JoAnn McCoy

That's a relief!!! So yeah...the trees and vines and whatever stuff that covers the ground is SO THICK that you get tangled if you try to go through. I don't want to till, I want to keep whatever system is underground natural so that it will feed whatever system I can create. I love that it's been untouched where we've cut the trees down. The chickens and goats have been scratching and pulling on and around all the stumps and vines while fertilizing the areas. Plus the straw I use for bedding is spread all over as I clean out their areas. So I guess you can say we've been naturally composting since we moved in in March. Good to know that so far, without knowing much, we've been doing ok for our land.
Now about those trees, if I were to go to our local nursery/tree farm...what should I ask for to know that I'm getting the right thing to start with? What are "bare foot" trees?

Thanks John!!! We DO want lots of fruit and nut trees...whatever we can grow successfully here in Central Virginia. I guess what I need to know before anything is how to start with the soil I have? What can I do to prepare it so that when I do plant trees or other crops, they will have a fighting chance. Can I leave these pine tree stumps in the ground and plant around them? With that...It's REALLY HARD to dig in the ground at all because of all the vines and all that were in the woods and even after cutting a lot of the trees down (still a lot more out there that I'd like to thin out) I have stumps and underground vines. In a perfect world where money is no object, I'd just bury all of that with topsoil and plant above it all. But in the world I live in, I have to dig in the viney mess. Are there any good "companion" crops that I can plant around the tree stumps to help out with them rotting and whatever they may be giving to the soil that other crops may need more of, etc. I am soaking up all the info I come across, but I still don't know enough to make good decisions. Also...WHEN should I start planting these trees and other crops? Early Spring?
Thanks

I just moved in to a NEW house on a "new" lot. It's 5 acres that at one time was farm land about 100+ years ago. Was then farmed for it's trees and they just dumped a crap load of pine trees that are clumped together all over the place with yukky vines and overgrowth through the trees. You can't even see sunlight through the woods. It's a mess.

So there was a pre-plotted amount of land when we moved in, but we wanted more of the 5 acres to work with and cut down a LOT of the trees, now there are MANY stumps in the ground. We got 6 chickens and 2 ducks and for a while they were free roaming all over the yard eating ticks and such which was great (until they got a little too adventurous and started visiting all the surrounding neighbors), so now they're in an area fenced with poultry netting that we move around along with a chicken coop tractor. We also got 2 nigerian dwarf goats that were supposed to help with all the brush mentioned above, but they don't do what we actually needed and are now just fertilizer paid for through what we have to buy in goat food and hay (subsidized eating).

So with that information and the fact that I know NOTHING much about gardening, but know that I want to go the self sustaining, permie way...We have red clay/sandish soil. I guess the good thing about it is that it hasn't been "farmed" nor touched in a long time and other than our lot for the house...the 2 acres that we just cut trees from are relatively new. So WHAT DO I DO WITH IT? How do I start turning my stumpy pine tree yard into a lush edible forest? Good News!!! The chickens have spent several months in that area fertilizing it.

Thanks for any help you all can provide. I'm a sponge at this point!!