Timberland to Permaculture Herb Garden

A friend of mine purchased raw timberland. It has been used to grow and harvest predominatly pine tree for the last 100 years. The goal in purchasing this land is to start a homestead with permaculture being the driving force. We will be clear cutting the plots we have chosen to grow on. Obviously a no till method is preferred but is tilling required initially? Will roots from previous trees be and issue? How do we get the soil ready in this wooded area for our first grow season?

What we have done is to cut the trees at/near ground level, use the branches and trunks to make hugel-style raised beds 2-3 feet high. The roots and wood will eventually rot and create wonderful soil. Our plot of pine woods had been logged about 35 years ago so the size of the trees has been pretty manageable. We also had piles of soil that they scraped off pathways for their trucks. We used this in the garden beds.

We haven't tilled and don't plan to. Too many rocks, and with building up there is no need. We've gotten very good plant growth in these beds so using pine and fir hasn't been a problem.

Hello Thomas and welcome to Permies!

You are not alone - there are a few threads on converting woodland to more open growing areas. Here are a couple that I thought might be most useful:
https://permies.com/t/87184/Newb-convert-forest-pasture-silviculture
https://permies.com/t/85410/Ideas-utilizing-land

Quite a few more on integrating food in the forest by forest gardening:
https://permies.com/t/168943/Douglas-Fir-food-forest-conversion
https://permies.com/t/160729/Adding-existing-forest-starting-scratch
https://permies.com/t/155012/Forest-garden-forest
https://permies.com/t/156636/Food-forests-incorporate-woodlots
https://permies.com/t/133023/Forest-Food-Forest
https://permies.com/t/90484/Coniferous-forest-gardening

Hopefully you can come up with a good plan that will use and retain mature forest in your overall plans. Have a look at Silvopasture and Agroforestry for some more ideas.