Need some advise on reclaiming N.H. hilltop

[BigDogues]

Hi, I have a 90 acre lot in central New Hampshire that I am trying to figure out what to with. The lot has a hilltop ridge on it that has a nice fairly flat area on top that I am going to build a house on. I've already had the loggers in to cut me a driveway (1500 ft. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif) that leads uphill to where I had them clear me about a 6 acre area at the top where the house will sit. They only left a few of the better trees but now I can see a whole bunch of the beautiful stone walls that are all over the property. There are miles of these walls all over the lot. Some of the ones around the house area are 4 ft wide by 4 ft high! They tell me they use to raise a lot of sheep in N.H., I guess the sheperds had nothing better to do than build walls.
What I am trying to figure out is how best to approach the remaining cleared land. I would like to have a decent sized lawn and some pasture area for horses. I would also like to put in some apple trees as well as have a nice area for a garden.
I'm wondering if I should pull out the stumps or rent a grinder and have at them. Should I buy a one bottom plow and turn over whatever I can, then disc it all up to smooth it? I'm not sure if this land has ever been turned over or not. If it hasn't I'll probably be able to build more stone walls with all the stone I'll turn up.
Any thoughts on the best approach? I've got a Kioti CK25 to work with.

 

[beenthere]

The rock 'walls' were likely built as a result of clearing land and picking stone up from the original fields. I doubt they were built to just make a fence. Much easier to make split rail fences, I would think. But they had to grow some crops for survival, and likely had to abandon the farms so they grew up into trees. What species and size were the trees? A ring count will give you an idea how long ago the fields were abandoned, within a few years.
So the rock piles can be used to outline old fields, and help you decide where your new areas can most likely be placed.

 

[psuedofarmer]

we're in the same boat:

i acquired a large farm that was abandoned (as a farming operation) 30 yrs ago in s/w NH. so far i've restored ~10+ acres of fields, and like you, started to cut a driveway to my house site overlooking a pond and mt.mondanock. the road is .5 miles long.

i've been working on documenting the entire process i started a few years ago, i hope to have the website up and running before the end of summer; i purchased a DK55 last year for this work.

i'm approaching the house site development in the same fashion i dealt with the field reclamation:

- mow it
- use BH to dig out all stumps
- use boxblade (w/scarifiers) to break up/level

where the reclamation is complete i have wonderful clover/rye growing (i'm working toward an organic farm, and using this mix for cover crops that will eventually be turned over).

it's VERY likely that your land (not sure where in NH you're located) was once thriving sheep land, mixed with food crops. the double wide walls you mention were made for animals, not food crops - i can recommend a few good books that detail the historical significance of reading the walls..

about your CK25 - is it too late to trade it in for a bigger unit? you're going to need it!

send a PM if you need more specific info.

good luck

pf

 

[BigDogues]

There are a lot of typical New England stone walls around here. These walls crisscross just about all of New England. Estimates are that there is about 250,000 miles of stone walls in the northeast. The walls run through my property in a roughly east/ west fashion spaced about 200 ft. apart, beeline straight from end to end. I have an aerial photo taken in the fall about 15 years ago and it is amazing how straight these walls are. They run over ledge cliffs in some spots and keep on going without missing a beat. The area has been cut several times before this. The last time I know of was 25 years ago. These walls predate that by about 100 to 200 years. There are some old oaks that have grown up through and around the walls in some spots that are about 3 feet in diameter.
You are correct that the old farmers collected and stacked these walls from stones that they hit when they were plowing. The walls up around the house area are a bit different however. They square off several areas into small paddocks about a hundred feet square. The walls are much higher and more formally stacked. I assume this is where the animals were kept way back when.

 

[GAFarmer2]

I agree with psuedofarmer, go with that backhoe if at all possible. The only problem may be what to do with those stumps. If legal, I would say get all the dirt off of them and then burn 'em! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[johan3400]

To both of you in the NH area. Pictures. I would love to see the progress. I also think the larger tractor may become a real need.

 

[psuedofarmer]

i was going through my pics last night - i have LOTS of them. i'll start weeding through them this weekend and will post them.

i agree about the tractor size.. i settled for 55 HP, but sometimes i wish i had twice that!

pf