John P wrote:Hey everyone, one of my first real posts here, looking for some advice
My father and I have been hoping to clear some land to plant for multiple livestock forages for goats. We already cleared about 1.5-2 acres, but it is obvious we did not do it right. A trackloader and tractor compacted the soil and accelerated erosion over time. Clearly not a good practice as we found out the hard way, and now we are planting cover crops and grasses and letting that land be for it to come back to health. I have seen the birds and other creatures slowly moving back over the past two years and we are trying to intersect multiple different types of perennial covers.
We need to clear about 4-5 acres that has great carbon content in the humus and I would not want to let this great soil wash away. What is the best way to clear land using permaculture/sustainable methods? I was thinking and guessed it would be something like starting from the inside moving towards the outside of the section in question, clearing the land with chainsaws and leaving shade trees/diversity trees but enough taken away so there is sunlight for some crops. Then, I guessed that a stump grinder would be good to get rid of the stumps while leaving the roots to hold the soil. The section in question would ideally in the future be turned into fruit and nut trees similar to the food forests I have read about in permaculture books, but I am no expert. I would like to be able to grow fruit/nuts/and then plants on the ground such as oil bearing seeds to produce biodiesel...
What do you all think? What is the best way to clear land (which is semi hilly) without losing the valuable topsoil, compacting the soil, and hurting the environment any more than can be avoided? Thanks for your time and I appreciate any advice!
