How do you switch gears when a new reality hits?

I am having trouble switching gears to figure out what I can do with wooded land... because all my plans included a big field. Sometimes my brain gets stuck in one path and I need some help veering off to a different path :) Can you help me?

I have been searching for a house and property for a while, but various things kept falling through. My dream had been 5 to 10 acres with maybe half in fields to grow some geese, pasture chickens, maybe do sheep or cows. Also planned to have a large garden and grow herbs both culinary and medicinal. But reality set in and I found that my financial situation due to the divorce along with rising house prices means I am not going to get a 5 acre field with a big old farm house. My reality is that I can afford a small house on a few acres that are wooded. This property gets me my own place again and cuts my commute to work in half... so those are pluses. But the land feels useless to me right now.

I am looking for ideas to help me look at this property differently. How can I grow food and earn money from a small wooded acreage? The obvious would be to cut the trees and sell the lumber, but I'm not sure the trees are big enough to be worth much. The property is also fairly hilly... so even if it was clear cut there is not a lot of places for a flat garden.

When the fire ants took over my garden and I had to abandoned the garden, I went back to work.

I wish I had know about used dish water, soapy water or vinegar back then.

I would suggest cutting the trees as you get firewood orders.  I see no reason the cut and store wood to be sold.

My favorite permaculture principle is observation.  What does observation tell you about the homestead?

Maybe think clearly, with notepaper about your needs and wants.
They may be different.
Can you plant a woods area?
Will you have time to do what?
What is the difference between wooded and pasture?
Does it have to be a house?
Would a shed do short term?
Have you though about
- access to water
- access to power
- access to roads or town
- access to sun
- clearance of over drift with chemicals

Maybe goats are a better fit than sheep or cows on that land. Or maybe deer and wild turkey?

Start small. Girdle all the trees (unless one of them feels like a keeper) in a 50x50 area, next year grow runner beans up the small ones. Cut all the trees in a 30' circle and plant two apples and two chestnuts near the center. Whatever of them lives will be awesome in ten years.

Wooded areas say mushrooms to me.....
Especially if there are oaks for shiitake.
We've grown them on white, red and black jack oak.

Wooded land won't rule out herbs and a big garden...things might just move more slowly that direction.

One of the things I miss from living in a more wooded area is the abundance of leaves in the fall....a wonderful resource.

You could ask yourself if you like where you live now better than the place that is for sale?  Are you able to make it into what you want?

Is it worth what they are asking or what you can buy it for?

Do you think it will be worth less 3-5 years from now?

Now a story from 50 years ago:  A neighbor had rented a house and farm for 20-30 years.  The owner didn't want to sell it.  The neighbor told my uncle that he'd been saving his money to buy a big farm in one spot.  He said he'd passed on a quarter section (160 acres) here and there along the way waiting on what he really wanted.   He said that if he would have bought them along the way and paid them off he could have sold those properties and bought what he wanted.  The owner of the property he lived on died and the heirs put it up for sale.  He said that now with the increase in land prices the money he had saved wouldn't buy the old house he was in and the land it was on.  He moved to town and got a job of some kind.  He was fairly old so I'm guessing it wasn't a great one.

Bottom line is good luck making your decision, I'm not qualified to say anymore.

Disclaimer: I love woods and planted most of my acres to woodland (future fuel supply...)

There are lots of saleable edibles that one can grow in a woodland, particularly one with lots of edges, I'm thinking fiddlenecks and ramps for example. Many berries like or prefer a bit of shade from hot summers. Valuable medicinal herbs like shady, leafmould rich woodland floors (American ginseng), Fungi as others have said.
Chickens are naturally woodland birds and 'forest eggs' can go for a premium in some areas due to animal welfare values. Pigs too in mature woodland (!)
Ben Law makes a living and grows a small garden in his woodland in the UK - mainly through charcoal sales, but also has various nut trees: sweet chestnut and hazel. He also makes a lot of woodcraft products from the interesting bendy bits of wood that are not good for timber. If you do end up buying the property I recommend his 'woodland way' book, and there is an America based making money from woods book too, maybe Coppice Agroforestry? although I haven't read that one.
Without more information about the woodland it is difficult to be specific, but there always has to be an element of 'cutting ones cloth to suit your purse' or some such.  
I've never been able to put my heart into a house that didn't feel like home to me, so I can't recommend buying somewhere you don't want to live unless you see it as a development opportunity to sell on again when the time/price is right.

Matt McSpadden wrote: The property is also fairly hilly... so even if it was clear cut there is not a lot of places for a flat garden.

Do you have a topo map of the property? So you can actually see what the lay of the land is without the trees?

