J. Shapiro

My main goal is to maintain the canop no more than 15-20' tall, in order to allow sunlight to reach the house and the rest of the property, as well as maintain a stunning long-range mountain view. Secondary goals include using the space for a mixed medicinal and food garden (it's about 2 acres), with an assortment of perennial woody and herbaceous medicinals, and fruit and berry bushes. I have some species in mind but haven't done a final design yet. I have done a good inventory of existing species and none fit my goals for this particular area of the property.

Your point about erosion is a good one, and I have some ideas on how to deal with that. The one I like best is swales a couple degrees off contour, running in opposite directions, going down the slope at the points where it's steep enough to need it. I've had good luck with conservation grass seed mix taking root fast enough to stop erosion until other plantings mature and I'll probably do that as a first step. Any other suggestions or recommendations for further reading are welcome.

I do have some experience with excavating, and the price he's quoting me is fair. The access to the slope is tricky and there would be a lot of maneuvering required with the excavator and would be very time consuming. I'm not averse to paying it if it's the only option, but I want to know for sure that it is.

Tell me more about goats!

I have a hillside that's covered in 5-15 foot saplings that I'd like to clear. Whoever cut the timber on it before I bought the property just left it laying, so there are a fair amount of fallen hard- and softwoods to deal with as well. A local excavator quoted me $7-10K to clear it due to some sections being rather steep. I think his price is fair for the amount of work it would take him, but I'm hoping somebody has some experience with doing this in a cheaper and less industrial way, even if it takes a couple years.

I don't mind doing the labor of cutting and clearing/piling the saplings and dead wood myself, but I need a way to make sure they don't just all root sprout afterwards. Has anybody experimented with covering large sections of cleared forest with black plastic for a year or two?

Hit me with your ideas and experiences.