out for you.

The next step is to gather some equipment.

(Affiliate Links Below) - These are must haves:

• work gloves

• safety glasses

• Chain w/hooks

• Chainsaw

• Brush Cutter

• Truck/Tractor/ATV

• Some other helpful land clearing items can be found in my old substack here.

The plan of attack is to use the brush cutter or chainsaw to cut all of the small trees as close to the ground as you can. After you get a nice bunch of brush cut, you will run the chain around as many small saplings as you can and pull them out of the way with an atv, small tractor, or a truck. You will pull them out to an open area and pile all of the brush up to burn later. Take a look at this picture below to see how to put the chain around the limbs so you can pull them. You will use this same concept with a bunch of small saplings, just wrap the chain around all of the branches and hook it back to itself and yank ‘em all out of there.

This is going to be the basis of the work for the remainder of the time. If you have access to a small tractor with a front end loader and a bush hog, your time will be cut in half. Simply use the front end bucket of the tractor to push down the small saplings and run them over with the bush hog… Farmer has cleared many trails and acres using both methods, the tractor method is best by far. Seems like the days are running shorter and the work is running long. Please if you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time remember, We All Gone Make It!

Your Fren,

Farmer