God is far more advanced, yet you believe that He had no designer. Read Richard Dawkins book, The Blind Watchmaker. To dispel the idea that complexity cannot arise without the intervention of a designer, Dawkins uses the example of the eye. Beginning with a simple organism, capable only of distinguishing between light and dark, in only the crudest fashion, he takes the reader through a series of minor modifications, which build in sophistication until we arrive at the elegant and complex mammalian eye. In making this journey, he points to several creatures whose various seeing apparatus are, whilst still useful, living examples of intermediate levels of complexity.
I've been clearing two acres by hand for the past month or so. Working on it 4-5 days a week by myself! Feels great to be outside doing what we were made to do! And yes good food afterwards is very important!
I just bought a .26 acre lot 3 mins from the 4th largest lake in Texas. It’s not as dense as your lot but I can’t wait to start clearing it. Plan to do it myself even though my wife disagrees with me buying this property. She says it’s FULL of trees and too small of a lot.
58 year old woman here. You have just given me inspiration that I can clear out some brush in the back of one of my rental properties that was not kept up with by the tenant. Time and perspiration and some good hand tools (and perhaps one or two small power tools…..)
Unfortunately the warranty on this machine is long expired, and spare parts are in short supply. Good to watch what I used to do when this machine was was operating at top efficiency. Thanks for posting.
We have cleared a few acres that way! Then got a 20ton excavator in and stripped all the topsoil and roots. Put it on a truck and put it all in a huge pile to rot (it will be screened in 5-10 years and put back on but without the roots/stumps). We also used pigs to help clear some land which worked pretty well... It really takes a lot of work or money to convert forest to pasture. The best way is certainly to get a monster mulching machine in and just mulch everything into the ground. Then level everything perfectly and add lime, compost and fertilizer. Then seed it right away.. Its the best and quickest way but it certainly is not cheap. We recently got a 6 ton excavator and we want to clear more land. I think we will send pigs in the let them destroy everything, then take the excavator and pull the stumps and burn everything. Then grass seed it.
@@9252LIFE We have been doing pretty much everything with a wheel barrow or by hand for a very long time (8 years building 2 houses, a workshop, a barn, clearing land..) or hired an excavator to help us. It was just 1-2 months ago that we bought our first machine for the homestead: a 6 ton excavator with blade+thumb. The excavator is a brute and extremely helpful. We would have loved to get a tractor but the tractor doesn't make us any money so we got the excavator. Last week I poured a 20x20 garage for someone and used the excavator for clearing+putting a road in for them. A friend of mine a has a 350 pickup truck and a trailer and he can float it fairly easy and inexpensive to job sites.
Nice to see you left the old growth trees good job. I notice all those little trees bunched up good idea to cut them down too. Yup that's a ton of work for sure. God bless.
Good stuff. The brush can be cut up and used for compost in raised bed garden systems. Especially when mixed with chicken poop. You have some nice straight limbs. These are useful depending on the type of tree as barbed wire fence stays. I have one of those cheap Ryobi weedeaters with a metal blade. It will whip the under brush down very quick. It will take out most stuff up to an 1 in in diameter. Just tap the blade against it a few times and its done. I have broke several in 10 years get the warranty. Also a good pair of bypass loppers and pruning scissors. Anything that hits you in the face or you think is going to hit you in the face in a couple of years cut it off of trees you want to keep.
Great advice! I usually skip the warranty on stuff and regret it later! When mixing woodchips with chicken poop do you have to wait a year to use it on gardens?
@@9252LIFE No idea I dont know chyt. Brooke and Dave will attest to that. There are plenty of youtubers that cover compost really well. My Self Sufficient Me does a really good job. I recently found people who are making geothermal heated greenhouses.
Thank you. I’d definitely keep and utilize as much as possible. If you happen to have a chipper/mulcher is definitely recommend using it on your brush and then spreading it out on your property. But burning the brush and spreading the ashes out add to it as well. Enjoy the process of landscaping your property! Take care David!
