Personally, I would take out anything non organic, like fence wire, etc. Then get rid of all the large stuff like posts, overgrowth etc. Then just run the tiller over and over and over and over...you get the idea. The posts and overgrowth would be piled up and burned as this is probably the easiest way to dispose of it. An orchard sounds like a great idea...are you allowed to build there? Maybe a SHTF retreat would be a nice idea.

Sigh.. doing what I do best... Being Devils advocate. When you say you have access what exactly does that mean? Do you have some kind of legal agreement? I ask because it would be a shame to do a ton of work and investment in time and money and then have the owner "change their mind"

Thanks for the input.

@Denob - yeah, I'm not sure I can get away with building a retreat there permanently...but I have a 28 foot trailer I'm in the process of renovating up a bit. That will go there.

I don't actually have to worry too much about access agreements as it's my wife's parents farm. Well, I guess I don't have to worry as long as we are married, but that's not an issue. They bought the farm, they have been running sheep on it for like 8 years but those have turned into pets and are kept to a small area. the remaining land is just, well, there. So, with their blessing they had said this year if I wanted to do something with it I was welcome to it. I had been hunting there for the last 3 years - deer and turkey.

JustABear - I hear what your saying. I had even asked flat out if I had to worry about just that sort of thing, but it's all good. They are aging and just don't want to do as much as they thought.

Runs with Scissors

@runswithscissors

The trailer sounds like a great idea. If you get an orchard going, then sharing the fruits of your labour with the inlaws could go a long way. If the hunting is good then this could be an ideal SHTF place to get to. I will be looking into some family property this July. I won't be able to do anything there on an ongoing basis, but would like to know what the possibilities are if I need another place to go.

Sigh.. doing what I do best... Being Devils advocate. When you say you have access what exactly does that mean? Do you have some kind of legal agreement? I ask because it would be a shame to do a ton of work and investment in time and money and then have the owner "change their mind"

Excellent advice, that happened to me if you recall, now I am way more selective and judgemental about, hey come help us do things here and stay here!!!

I found the best way for me was to push all the larger ground debris with tractor into a large pile and burn it.
I then used a harrow to go over the area many times pulling up roots or anything else that's just under the ground,then continue until flat.
I also used my quad to pull the harrow as it moves much faster and was more comfortable than my old tractor.
Good luck.

Just a thought, and requires some supervision. I cleared an entire area of wild roses which are impossible to get rid of under normal conditions by fencing off an area and putting in pigs. They are amazing creatures and their noses are better than any dozer blade or bobcat. Eight acres is a big piece of land. A machine is quick if that is your objective, but the top 10 inches is your best topsoil, burning a pile containing much of your topsoil destroys the fertility even further, and in our part of the country at least you are left with big piles of rocks under the charred debris which also must be cleared.

On the matter raised by justabear (access). It is none of my business but that has never stopped me before. They say that blood is thicker than water, but I would always make sure the blood test is in written form such as a fixed term lease. In the event of the death of an owner the family bushes often become alive with those who say they have some claim against the property. If the executor of the estate decides to sell to deal with all the claims, your lease is one of the documents that must be dealt with. take before and after pictures, keep a list of hours you have invested, and all receipts marking exactly what the expense was for. Then you are prepared for the unforseen.

Okay. Update on the clearing project.

I've finally gotten my second vehicle back from a loan out so I've only put 3 days (about 2 hours each day) into the clearing efforts. Now, when I'm saying this is thick scrub bush, I'm talking a person cannot walk thru this stuff. It's woody bush and it's thick. I've had to hack lanes (using long pruners and a machete believe it or not) along each grape row so that I can collect the old wire and what remains of the posts. The wood posts are rotten and gone...they'll be pile and burned off or composted (as they were cedar posts). The metal T posts I come across are being stacked and saved for spring. That's when I'm looking to get a couple of weaner hogs.
So, over roughly 6 hours I've managed to hack out a 30'x45' section - I measured it this morning. Whew. More work coming. The short term goal here is to clear out the wire and posts so a bulldozer can be hired to come in and mangle the rest. I'll tell you, those people that came here before us and cleared had to be some tough sob's. I'm not stumping like they had to, but I begin to appreciate the amount of work it took to initially clear land to plant.