1. There are hills and there are hills! I have read repeatedly that many fruit trees are safer from a late frost if they're on a north slope. I have some personal experience with at least not having a tree at the top of a south slope... two years in a row that plum has done significantly worse than ones that have a bit more protection.

2. How steep are those hills? Building small terraces can give each terrace good sun exposure. The steeper the hill, the more work that will be. Are there lots of rocks as raw material? Make sure the water can drain properly so you don't destabilize the slope.  

3. How deep is the soil? Many forests have all their nutrients locked up in the wood and the soil can be very thin. If the land had been open at some time, and not allowed to erode, the soil could be OK. Even if it's crappy soil, is it deep enough that you could build hugels with the young trees?

As for the house - I always figured I'd be happier with a small house and a *really big* garage workshop. Some small houses can be extended if you genuinely need the space. My son has been house hunting though, and it's amazing how many properties have no decent spot to do some serious woodworking or equipment repair.

a few thoughts:
1- nothing needs to be 100%, all or nothing, decided forever. You can try a test plot, experiment, etc. If you can afford this space then you don't have a desperate need to break even right away.
2 - you could do something like integrated forest-livestock-crops, depending on what your environment is like. Keep the trees that provide something you can harvest, run sheep or cattle among them, fell the rest to make money a bit at a time and then plant new ones (fruit, nuts, etc). Lots of great ideas so far about animals intercropping with trees.
3 - you can work with most slopes too- a flat flat garden is lovely, but many of us are not that lucky. You can garden on a slope, making lazy terraces. Don't rule anything out.
4 - when I feel myself frustrated with my land and garden I remember back not so long ago when I thought we would never ever be able to buy anything. Having any land at all is a great blessing and a huge luxury. You can be that person who others look at and say 'holy cow look at all that stuff he does in that small/crummy/poor space'! (i still am shocked when people say that about my tiny garden, because half the time i think i'm totally slacking). Try to take a breath, it's all constantly in progress and you're always getting better.

I think that “the art and science of making adjustments to life” May be a significant part of the definition of homesteading.  I had 10 acres in Minnesota. Now I have 11 acres in southern Illinois. My plans10+ years ago was to get and keep livestock until I was 85 was a key portion of my planning. Now it is clear that age 80 is the cut off for most of the animals.  My wife had been a significant part of my plans; due to a variety of health problems, I have to accept her help when I can get it and move forwards  by myself when I can’t.

I suspect that whatever you decide upon now will see multiple revisions in the next decade or so.

It sounds to me like even you are having big doubts about the property.  Follow your gut.  I put a lot of stock in instinct.  Don't rush into anything, especially when you're questioning whether it's right.  Deep down, it sounds like you know.  Trust yourself and just wait until the one that makes you excited comes along.  Writing a list of needs or non-negotiables can be helpful or even a pros and cons list of the piece of land you're considering.  I don't know your age, but are you up for all the work this parcel demands? Don't jump on the first thing just because it fits your budget...

Matt McSpadden wrote: The obvious would be to cut the trees and sell the lumber, but I'm not sure the trees are big enough to be worth much. The property is also fairly hilly... so even if it was clear cut there is not a lot of places for a flat garden.

If you can clear enough trees to get a 20ft x 20ft sunny patch (even on a slope), then I think you would particularly enjoy having a Well-Watered Garden to start:

https://www.wellwateredgardenproject.org/

Since the trees are small, they should be easier to cut yourself. You could use them for garden crafts or edging along trails, fencing and making pens and shelters, terracing, etc.

Obviously wood heat is one of the most valuable "crops" you can harvest if you have a wood stove and time.

If the trees are a little bigger, you may be able to find a local, mobile sawyer who could mill up some lumber for free. Regardless, definitely spend time discovering the useful trees that are already growing. Also, since you have hills, maybe think about small pond possibilities.

But there is no substitute for sunshine! For food and for morale sake.

The best thing I did for my mindset was to reframe my ideas about food sources from grocery store staples to natural foraging.   Our lot is heavily wooded too, and it was a shock to realize how much of the permaculture information out there sort of assumes you begin with a wide-open space and fill it up with food plants.  The Native Americans flourished in these woods, dotted with some openings for maize and tobacco.  Pawpaws, persimmons, blackberries, huckleberries, aronia, leaf amaranth, nettles, chickens, apios, turmeric, all do fine in high shade.   Our hazelnuts grow like crazy, but I've yet to get a single nut (squirrels), plenty of hickory, an Asian chestnut.  Our tomatoes, peppers, beans, pumpkins do OK (not magazine great)  with the 4-5 hours of sun we get in our clearing; I do have to dig a deep trench around the vegetable garden every year or so to keep the tree roots out.  Since goats prefer browse, maybe you could keep a few trees and shrubs pollarded down.  The colonists kept pigs in the woods.