I've been thining out my back woods every few years. I have a beautiful little shade forest and cove... I've been working out of state and don't have the time this year. My cousin dropped by with his brush hog. What took me a month of weekends he got done in about 30 minutes. I think I'm sticking with the brush hog. 😊
YOU YOUNG MAN ARE A VERY STRONG MAN TO DO ALL THAT HARD WORK ON YOUR OWN I AM ALWAYS WAITING ON YOUR NEXT AMAZING VIDEO STAY SAFE OUTTHERE HELLO TO YOUR WONDERFUL WIFE AND YOUR BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS
Thank you Rose! Hope you are doing well. How’s the weather been in your area? Been pretty dry and hot here other than the last few days it finally cooled off and we got some much needed rain.
This is how im going to going to do it. bought 14 acres with a 2400 sqft house built in 93 and a 5 stall barn with workshop that was built in 1825. The house sits right by the old stone foundation of the 1810 house used as a hospital in the civil war .. 80% is woods now.. although alot used to be field but over 200 years grew back.. I cannot wait to get in this place and get away from alexandria va and traffic.. and nasty people. And ghetto areas. And just well people in general lol. 14 acres is alot here. But best thing is its out in the middle of no where.. so neighbors have like 50-100 acres and you never see them Plan to get a new chain saw and go to town lol. Gonna be tough for a 300 lbs guy lik myself but maybe itll help me lose weight. But i plan to either buy or rent a wood chipper for everything short of tree logs which ill use for firewood.. and just use the chippings for the horse stalls and stuff.. It does help though that ive been doing landscaping through my own business for 15 years Although i wouldnt mind hiring a small bulldozer and just destroy it all ina day lol.. My property also has a creek running through it. Hasnt rained here in 3 weeks and when i looked the creek was flowing fast and its clear.. so im curious where that water is coming from
@@9252LIFE good re ticks. When I lived in a fairly remote area in the Berkshires the black flies were just awful in June. They even had a black fly day and parade. lol. Take care. 👍
Have to wonder...are ticks a problem in the UP?? Just watching from my part of North Carolina (1 mile from the Atlantic Ocean as the crow flies) I'd have about 100 roof them in about 10 seconds! OFF insecticide is my friend! Surprised not seeing those girls out there with the goats having a race to see who could do the most! Well done!!👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸👍👍
I grew up off grid not to far from you by KIVA Michigan actually it is called Ladoga about 12 families all related lived there today only my nephew lives there off grid down state people have bought most of the property around his 60 acres but still no power or inside toilets
Hi Chad, I am a first time homeowner going it alone. I had my backyard cleared of tress and brush about 2 years ago. Since there's still dead roots, sticks, small stumps and rocks in there, of course nothing will grow but weeds! I'm ready to give it a shot on my own and start over. My plan is to dig out the remaining rotted roots, sticks and few small stumps left by hand, rake out all debris and then TILL the yard. I'll walk over everything and tamp it down by foot...or maybe rent a roller. Afterwards, I'm going to throw grass seed down and rake it in, start to watering. My question is: what are some must have hand tools that might help this process go a bit smoother. It will just be me, which means I can take all the time needed to work at my own pace in the cool of the day this fall. Thank you!
First of all as far as tools I’d say your mindset and patience for sure is the most of all tools you’ll need for that. As far as tilling, I would not do that. I’d definitely research a bit more. But I would just put tons of compost and wood chips on that entire area and the next year plant grass.We are no professionals at all! We’re learning as well. Be sure to enjoy the process!
I second the "do not till" motion. Cover the area to smother out the weeds. Some people cover the ground they want to kill in heavy poly tarps. Tilling may make your weed problem worse because a lot of them will just spread all over if you chop up the roots.
better! Throw the grass seed out and let it grow, tilling the soil will just grow more weeds, don't mow it short, stay a foot off the ground and the weeds will go away in three to five years. If you want to speed things up, you can spray the broadleaf weeds with 2,4, d or similar broadleaf herbicide. Kill all the broadleaf weeds and the only thing left is grass, it's literally that simple. The roots, stumps and twigs will go away in a few years.
hey mate just wondering i have a property and it has very thick brush its likje a wall and would be really cool for some dirt bike trails there is lanatna small trees and heaps of vines and shrubbery just wondering what i would use to make dirt bike trails and if there is any tips or tools you would recomend cheers
Wish I could burn all of this brush we have but then I’m sure someone will call the fire dept lmao because I did in our other home on a neighbor burning leaves in a heavily populated area lol! Nice work exhausting but better than paying thousands for a crew.
