40 wooded acres enough?

[YankeesEverywhere]

Greetings All,

First post and am looking forward to meeting all of ya!

Well, I am in the process of turning 40 Ozark acres I bought several years ago into both a homestead and hunting paradise. If there is anyone on here who has done this from beginning (land is raw with nothing on it but 2 small ponds and oak-hickory trees everywhere) to end (if there is such a thing) any advice would be appreciated.

I live in central Illinois and drive down to this plot 2-3 times a year to do various things in prep for my eventual move, which by the way is years away. Unless, of course, events dictate otherwise.

Thank you all in advance.

[CarolAnn]

Welcome to the forum, YankeesEverywhere! Your screen name made me chuckle - when this Yankee moved to the Ozarks in early 80's, there was a fuel shortage, bad economy and . . .Yankees Everywhere, moving to the south to try to get a better life going. (At least, to hear the locals talk, that's what it was like!)

You must have seen the ugly pink paint they use in the Ozarks to mark "no tresspassing" - for hunters that can't read the signs. I've heard that better than that are signs that say, "POSTED - PRIVATE HUNTING PRESERVE" - they'll respect that & fear being made to pay the dues of a hunting club more than they respect the pink paint.

It's likely your land has been clearcut at least once - maybe more than once - but the forests of oak and hickory come back in 40-60 years. SO - is 40 acres enough? Enough for what? If you want to keep it wild for hunting, you can do that. If you want to farm and grow a big garden, you can also do that, but it's harder. A clearing made by you will disappear in a couple of years - covered in new brush, sumac, briars and such. The 5 acre "field" I sweated over for several years in the early 80's now looks closer to woodland - with hardwoods, dogwood and pine starting to show above the sumac and weeds.

You might try planting a few fruit trees now so that you've got some fruit when you do move there. You could put in a well and mark out where you'd like to put in the drive and buildings now.

I took a ball of hunter's orange yarn and wrapped it around trees to mark the area I wanted to clear for the drive and house site - that's cheap and lasts a couple of years at least.

Be aware that the country is not all sweetness and light - and there are light fingered scoundrels that will come while you're away and help themselves to anything you've left behind - including small buildings! So if you plan on leaving anything, you might work on a hidden cache or two so you don't have to drag so many tools out every time.

If you can afford it, put a very good fence around the area you want cleared for your dwelling. Then the trick is to find someone local with hogs and let them keep them inside the fence. (Best if it includes a water source, such as one of your small ponds, also.) Hogs are great to eat out greenbriar, weeds, poison ivy and small brush. They also root up surprisingly large stones and leave the land ready to receive whatever seeding you want to do for a yard. I did that for my orchard area - and in a single summer the hogs cleaned the area down to the bare dirt and rooted up a big pile of rocks for me!

[YankeesEverywhere]

Wow, thanks for all the good advice CarolAnn.

You can say that again about the trees regrowing. When I bought this property (fall 2006) it had some fire damage (maybe 5 acres worth) but now there are saplings sprouting up everywhere. What I'm doing with the burn areas are just trying to keep trees from regrowing so I can have some places where wildlife (mainly deer) can bed-down and feel protected. Those are some thick thickets and that's just the way I want it.

This land goes from ridgetop to creekbottom and the drop is 120'. I have carved-out a spot for a cabin on top of the ridge which overlooks the west Ozarks. It's just a beautiful spot to put a cabin up.

Fruit trees are a great idea. What would you suggest I plant though? The soil is not the greatest. I'm in southern Missouri if that matters.

Thanks in advance.

[fnfredux]

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PLENTY... as long as you PRESERVE what exists. We did it in about 8 years with the help of our goats. They are the BEST animal for clearing they LOVE brambles and will actually KILL your locust and cedar (weed trees). They don't wallow and root like hogs which can really do damage to your land. Cows are fine on the flat but will cause major problems areound ponds, streams slopes. Goats on the other hand are as close to a "natural" browser as you can get. They don't damage the land by rooting and have a small/light footprint, like a deer.
This forty acres was TOTALLY brush and weeds. It took the goats about five years to give us nice pasture. We still have about 12A as a wood lot, the goats have thinned the "weed" trees. Believe me, if you have locust (the trees with the enormous thorns) you need goats.
Also, hogs, they can be EXTREMELY dangerous, they WILL kill and eat you, last time it happened around here was a farmer in IA, went into their pen and HE was dinner. That was a few years ago. Hogs are also pretty nasty critters in other ways and they STINK...I guess you have to actually live in the boonies to know about hogs. REAL ones...and the can go feral and present a whole LOT of problems, they are aggressive and omnivours.
I personally wouldn't consider leaving hogs on their own, and I am pretty sure once *you experience real hogs you might change your mind.
Goats can be handled by ANYONE (even my 5 year old grandaughter) as long as you make sure they have some contact with humans at an early age.
Goats can be "herded" by humans/dogs. goats will learn to come when you call them (just supply a little corn) and best of all, you can MILK them and if you have a taste for them, eat them.
Goats PREFER those noxious weeds to good pasture and are BROWSERS which means they will clear brush and small trees AND eat up the trees as far as they can reach and will stand on their hind legs to reach what they consider the really good stuff.

