Working soil in wet conditions

I know conventional wisdom says not to plow etc when the soil is wet. I just moved onto new acreage and am itching to keyline it, I've had the opportunity to observe it for long enough, and know where I'll be placing everything. Should I wait till may/June for the soil to dry out or if I make the swales and mulch will the soil recover?

Working wet clay is not ideal, but perfect is the enemy of the good. If you have the time/motivation right now to make swales right now, go for it.

I'm about 3 hours north of you in Lafayette, Indiana and have been transplanting fruit trees to/from wet clay for the past couple weeks. Digging in wet soil is pretty miserable, but I won't have time in the Spring, so it's better than the alternative of leaving 50-something full sized plum trees to grow at 1 foot spacings in my front yard.