My house is on a one acre half wooded lot. I take care of my mom's 18 acre lot of which about 12 acres is pretty much inaccessible swamp . The town is an abutter with town water supply wells and they have a track machine to access the test wells (there's another name for the test wells but I can't think of it right now) that are in the swamp . They built an access road for the big wells and pump buildings. Mostly red maple in the swamp. A mix of mostly eastern white pine and some red and white oak on the high land.
Just under 10 acres, with about 6 wooded, the rest open field, swamp, pond, house, garden, driveway, etc. The woods contain ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, douglas fir, western larch (tamarack), aspen in the swamp area, one lonely mountain ash, a few scattered apple trees, a few grand firs, and a few cottonwoods. The firewood harvest is mostly douglas fir and lodgepole pine, as they are being killed off by root rot and beetles.
I own 3/4 of an acre. I've gotten firewood from home but it's far from my primary source. But the 2 maples I took down added up to 10 cords, so that was a primary source for a couple of years. The national forest nearest me is 2600 square miles. Does that count as land I work for firewood?
I own just shy of an acre, most of which is heavily wooded. Mostly oak but some maple, sassafras, pine, poplar and a few hickory floating around. 60-70% of my wood is scrounged but a lot of wood in my stacks are from trees taken down off the property. I have about 5-6 oak giants close to the house that the pro's need to take down, if that happens I'll have wood for many many years. I also have two giant cedar trees that are beautiful, but they are blocking me from driving my truck around back, they may have to come down someday to make my hoarding life a bit easier.
X2, I sit and stare at real estate at least 3 - 4 times a week...........The imagination is an amazing and powerful thing!
We live on 38, about 20 wooded mostly dying ash. Oak, maple and cherry. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
0 acres. In between homes and renting at the moment. Not in a rush to buy with inflated home prices in my area. Almost every house goes for over the asking price and people are forced to wave inspections if you want to "win". Good time to get rid of a house that is a lemon. I have access to 12 acres where I am seasoning wood for my next house.
I have 60 acres, about ten of it is woods on a slope from upper and lower pastures. The have the run of 600 acres of woodland that has had a lot of tree harvesting which was just completed. Plenty of tree tops and cut-off piles in the log landing areas.
Just upgraded a couple years ago from 1.5 to 43.5 with about 40 of that wooded although a little less wooded now as we just had a select harvest completed.
I do this regularly. Just recently 10 acres went up for sale near me in a great area with all the views my wife loves but I could not pull the trigger. Just not smart for me right now at this point in my life. Insert sad depressed face...
I am with you! My wife and I are always looking, we want more privacy, more land, seclusion, ultimately peace and quiet. We are tied at the hip to NJ currently so it makes our options very limited and it's almost impossible without paying an arm and leg to find land in NJ.
My wife and I are in the same position. We like our area so staying where we are is okay, everything would have to be just so to get us to move, aka the privacy, the peace, the land, the solitude... all that. If I move again I want it to be the last time.
Bigger properties are nice. There are some things to consider though for people who have never owned one. *Taxes typically are higher *The property is bigger, and so is everything else. Longer driveway, so more plowing, more maintenance on driveway, more power outages, etc. Bigger lawn usually, so more mowing, more fertilizer, more leaves to blow, etc. *More seclusion can equal more anxiety for kids and wives. No neighborhood kids to ride bikes with, so expect the wife to complain about that. *More seclusion can equal more self dependence. If you're the type of person who can't start a generator, or plow their own driveway, grade their own driveway, can't mow their own lawn, then you better have ALOT of disposable income to pay others to do that kind of stuff. No more $25 plowings. They're plowing a small road now. Best plan on a tractor with plow or pickup with plow. *More wildlife. Bears, bobcats, fisher cats, foxes, etc like the woods too. Going outside at night to take out the trash can put you face to face with one. Not trying to steer anyone away. Having a secluded, private property is incredible. I would never go back to a smaller property by choice, just know what you're getting into. Going from a suburban lot to a real country estate is night and day.
