Jon Smith

I think what I am looking for is a food forest in that front five acres, the back five is already woods and I intend to leave it be for the most part.
Just mowing things like the golden rod seems to bring the clover and existing plants into a more active state. I'll have to see about adding more cover crops this year. Everything moves pretty slowly as I am doing this as I have extra cash and without borrowing anything. I've also planted some evergreens for a windbreak from the North and West as well as future privacy.

I've got a fair number of hickories already mixed with evergreens in the forested area. Nearest neighbor is about a half mile away but sludging isn't a real option even though one of the neighbors does this with his fields already. The watering of my eyes and the stench tend to make that less attractive to me. I also might have some concerns about what is in that farms sludge.
I hadn't really thought it through about letting those trees just grow I do know I want to limit where those trees will be and I can do that with the mowing. All good thoughts so far thank you all for the ideas and making me think about what to do.
Anybody else have ideas on this I don't think I mentioned but the elevation across the land only changes about five feet from one end to the other. The front and back both order on roads with the boot shaped treed area. The small building is a shed I have there for storage and the area behind it is fenced off to grow a few things in and try to keep the deer at bay.

USDA zone 5 sometimes getting colder than what zone 5 is listed as.
My goal is to build a small area where I can live with fruit for myself and my wife as well as guests. Anything excess I'd like to sell and hopefully get enough to cover taxes and other expenses on the land.
Looking for ideas, low maintenance for now. I purchased this piece of land about five miles from where I currently live and have started planting things for when we eventually move there. The land is split up into about five acres wooded that I would like to leave alone, and five acres of open field once used for hay but lately just let to grow wild.
I have a small sickle bar mower that I have been using to knock down the woody growth in the hay field and have started to plant a few things for the future. So far I have planted currants (2), honey berries (9), blueberries (6), cherries (4) and a small patch of garlic and horseradish. Last year the deer ate one of the blueberries down to nothing but it has come back this year to look the best of the blueberries that are planted. The deer either haven't discovered the honey berries or don't care for them at all.
Around the cherries I have dug some small swales to try and keep the cherries dry.
For fall planting this year I have some apricots, plums, and a couple more blueberries. Any help appreciated.

Interested to see how this works, I have about five acres that I eventually would like to place a house on, maybe a tenth of an acre. Currently I have planted concord grapes(2), blueberries (6), honey berries (9), and cherry trees (4). I lost one blueberry last year to the deer and I've started swales around the cheery trees to try and keep them well drained. Things I could use are wood chips and other organic matter for mulch.
I'm hoping to get another five apricots or plums in this fall.
Any ideas or failures and successes you might have would be helpful. I'll try and post as I go returning the same favor.

Why would you lock in what you could do with your land? Would the taxes be cheaper or would there be another upside that you haven't mentioned?

Something to think about we have a small population of Amish near me (upstate NY North West of Albany). You do bring up a number of good points, and I know some of the family farms near me employ Amish youth and have mostly good to say about them and their work ethic.