Yeah you definitely gotta be careful and know the burn laws in your area. And just a little bit here and there goes a long ways after a while. Hope you’re having a great day!
want watch out for that dead fall that can hurt you bad. i decided to go to the start and watch all the videos in order to see how it all began cool story so far
We’ve got a ton of mostly all thick forests and we’re actually going to be putting most of the smaller trees through a wood chipper for compost and garden stuff.
I’m trying to do the same thing but the earth/dirt is very hard and the roots make it very hard to dig with hand tools. The trees I’m dealing with are about the same size as yours.
@@9252LIFE thanks man really appreciate the feedback. Love your channel I'm saving for some land up in New Hampshire. I'm in plumbing school right now so hopefully Ill be prepared by then to own a ranch and some land. Ill be keeping up with yoyr vids there awesome
That is how we are clearing ours. It can feel like you are getting nowhere and then .. "Boom!" ... it seems like out of the blue it is suddenly all clear. Unfortunately we are not able to safely burn just yet so my husband hashes the piles down
livelyblueyes yeah the feeling of accomplishment when noticing that you have a breeze and you can see off in the distance a bit is a great feeling!! Thank you for watching!
Luckily our land is mostly all sand and stumps come out quite easy. I have a 45 horse Kubota L series tractor that gets them out ok. If the trees are pine and smaller you could pull them over and the roots will come up with it. Just hook up high and use a truck.
Maybe im just an idiot, but I watch a ton of videos on people clearing forests to turn them into farms or cabins or a house, and almost none of these people sweat. How are you not sweating after cuttin down those trees and movin all that brush? When Im clearin my forest im drenched head to toe in sweat after just chainsawing down like 2-3 trees. I feel like no one who clears land in these videos ever sweats haha. Weird man. Also thanks for vid!
I sweat a ton.. but im 310lbs.. i sweat just standing there.. but i do drink.. maybe thats it.. I doubt it though.. I can work on my car in the va heat and humidity and go through 4 shirts.. dripping its crazy. Its probably cooler where he lives. In va its 90s and 95% humidity
I'm a single lady can I do this myself meaning who is moving the trees once i cut them down btw I have neighbors how do i cut the trees down with out them falling on their house????
I would get someone in the area to teach you how to properly cut down a tree. Then you can do it yourself. You can cut them up into firewood size pieces after they’re down so you can handle moving them. But definitely get some assistance on the first few. Cutting down trees is very dangerous if you’ve never done it. Not only can they fall on something but they can kick back at the person cutting it down and could cause serious injury or even death. So be careful and smart about it. Always have a clear path around you to get out of the way once the tree starts to fall.
The trees are too big for the Kubota. We do not have a grapple for it either. It’s easier doing it by hand vs trying to move everything with the bucket of the tractor.
Does your stream flow most of the year? A ram pump might be an off grid answer to watering the garden, designed in 1796. A ram pump will lift water 7' high for every foot of head pressure. So, if the inlet is 5' above the ram pump, than it will lift the water 35'. No electricity or gas required. It works off of gravity & the hammering effect water has when a valve is quickly shut. A spiral pump is another option, designed in 1746. Less moving parts. Of course, 8 extra arms can move buckets to fill an IBC tote pretty quickly. Stack 2. fill the top one.
For the most part me either. I do have a neighbor that has come over with his tractor a couple of times. That helped a bunch. I walk our fence line once a year with a chainsaw and cut back stuff that might cause problems. Mutual aid.
I knowest u or your wife carrying a gun on ya all the while doing work outside, I’d be the same way ! Have u ever come across a bear or cat in your area ?
