Thinking About Land Clearing

As we've been developing the farm, I have been pondering the need to break new ground. Four years ago, I started on a small section of our property I could only call at best, “scrappy bush”. It was really full of Moose Maple, Alders, Poplar and a lot of dead Balsam (thanks to the Spruce Budworm in the 1990s). So away I went with chainsaw in hand, some flagging tape and the farm tractor. If you have an eye for it, you will almost always find a good way to get started on something like this. I found a natural opening off our driveway where I could go in with the tractor and push all the deadfall into piles. Since it was early April, I was able to burn a lot of the debris while there was still snow on the ground. Once I had this first spot clear, I started blazing lines to create a square shaped acre. Seeing our already defined property line where the neigbour's fence was, I headed to it hoping it was going to make a nice straight line, ninety degrees to the fence. Well, not quite, but it was close and it ended up following a natural contour of the hill it is on. Then another blaze line parallel to the fence and then back to the fence, 200 feet further down the hill. Over that summer, I cut the few trees that were in that area, piled them for firewood and then had a large excavator come in to remove the stumps and rake out the rough spots. Since then I have been plowing and pulling roots to make a second planting area.

Last year, we tried potatoes in it for the first time – about 180 pounds of seed yielding about 500 pounds of produce. Not a great return, but new soil is always a hard start.  An elderly cousin told me that first, now I've experienced it!

This year I have marked out an additional space, just over four acres in size. Interestingly, this area has the characteristics of the first area, “scrappy bush” with a low volume of trees, lots of Alder, Moose Maple and deadfall. It also runs along the neighbour's fenceline so I have blazed lines from the fence and then parallel to it, defining the area and giving a proper surveying opportunity of what is in that space. Since this area is so poor in terms of forest, clearing seems the best way to develop it while wanting for additional planting space. This space, once cleared can be seeded as a pasture. When some other part of the vegetable garden needs a rest (to fallow), we can plow a section of the pasture down, prep and plant it as needed.

It is a lot of work when I think about it, but seems the best use of a piece of land we otherwise cannot use.  Of course, what is land clearing without discovering something such as a really old enameled pail, tucked under a broken Birch tree.  To note, since we bought this property, I have found old barbed wire strung through the bush, a pile of old tin cans, a nail puller...I suspect the prior owner attempted to run cattle through this bush before he severed this section off.  It's always interesting to find things out of place.

Photos show the blaze I cut through the bush, the first clearing and also the pail under the tree.