Best small livestock, goats.
I forgot to mention, when we started building nine years ago, the brush/weeds/briars etc. were so thick, you couldn't even walk around on the property.
And all done without a bulldozer (except for the driveway).

[Catalpa]

Forty acres is my dream for someday. Seems like just enough room to be self-sufficient and keep the neighbors at a distance.

I don't know anything about the Ozarks, but it sounds like a really nice parcel you have. I would second the idea about planting fruit trees now so that they're bearing when you settle on the land. Maybe leveling an area and adding soil amendments (like leaving leaves, etc.) to break down over time so you have a good garden spot ready for the future. Hogs or goats, whichever you work with depending on the pros and cons, will be very helpful in clearing some land. If it were me, I would be working on some well-hidden cache sites, for tools, fuel, etc., and some sort of set up for shelter, in preparation for a potential bug-out destination.

Good luck!

[fnfredux]

Fruit trees will be eaten by deer, rabbits (the bark) and attacked from below by ground hogs. That is why there are no fruit trees growing in the wild in MO. I would wait until I was around to protect them. Fencing around them is no match for a determined deer.
I'm in NW MO and I have had success with apples, peaches and pears. Watch your varieties to be sure they are the right ones for your "zone". Soil quality isn't as important as climate, soil can always be ammended. I have no fruit trees here, as I do have goats free range. The would eat any fruit trees I had. We do have Hawthorn growing wild and the goats have cleaned them out, they score the trunks with their horns and ring them, I suspect that the sap is sweet. They are in the apple family I believe.
I have also had apricot trees ( killed by an ant attack) and plum, both produced fruit and a good quantity, but both also fell victim to ANTS. The ants came in on my pear tree I believe, I spotted them on there right away as I was tending it carefully when first planted. I did put down ant poison there, but apparently they(the ants) had already spread.
get the lay of your land, organize it. I am sure there are different elevations if it's in the Ozarks. remember that the low spot on your land is best left alone to avoid erosion. The highest spot is best suited for building on. A good slight hill with an east or south exposure is the best spot for your garden, and any particularly craggy, rocky spots are best for your woodlot/wildlife area. Try to preserve any natural food plats growing there. we have lots of mulberry and black walnut, hickory and some wild life feeds like wild cherry and blackberries. oaks for acorns and such. Those trees that provide food for humans and/or game should be left untouched. When selecting firewood, the locust, hedge and elm and maple should be the first to go.
forty acres will be MORE than enough to support a family.
when your pasture is cleaned up, a few cows (milk and meat) added and a horse or two (lawn ornaments or transportation) are great for keeping it healthy.
Domestic animals are the small farmes best friend, they can take pasture and turn it into food...kind of a miracle when you think about it.
Hogs. We have considered it a number of times, but a potential 1000lb animal that's an omnivour...not for me.
Don't forget the free range chickens or better still some Guinea Fowl to clean up the ticks. Ticks are about the worst part of getting started on your homestead.

[YankeesEverywhere]

Just amazing how much is to be learned yet.

fnfredux-that's fascinating information about the goats. I will certainly do that because I'm going to need much clean up. And the fruit trees, which by the way I had planned to plant some seedlings this spring, are now going to likely be held off on. The question is, how are you supposed to grow fruit when you move onto your land, yet cannot plant trees due to wildlife pressure?

Catalpa-I really like the idea of ammending the soil now. I've already cleared out a spot for the cabin and garden so that would be something I could do as time goes by.

Thanks so much everyone.

[fnfredux]

Just amazing how much is to be learned yet.

fnfredux-that's fascinating information about the goats. I will certainly do that because I'm going to need much clean up. And the fruit trees, which by the way I had planned to plant some seedlings this spring, are now going to likely be held off on. The question is, how are you supposed to grow fruit when you move onto your land, yet cannot plant trees due to wildlife pressure?

Catalpa-I really like the idea of ammending the soil now. I've already cleared out a spot for the cabin and garden so that would be something I could do as time goes by.

Thanks so much everyone.

When you are actually there, a couple of dogs will take care of your herding, coyotes and wild life intrusion into your gardens/orchards. I have a number of dogs, they keep things in order, yet I still have a small herd of deer that bed down in a small meadow (about an acre) in my woodlot.
Good dogs are KEY to a smooth running homestead, of course you can do without them, just a lot more work for you.