damm you guys have a lot of land. And a lot of trees on that land. I'm very jealous. .55 acres. 35+ cords of firewood c/s/s in holz hausens. 4 pallets per holz hausen. 19 holz hausen stacks of which one is half built. All others are 6' high, ~8' in diameter. I have a lot of Japanese maples, white oaks, a few red oaks, a hickory tree, a few ash trees, and a ton of black locust trees. The only firewood I got from my own land is maybe a cord of white oak whose top third snapped off and a huge limb from another white oak. Most of it is in the creek and I'm waiting till the leaves fall off and the brush dies off and then I'm going to clear it out of there and haul it up the embankment. Otherwise just small branches I trim here and there for firepit wood. These pics were taken a few months ago. The first pic the rear stack is a full stack now of half red oak on the bottom, half black oak on top. Front stack is mostly black locust with some norway map This is the back yard. You can see the corner of my garden area. The third stack that is unfinished in the pic is now full.
Well said, and many I mean many of these questions have run through my mind. I appreciate you taking the time to point them all out. You hit on just about every point I've raised myself. *Taxes typically are higher Absolutely, but for me I'd rather pay for the peace and quiet IF I can afford it. NJ Taxes are brutal. *The property is bigger, and so is everything else. Longer driveway, so more plowing, more maintenance on driveway, more power outages, etc. Bigger lawn usually, so more mowing, more fertilizer, more leaves to blow, etc. Agreed 100%, which is why I want to do now when I am still on young side. Yes its work, but work keeps you young, keeps you fit, keeps you healthy, I don't mind it. When am 65 I will probably say what was I thinking. *More seclusion can equal more anxiety for kids and wives. No neighborhood kids to ride bikes with, so expect the wife to complain about that. This is a big one for me and you hit the nail on the head, big hang up for me! My kids have neighborhood friends, a sidewalk to ride their bike on (although my street is like the autobahn), houses to trick or treat at, etc.. I am not worried about the wife so much. Pulling them from this tears my heart out. I know they will adjust but that's tough, they are entrenched on school and our neighbors are some of the nicest people raising some damm good kids. *More seclusion can equal more self dependence. If you're the type of person who can't start a generator, or plow their own driveway, grade their own driveway, can't mow their own lawn, then you better have ALOT of disposable income to pay others to do that kind of stuff. No more $25 plowings. They're plowing a small road now. Best plan on a tractor with plow or pickup with plow. This goes back to work, and most all the above I can handle. However I do see a need for more toys errr equipment to achieve some of those tasks. More toys equal more maintenance and more upkeep, aka more $$ so that's a concern for sure. *More wildlife. Bears, bobcats, fisher cats, foxes, etc like the woods too. Going outside at night to take out the trash can put you face to face with one. Am probably stuck in NJ for long time so many of the above are not much of a concern. I am on just shy of an acre which backs to about 1.5 miles of woods. Racoons, Foxes, Deer, Turkeys, Possums are the norm. Shoot we had a black bear in my yard back in the spring, extremely uncommon and probably never happen again but hey, he was there eating the bird feeder. Not trying to steer anyone away. Having a secluded, private property is incredible. I would never go back to a smaller property by choice, just know what you're getting into. Going from a suburban lot to a real country estate is night and day. Not looking for an estate per say (although I'd love one, but could never $$) I am looking to get out of the suburban development, have 3 - 5 acres with nobody on top of me. My acre is an absolute rectangle, goes way way back into the wood, I love it, gives me a sense of having some land. However I can toss an egg out my window to the neighbor on either side. I am surrounded by busy suburban roads, sounds of engines can be heard 24hrs a day. Truly appreciate all your very valid points
Fwiw Larry Bird is the kind of guy who gets stuff done....and he ended up hurting his back severely while doing the gravel driveway or something for his mom instead of paying someone else to do it.....when he clearly had the disposable income to pay someone.......And it killed his NBA career unfortunately.......
