Adding Acres, The Pioneer Way

By: Kyle Stackhouse

Sixteen months ago, dad began work to clear a small woods on the edge of one of our fields. Work had stalled all last spring, summer, and fall. Snowfall this week provided a buffer that allowed us to burn the brush piles left over.

After the embers cool, it will still take quite a bit of time to rake and level the land in order to make it fit to farm. I can’t imagine how the settlers did it without modern equipment. Even with a decline in land values, it still remains less expensive to clear land (that you already own) than it is to purchase land. We have seen this happen several times in our area the last few years.