Bush Removal

What does bush removal have to do with homesteading and disaster prepping? A source of self sustaining food and water are the top priorities in being prepared.  When you only have one acre of land, you start thinking every inch is precious.
Our one acre already has 20+ trees. Most are pine, but we do have a handful of pen oaks and two maple trees. Add to that a few handfuls of decorative bushes and flower beds around the house and you start to run out of workable land that is productive.
Jon and I regularly “walk the land” and discuss what we like to plant where and how. We have decided that nothing new would be planted unless it provided a source of food or some practical need. Ornamental plants and trees are pretty, but there are many fruit/food bearing bushes and trees that can be just as pretty.
Right now, we have decided we will not be removing any pine trees, but as we lose them we will not replace them with another pine. We lose about one every year or so. They have shallow root systems and are very top heavy with the pine needles. Add a gusty storm with wind and rain or some ice or snow weighing those heavy laden branches and it doesn’t take much to lose large limbs and sometimes the whole tree.

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How I Got My Garden…Finally

My wife had for some time, been telling me that I could not have a garden. She would say “not as long as you are working 55 hours a week and taking online classes, cuz I ain’t gonna be the one doing all the work. So, we began discussing growing herbs in pots, or maybe a raised bed. We talked about this for most of the winter.
Then spring came. She decided that having a row of fruit bearing bushes would be nice. We decided to put them along the edge of where the garden would be, when I was allowed to put one in. So, she ordered a couple blueberry bushes and grape vines. We picked up two blackberry bushes at Lowes the day before the other bushes were set to arrive.