The crazy part of this is there's already an existing pasture there. It really needs to be rejuvenated, and there's some pet sheep running on it now - but it's there and it's already electrified. But, it's on the opposite side of the property to where I'm clearing out. Now, where I'm clearing is closest to the house and barn...so I need to do it.
The plan has changed a little. I'm going to section in some of the existing pasture and rotate some hogs in there. They'll help me rejuvenate the pastures. And I can take advantage of existing fencing and hotwires.

Also, I'm fully taking the points in about the land access. Given it's in-laws that own the property outright especially - not that I'm worried about my marital future or anything. So, long story short the estate will be split 3 ways (between all the daughters) when it's time. I have no illusions that the property will be further shared after the fact. Based on that, the wife and I are planning a continuation of the property with the other family members, but I guess we won't be relying on it 100%. But, till the day we need to worry about that...this hobby farm is going to become the grocery store for at least 3 families as we planned.

Runs With Scissors

Thanks for the update. Look forward to hearing more, we have had great luck using the sheep/pig combo to get the land ready for frost seeding, we have turned scrub into pasture and increased the pasture output yield per lamb eight pds heavier of pasture only over. The five years we have been doing it, plus increase in milk outputs on the ewes.

Hey there runswithscissors,
Can we get an update on your clearing project? How did it go this year?

Time for an update.

First, I'd like to say that I didn't get as much time into this project as I would have liked. It was more of a some time effort then a part time effort. Many factors contributed to this.

But I did manage to hand clear about a quarter of an acre. That's cut, cleaned out of posts and wire and scrub down to dirt with a pair of long handled pruners. I have a big pile of composting material on that plot now - I went and collected as many bagged up leaves as I could get my hands on, and I obtained a truckload of pure hardwood sawdust. There's other material in there as well...some sheep manure and garden trash. I have plans to turn it in either before the winter comes or I'm entertaining fencing two pigs in it. Don't know what I'm doing yet (depends largely on whether I can get the piglets sooner rather then later).

Here's what I took from this project. Hand clearing is for the birds. I suppose it would have to be done if there was no other alternative - and I can think of ways to speed it up that are less then environmentally friendly, like controlled burning. It would have also gone better if it was the thing I had to do for a day or so. A couple of hours at a time isn't really productive, as depending on the time of year, I found you had re-clear the areas you just cleared because it grew back in something else so fast.
It's a romantic thing, to believe that one could be all pionerr-y and do things like the old old folks did. One could, but to rely on it to sustain oneself would be a rude shock as to how much work is actually involved.

I would say, in conclusion, that the lessons I've learned best from this is time is key here. Hand clearing is very labour intensive and it's very inefficient. Machines were invented for a reason, and if one could have it with more efficiency brought by a machine, it's a very very good idea to do so. Especially if one is looking at utilizing the land as soon as possible. And because of the amount of land I still want to clear and use - up to 5 acres of produce and fruit - I've obtained a pair of tractors (one with a pto driven tiller) and a mini excavator. I have plans now to dig out a decent sized pond for water catchment and some fish, plus the little bit I've used the mini excavator to flatten out some previously cleared grape rows that have been fenced in for sheep has shown that I can get immensely more done in a much much shorter time frame with machinery.

I've got myself a quarter of an acre now, and I'm probably slightly over estimating that even. It's the start of my next garden at any rate, a good enough size to begin my new project of growing enough to make a dent in the grocery bill.

I've been following some blogs of people (including Farmgal's, of which I can't get over the amount of food you process in a year and how you track it all. That's impressive) and trying to learn as much as possible.

Garden project for next spring is in the planning stages. I'm planning on some bullet-proof plantings that even a fresh noob gardener can do without messing it up. Suggestions would be most appreciated.

Runs With Scissors

Hello long time no see. What a great update. Sounds like you have things well in hand.

You are welcome to all my leaves if you want to come rake them

why not look into permaculture, huglebeds and permaculture food forest?
some info there might help you out.

thanks for the update, it always takes longer to do things by hand then it does with machines, even when you are using critter power, its still going to take longer to do it then you expect, longer for them to eat it down, longer for them to plow it up, still it goes a long when in helping on that.. Sounds like you will have a good area to plant in next year.

Wrong time of the year for the pigs to be able to give much of a helping hand in turning things, once you get freeze up happening, they don't do to much in terms of turning things, even your compost pile is still going to freeze up, well if you are mixing and turning it, and can find a way to water it, it might heat up once more yet, but mine are normally down and out from late nov to march, depending on the year but you might have warmer temps then we do here.