Yeah there here -Land's being cleared, Yippie!

[jenichick]

Yeah they're here!!! We bought 8 1/2 acres almost 2 years ago with house on a wooded mountainside. We decided to clear 4 acres down the hill for horses and a pond. We've done a lot of clearing ourselves but had to hire someone to clear out the stumps and dig the pond. We cut down so many trees we had to give some of the wood away (to those in need of course)....but we left many nice, huge older trees.

Well, The huge equipment rolled in this morning, I'm so excited. Looks like there is a huge Linkbelt (looks like it has AC and CD player) with a bucket and it's pulling up all the stumps, and there is a bulldozer pushing the piles from last year and the new piles that are to be buried.

I'm so excited, I wonder if I can order some baby duckies now, and raise them with the chicks until the pond is finished and full?

 

[Chelly]

Oh how exciting!
and DUCKS would be PERFECT, almost like adding cushions to a new couch!

 

[Southern28Chick]

You know, you should have had a logging company clear the land if it was pretty well wooded. They would have cleared it for free and PAID YOU for the timber. That's what I'm going to do. I've hear of people that buy like 20 acres, have a logging company clear about 8 acres and PAID OFF their land with the money they got from the timber.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
That is a great idea. It's doing better in some areas than others though. And it depends on the type of timber. Watch the price for wood per 1000 board feet and pick a good time to ask the timber man to come. Else you may end up paying them for their work even if they take all the wood.

Edit: If you can buy a piece of land with good old hardwood on it. You're good to go, good luck if you're in a field of alder or pine though.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

YAY for you!!
We had our trees thinned out a few years ago. My best friends husband is a professional logger and it was great! He split the profits with us (and the trucker) and we walked away with $1200, 2 cord of firewood and a clear field!!! He was very happy...we had some giant strait trees, made great lumber. We were also very happy as well.

We didn't get our entire acreage cleared, we were only allowed to cut 40%, but I never expected we make that much profit, I was just happy to get some fields.

 

[jenichick]

Thanks for the support!

Oh yeah, we thought about it and talked to some people. We ended up cutting all the trees down ourself and kept all the wood. The logging companies will not remove stumps or level the ground only take the trees they want and fill in only where they cleared. They are also very picky. We chose to leave the oldest and healthiest for shade, all the dogwoods etc.

We now have enough wood to sustain our home and shop for the next 5-10 years. I took us 18 months to cut and haul all the trees ourselves. We have several trees that are being taken to a sawmill and honed down for our barn construction too.

The guys that are there today are removing all the stumps, grading it level for the horses (so they wont break a leg), and digging an acre pond, creating the dam and leveling a spot for our barn. They will also seed and straw.

I am so excited to get home early and see how much they have done! DH said there was a hole large enough for 10 full size cars dug and they were piling stumps into it when he left this morning!!

I think I may be home a little early today!!

 

[silkiechicken]

So exciting! I wish I could have something like that. Must be costing you a fortune! Some day maybe I can have something like that! Lucky!

 

[jenichick]

So exciting! I wish I could have something like that. Must be costing you a fortune! Some day maybe I can have something like that! Lucky!

I'm not sure how old you are but I'm sure if you want it bad enough someday you will or close to it. I've wanted this my whole life and I'm now middle-aged. The definition of "small fortune" is relative. For us, yes our mini-farm is costing a lot of money, but we see it as an investment in our family, and a financial investment as well. We vacation at home mostly!

I moved there from a gated subdivision with a homeowner association and I couldn't hardly even put a plant in the yard without submitting the plan for approval. I said never again will I ask permission to put up a fence or plant a vegetable garden or build a shed!

We did have to get the county zoning changed for limited agricultural and livestock to keep the horses, but it was worth it.​

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, I'm only 21 and live on 7 woody acres off a major highway in the city (the one that stretches from Canada to Mexico) that was purchased 60+ years ago by my grandfather. I don't think I can afford to keep it though when my dad retires. I love the place and if I could get rid of the free loading uncle on the lot and had the time and money would fix it up and put it into production some how. Taxes in one year on the thing are horrendous which is why I don't think I can keep it. It is more than someone in this area makes in a year if they are on minimum wage... and minimum wage in this area is apparently high at 7.63/hr.

I hate the idea of gated communities and home owners associations, no offense to those who like that kind of thing. To me it feels like they are forcing you to conform for the sake of being vain. Maybe it's something about my personal freedom and how I dislike having to conform or be told how I need to run my life and land. Maybe I just have a problem with authority. Really I guess those communities have their standards because it is based on property value, and that to me is just not something that is important in life. So what if your tiny lot is worth 1 million if you don't enjoy it and can't live on it. That type of lifestyle just isn't for me. I'd rather have a middle of no where place and be proud for the land rather than try to get pride from saying my lawn is greener than your neighbors. I guess if you put up with it for a decade or so you can have an expensive house and sell it to get something that you really want, like a farmstead.

Ah, life is hard.

Post some pics of your transforming land! It would be exciting to see!

 

[jenichick]

So what if your tiny lot is worth 1 million if you don't enjoy it and can't live on it

Ha...my sentiments exactly!!

You're spot on, my ex was a realtor and we lived there for his vanity and investment reasons! Yuck...anyway, never again!

Your land size sound close to ours but our taxes arent' that high. They are for the house/land combined but not just land. I sure hope you can find a way to keep some or all of it, or maybe sell it for a smaller plat that you could payoff somewhere else.

P.S. I have ton's of pics just need to upload to host somewhere soon!​