Hello everyone, I live on a property where I would like to clear about 2 acres of land to create an orchard/food forest. This is in northern/central North Carolina. The land is not entirely flat, a little hilly here and there, but mostly flat compared to the rest of my land. It currently contains mostly pine trees, some as large as about 3 ft in diameter, but most are probably under 20 inches. There is little undergrowth, and I would say the trees are spaced roughly 10-15 ft on average. I would like to clear this land, fence it in, plant fruit trees, berry bushes, etc. and also have some chickens/ducks/etc. to roam around in it. My question boils down to how exactly should I have it cleared? Should I simply have it forest mulched or have the trees ripped out and burned? I feel mostly against ripping them out and burning them, but I can see how the larger trees could be an issue with their large trunks left in the ground. I'd prefer to just have it all mulched so I can use the wood chips as a ground cover and for mulching the trees I plant, and they're good for the soil. If needed I could always get one of those stump removal attachments for my tractor (at least for the smaller stumps). Any advice is greatly appreciated.
