Tree Clearing aka Making Light

One of the reasons that I vetoed this house the first time we looked at it was that it didn't have enough light for a big garden in the backyard.  You would think that with 5.6 acres there would be plenty of room for it, but with tall trees encircling the only open area, the backyard will be all shade when the trees leaf out.  By the second time we looked at the property I had done some research on Maryland Forestry's website and about logging.  Basically, if you have good quality lumber, they will come and cut it down and haul it away for "free".  That was great because the regular tree service company's estimate for the work was around 40,000$.
We used a logger that was recommended on the Maryland Forestry Service's website.  They came this week and clear cut a little less than 1 acre of land all together.

 

 To the left of the barn were some large pines. They were the first to go. That made a more room for the truck.

Along the back they clear cut this swath of trees to add to my garden space.

There were some nice red and white oaks, which are valuable and they were happy to have.

 We asked them to clear a perimeter around the barn.  Here is the before shot of that area:

After they were done:

We also asked them to take down several on the tallest trees on the western side of the yard. Here is the before shot of that area. They only did a few of the ones we had selected on that side. I think it would be helpful to clear most of it to allow for afternoon sunlight.

Here are some more after shots:

They hauled away all the biggest trunk pieces, but you can see that there is still a GIGANTIC pile of brush to be chopped up for firewood and chipped up for mulch.

Hopefully, that will allow me a middle back section of the yard that will get at least 8 hours of sunlight during the summer. They have offered to come back and "selectively" clear some additional trees for us next year.  This year will be filled with garden experiments.  Hopefully, I will end up with a space at least 2-3 times as big as my old garden.  That was the whole point of buying a house with more land after all.  If the clearing plan doesn't work out, I am going to have to plant up the front yard... Not the most attractive option, but it is the south facing side of the house.