Hello everyone!
My wife and I recently purchased 26 acres in western Maine that we are now beginning to work on turning into our dream
permaculture homestead.
The site is forested, but was logged very aggressively about 10 years ago, and prior to our buying it the owner, who is a friend of ours and has another 180ish acres still right next to it, had several patches cleared via some kind of grant from the state.
Anyhow, these three cleared patches are somewhere around 6 or 7 acres. More than
enough for us to work on, and they're in rough shape as it stands. Stumps and brush everywhere. Soil is sandy clay, very little topsoil. We haven't done a proper soil test yet but i believe it is quite acidic. last summer when we went to look at the property, the cleared areas were predominantly filled with bracken fern.
Basically, our immediate game plan has been to clean up the small stumps down to ground level, cut back the shoots threatening to come in, pile the sticks and brush into
hugel mounds strategically, and go around adding lime and a cover crop (we were thinking mainly clover seed?) for the spring.
I attached some pictures of the three areas. Our bigger plan: We'd like to establish an orchard on the south facing hill. The top of the hill clearing is split between us and our friend who we bought it from, and we have the least plans for thus far, and then the back area is where we would most like to have our final home on the property, because it's quiet and nestled, and there is a spring that comes out of the hill and flows down into it on the left. definitely dig a
pond where the spring floods out eventually. Also, it ends at a bog full of cattails behind it... kind of cool. anyhow... getting ahead of myself there. Right now is phase one.
Any thoughts or advice on getting off to the best start we can with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Luke
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