https://worldpermacultureassociation.com/forest-farming-guide/

https://www.amazon.com/Edible-Wild-Plants-American-Natural

sounds like so tree clearing is needed. Clear the spaces you need and any trees that could cause damage to structures but also think about shade and what you can do with the wood. make chips for garden bed use as lumber for structure, dig a hole and use a liner for a man mad pond or slabs for a pathway. if you have wood you have material water storage shelter...alot of options.  also there's nothing to say you cant plant your garden in the woods as long as there enough sun and animals dont need fields to roam that more another random things humans developed for no real purpose like lawns. free shade for the animals and protection from predators is an asset

I am having trouble switching gears to figure out what I can do

This is quite a useful question - how to align with a new reality?
It can be truly jarring to have invested in a dream, a concept, the hope of an experience, and then face a life path that takes you in a different direction.  For those of us who are somewhat (ok, well maybe very) stubborn, this dilemma sure comes up, where it is hard to let go of the old dream as life calls for a different approach.  Like you, I had life changes and financial hiccups that necessitated reframing from an envisioned 40 acres of varied terrain with a farm house into 5 acres of off grid clearcut timberland, living in a (really) tinyhome with minimal practical comforts (for now...)
It helped me to switch gears when focused on my choice. Yes, I wanted what I wanted before - honestly I would still really like that. And now that it was off the table, the simplest need was that I wanted to farm, committed to regenerative agriculture and a permaculture life... somehow, someway, even if it was so different than the initial dream.  And I wanted that more than I wanted the ideal vision. I could choose to walk away or do nothing (that felt really dark and awful) or I could choose to step forward where it was possible, even if I stubbornly felt an internal resistance.  As Becky Kennedy says "Two Things are True"  (https://www.wealthofhappiness.com/good-inside/)
It also helped me to switch gears by reminding myself 'this is not the end of the story" - I can do this for now, and put my heart and mind and committed self into it, and watch to see what other doors open in the future. We never know...

And when I was planning to have a medicinal woodland on my ideal farm, I read this book which really inspired me:  https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/farming-the-woods/  Good data can really help with reframing, opening eyes to possibilities we could not see before.
And now I am on a property that had the impressive total of 3 trees on it when I bought it. And none of that 'Farming the Woods' applies now. But I am creating the future orchard with baby trees, planting cork oak acorns, chestnuts, apricot and apple trees, fodder trees... so the woods will happen at some point.   And at the end of the day, even if it is not the dream I wanted, it is a life I love, and that I choose again each day.

Maybe you can look at the 'Two Things are True' within yourself, and also find a way to choose to align with your simplest need?
Wishing you the best as you resolve your dilemma

Hello there Matt,  It’s said humans can really only do one task at a time.  Farming, agriculture, permaculture are all full time jobs.  I do two, with a career and farm as my parents did… It takes a lifetime to master just parts of them, thus the intense analysis here by the most wonderful folks and their brilliant intellects.   We all try to do multiple tasks simultaneously though and it makes life both harder and sweeter.  Yet, when starting out on a complex life long task, focus is your reality daily.  Go for a daily walk on the land, breathe deep, feel the place, dip yourself into that nature as it will speak to you.  Myself, I grew up doing many farming/permaculture activities, and have done these throughout my life in various places on other’s places.  Practice makes better, to get to a working system.  After all these years I still have to start my focus with walks around the place daily.  Example, these are the things I thought this morning.  What’s wrong with the pigs today, winter garden planting, compost in garden, picking some vegetables, hardening off/planting cuttings, sheering sheep, irrigating fields, crops for next year, soil quality check, and all this versus weather.  I can do a few tasks their near ends today (some never finish), and that’s what I’m doing.  Is there anyone local you can apprentice with a bit in things you wish to do?  Talk to them, read, ask questions can’t stress this enough.  It gets you going, and lets you practice with help.  It can take a bit to really know what to do and that’s good.  
The oldest farmers in my childhood valley used to have secret meetings weekly.  90+ year olds who lived next door for over 70 years.  What could they possibly talk about, I always thought?  ‘Weather’, most of the time one told me at 101.  He grabbed my arm hard, grinned wide with 5 teeth, gasping and laughing he hollered “I Limed my fields in 78’, he didn’t”.  I believe in the spirit of the people living a simpler life in an equal relationship with nature.  Hope you find your balance Matt, Cheers