More Thoughts On Land Clearing

The last time I spoke on land clearing was just over two years ago.  We have done some actual clearing and subsequent soil preparation for planting in 2017, but it seems once you get the clearing bug, it's hard to stop.  So in the last weeks of February, I headed back out to the new field area and have cut down a small cluster of trees that were like a "last stand" for the area.  The trees are useful as firewood, especially the spruce and poplar, but the Balsam Fir is miserably sticky to handle, even in the cold of winter with the resin flowing endlessly, it seems.  So down those trees went and now I am slowly piling the wood up in the shed to dry over summer.  I now have a usable planting space nearly 2 acres in size once the stumps are removed.

The interesting thing about the ground in this area of our farm is that it is a transition zone between a very orange sand, hard clay and silt.  The goal is to get this stuff mixed up over a few years of plowing and general soil management.  Already last summer I was able to move some of this sand around into the clay sections.  Because it's located on a slope, the sand has a tendency to travel downhill so mixing the soil and letting it winter is always beneficial.  Plowing before winter allows the clay till to crumble and this in turn allows easier mixing of the sand during the spring harrowing.  We will see how well it does.  A heavy summer rainstorm can find loose sand in a hurry, especially on a hill.

It's quite exciting in many respects.  This last bit of clearing gets the sunshine into the space earlier in the day with less spot shadowing.  The unfortunate part is getting the morning sun to this hill.  The hill faces West!  I've been told not to worry about it as the evening sun can be more beneficial overall, holding the heat level until sundown.  Perhaps some careful record keeping on my part could give way to some answers regarding the hill facing West and how much difference it makes.  I might have to follow up on that!

The upper photo is taken from the South corner of the clearing; the bottom three photos are taken looking back at the last clearing from the North corner.  To note, the dogs insisted on being in the photos!