Questions on clearing land

[rlee6]

Hurricanes are finally over (hopefully) and dry season is starting soon in Florida. I need to clear the land while it's dry and get things started. I would appreciate if someone would kindly answer my questions. All advices are welcome.

1) I need to get the parcel tied to paved road, bring in electricity, have septic tank installed, well drilled, barn built, fence installed, the whole 9 yards. Do some need to be done before others?

2) I plan to rent a dozer to clear the palmetto palms that are about waist height. (no tall trees will be felled. I have read enough horror stories here. tall trees are sporadic anyhow) It will take a few days. What would be an inexpensive temporary shelter?

3) Where do I buy off-road diesel fuel? How do I store it?

4) 20 acre fensing scares me. Is there a machine I can rent that will take care of posts, at least? Can one person do high tension fensing? It looked simple on internet. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

5) The parcel is located away from home and I cannot quite ask my friends to drive an hour to come and help me. Is there a way to hire a helper locally? Where do I find such information?

Basically, I am starting a farm on a 20+ acre parcel. I would appreciate any advice you may have. Thank you.

 

[MikeFromVA]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( 5) The parcel is located away from home and I cannot quite ask my friends to drive an hour to come and help me. Is there a way to hire a helper locally? Where do I find such information? )</font>

The only one that I can help with. Try laborfinders (www.laborfinders.com ). They hire temps out at very reasonable rates...

 

[Golfgar4]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Is there a way to hire a helper locally? Where do I find such information? )</font>

Contact the local chapter of the United Way or the Salvation Army. Frequently they have lists of people who are looking for some temporary employment.

 

[chucko]

Central Florida is a big area...where in CF are you?
Dozer will work good on the palmetos. Be better to have a root rake on it or they will come right back from the roots
You should check and see if you can burn them as we have a burning ban in my county right now (mainly so they can get FEMA $$$ for removing the tress IMO)

 

[rlee6]

Thanks for the leads for helping hands. I will check with them when ready.

I currently live in Orange but the farm is in Polk County. It will be the beginning of planned moving, I guess. I didn't know about ROOT RAKE. I will get that for sure. I didn't know about burning ban. I will have no choice but to pile them up until I get burn permit. Thanks for the info.

 

[chucko]

They may let you burn the groves are still burning their old dead trees but that all depends on where you are in Polk and a lot more on who you are. Polk still works a lot on that system. Thing is this time of year stuff may start drying out real fast and with all the rain we had the fire hazard will go up with all the new undergrowth.

 

[Panache]

The burning ban in Alabama is because the Fire Departments are spread thin and many rural roads and trails have trees across them making access very difficult. I would think Fla would be the same.

 

[Panache]

If you use laborfinders or some business like them the employees come with full insurance and taxes paid. The ones from the salvation army may not. Do you want to give your nice new farm to a guy now known as "threefingers?"

 

[Golfgar4]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Do you want to give your nice new farm to a guy now known as "threefingers?" )</font>

You certainly bring up a valid point that rlee6 will need to consider. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I made the suggestion as another option that could be considered. Since all we know about rlee6's situation is that he's starting to try to get a 20+ acre spread started, we might tend to think that, at least initially, he would be looking to use some inexpensive manual labor since money might be a little tight.

If rlee6 is going to be starting a legitimate farming operation, then he will need to make sure that he's in compliance with all applicable employment regulations in the state, including paying the appropriate taxes and having the proper insurance for his property and his employees.

But if all he's looking for right now is some extra hands to help get things cleaned up, then IMHO I see no problem with utilizing some of these other agencies.

 

[MarkV]

The order you have the utilities installed can vary from area to area. Here we installed temporary power first because it was free and gave us electricity for the other projects. You do want to make sure that your temporary pole is located with in a reasonable distance of the primary building site without being in the way.

In my area you have to get the septic approved by the health department before a building permit will be issued. The septic does not have to be installed but the specific site for it must be approved.

Drilling a well is most likely a sure thing in Florida so it may not matter when you drill. Some places it can be iffy and it is nice to know you have water before spending too much on other things. We drilled early so there was water on site for our use.

For temporary shelter I bought an old camper that served as storage and got us out of the elements for several years. Sold it for a couple hundred less than I bought it for and not listening to the wife complaining about sleeping in the back of the van was priceless. If you build the barn before the house many have set up a small apartment for temporary use in the barn. You may not want to be too vocal to officials about living in the barn though. Some areas frown on that even temporarily.

Off road diesel is available at many of the stations that offer diesel for larger trucks. That could be a more rural thing though. Ask some local farmers, they will know. Until you are on site full time five gallon cans are going to be your best bet for storage.

Fencing is hard work! For wood post an auger on the back of a tractor or front of a skid steer will dig the holes. For metal “T” posts strong shoulders and a bottle of Advil are going to be needed. Before you decide on the type of fencing I would ask what type of animals are you going to keep in? Horses need a different type of fence than goats.

Good luck, have fun and realize it is going to take time if you don’t have deep pockets and can hire it all out.

MarkV