forest farmer new to forum, desperatly confused

Hello! My name is Alaska,
My 2 boys and I started buying15 acres in the southern tier of NY state last year and hope to build on it and move in this year. My land is on 2 mountains and the gully in between. Everything is very wet but I'm not complaining about having water! my land was logged around 20ish years ago so I have to reintroduce many tree species. I have a natural abundance of reishi on my land, many springs, a terrible logging road, and plenty of fossils. I'm working on building on the wet, yet rocky ground this summer. I'm planning to lay a frostproof shallow foundation.  I'm excited to really start working on my land and hopefully finally be able to live on it.
any suggestions for making money off my land asap? I'm sure that's everyone's first question.
As I move forward does anyone have suggestions on threads and forums to follow?
Hopefully, I will have some travelers stop by my land sometime this summer to give us a hand, but I was wondering if anyone had experience building on the side of a wet mountain that freezes deep in the winter?
bonus points if you can't get a bunch of equipment to it to dig a deep foundation......
It's gonna be tough up there for the first few winters, not gonna lie, but it's what we have to do to get to the other side of a better future.
Hope I'm doing this right. Glad to be here.
Alaska

Hi Alaska, welcome to permies!  

I hear some people will buy reishi mushrooms so that might be a way to make some money right away.  It's hard to make money before you get things set up, not going to lie...

I did a frost proof foundation on my greenhouse and it seems to be working.  Much easier than digging down 4'.  But I did have to dig out horizontally 3 feet which still required digging a lot.  Depending on how rocky you are it might still be a struggle to do by hand.  Have you thought about just building up on piers?

That logging road might come in handy to use to get to other parts of your property, especially until you can get things built. And if your land is as wet and rocky as you indicate that makes it even more desirable.

Did you use that logging road to explore your property?  We have been over 100% of our property at some time or other.
Have had to build roads to get to our feeder and ever so often we have to drive those roads just to keep the roads from fading into the grass.

You are so lucky to have mushrooms that like Mike said are a good cash crop.

Mike Haasl wrote:Hi Alaska, welcome to permies!  

I hear some people will buy reishi mushrooms so that might be a way to make some money right away.  It's hard to make money before you get things set up, not going to lie...

I did a frost-proof foundation on my greenhouse and it seems to be working.  Much easier than digging down 4'.  But I did have to dig out horizontally 3 feet which still required digging a lot.  Depending on how rocky you are it might still be a struggle to do by hand.  Have you thought about just building up on piers?

I haven't corresponded on a forum like this since I was a teenager!
So, from what I found in my area I will have to dig 6-8 feet down due to my frost line. which feels crazy until you see out 6 feet of snow every winter, I blame lake
Erie. I tried piers last summer, even rented and hauled an auger up my 1 1/2 mile logging road with a wheelbarrow, I couldn't get down 4 feet. Our rocks get very concentrated once you get below 3 feet. I have done a lot of construction in my life but this is my first foundation! And boy do I feel like I don't get it.

Anne Miller wrote:That logging road might come in handy to use to get to other parts of your property, especially until you can get things built. And if your land is as wet and rocky as you indicate that makes it even more desirable.

Did you use that logging road to explore your property?  We have been over 100% of our property at some time or other.
Have had to build roads to get to our feeder and ever so often we have to drive those roads just to keep the roads from fading into the grass.

You are so lucky to have mushrooms that like Mike said are a good cash crop.

So, my logging road is my access and is only on one side of the land. the other side does have 20-year-old logging roads that have not been as "maintained" as the one I use for access. I will be working on making them into better 4 wheel trails as I move along. So far I have seen around 90% of my property. I have an issue with one neighbor who is dead set to still hunt on my land, to the point he threatened to shoot my boys. So as of this moment, we leave the one corner alone until I have cams and maybe even a fence.

I thought maybe you wanted to get rid of the logging road so now I understand.

Sometimes just driving the unmaintained road or using a four-wheeler to keep the grass down helps.

Have you put up "No Trespassing" signs?

They don't actually keep people off my land just seem like a little leverage with the Sheriff's Department.

I don't put up with people especially when it comes to my kids so I would have had someone from the Sheriff's Department look at that situation and then I would have a report on file if it happened again.

Get those cameras and no trespassing signs up... In my area, trespassing with a firearm is a felony.
Sorry but I cant help with the frozen ground stuff.  Never experienced that before.

Anne Miller wrote:I thought maybe you wanted to get rid of the logging road so now I understand.

Sometimes just driving the unmaintained road or using a four-wheeler to keep the grass down helps.

Have you put up "No Trespassing" signs?

They don't actually keep people off my land just seem like a little leverage with the Sheriff's Department.

I don't put up with people especially when it comes to my kids so I would have had someone from the Sheriff's Department look at that situation and then I would have a report on file if it happened again.

Because I don't have a place to stay right now, I couldn't winter on the land. He tore down every no trespassing sign.  He has up tree stands, we pooped on them when we visited this winter and plan to remove them when we go back in about a month. I'm going to request a trespassers warrant be issued to him this spring so he has no excuse with the police. he had years of opportunity to buy this land, it's ridiculous. until I have a place there I don't know how to defend it.

Hello Alaska,
As a new member you did something a lot of people who have been here a long time won't do.  You gave a general location of where you live.  I appreciate that a lot!  Since I don't live in an area of forests and much rain I know I can't help much with your questions.  However I am interested in what you are doing and will follow your progress.  Good luck to you sir!

Bryan Elliott wrote:Hello Alaska,
As a new member you did something a lot of people who have been here a long time won't do.  You gave a general location of where you live.  I appreciate that a lot!  Since I don't live in an area of forests and much rain I know I can't help much with your questions.  However I am interested in what you are doing and will follow your progress.  Good luck to you sir!

Thank you!
I've actually lurked here A LOT over the past 5-10 years- idk when permies started but I've been researching for this day since my oldest was born! and because of all of that research, I know that your ground and my ground are completely different. I'm excited to keep going. I'm sure  I'll have a full thread or 10 of questions this summer.
until then could someone tell me how one earns apples? what is this world domination nonsense? what is this scavenger hunt business and how does everyone have all of these nifty badges and bumper stickers and fun little icons everywhere?

Hi Alaska,

Food for thought.   I lived in norther MN with 2 hostile neighbors.  After 4 years I moved.  I lost a lot of investment in the process. It was the best decision I could have made.  In my new location, I have incredibly nice neighbors.  I would want to give some thought to how much I would want to invest in a location is a hostile environment.

alaska myers wrote:until then could someone tell me how one earns apples? what is this world domination nonsense? what is this scavenger hunt business and how does everyone have all of these nifty badges and bumper stickers and fun little icons everywhere?

You earn apples with good helpful posts (generally).  World domination could refer to Paul's DVD series on gardening or just his general plans to help permaculture take over the world and make it a better place.  Scavenger hunts are to help you advance your familiarity with permies.  As you push new buttons and learn how to do things, you complete the scavenger hunt.  Some searching with the search field might get you to more info.  If I did that for you you might miss out on some scavenger hunt items  The bumper stickers under our names come from fiddling with your personal settings.  The badges under some folks posts (like mine) come from doing PEP activities (Permaculture Experience according to Paul).  It's like scouts for permaculture homesteading...