Homesteading in the forest?

[JamieCatheryn]

Anybody here live self-sufficiently in the forest? My vision for us had included at least a couple acres of clear pasture and garden but a lot of the land available where I'm looking is wooded with small clearings for homesites. I'm thinking about whether I could keep pigs and goats and clear it out little by little, and grow mostly shade tolerant plants. Oh and there aren't a whole lot of large mature trees so logging to clear land wouldn't work so well. Also, know any blogs of homesteaders in the forest?

[howdeepistheocean]

I'm a homesteader in the forest, but not self-sufficient. We have goats & chickens, and a garden. It's tough, we had to buy the dirt for our garden, as forest soil wouldn't grow anything here, and often we get very little sun. And space is very limited, as a garden cannot be put among the trees, so we have a clearing for it. We only have 2 acres, and we try to let the chickens and goats free-range in the summer. We also get all our wood from nearby national forest, and use only wood to heat our home, so we are self-sufficient in that area.

  Ideally, I'd love to have 10-40 acres, pastures and wooded, and be able to have a large garden, and raise a beef cow, and possibly a milk cow, and some free-range pigs, then I think I'd be getting somewhat closer to being self-sufficient.   ~Kristie

 

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