Recent content by Fetz

Yep that's it. No prior experience.

I'm more concerned about the pollination of the persimmons and pecans.

I know bees and other pollinators have a huge range so you're making a lot of sense but why do I see so much information on the Internet that suggests trees have to planted within 50-100ft to pollinate?

Should I even bother protecting them then or just let them go? I am trying to use them to screen off the plot from my house. By diversify do you mean add more species of trees to the property or do you mean blend trees together like some of each tree in each location? I was mostly worried about...

So will the oaks not pollinate without different species present? I picked the overcups because of it's flood tolerance and easy growing. I assumed these "wild" trees would have enough genetic variance that it's not an issue. Should I be concerned about the pecans and persimmons effectively...

Thought I would share my ideas here and see what ya'll think. We're in central Illinois, and the property was formerly a small livestock operation. We have been living here since November. The 8 acres to the front will be for orchard, garden, livestock, and the home of course. This is a rough...

My wife and I are closing on our dream homestead in about a month. It's 16 acres in central Illinois. The property is currently used for rotational grazing and haying. We'd like to establish some small livestock operations (starting with chickens and bees, and maybe add some goats or sheep in a...

I will probably do some site prep work but I don't plan on doing any of the structural work for the house, I'll leave that to the professionals. I will probably do some interior work. The 2 acre open area is where the barn and build site sits so it will not be food plot material. However I do...

That's exactly why I'm asking these questions, so no worries. I've been thinking about this for weeks now. The last thing I want to do is waste money. I totally agree that more HP would be better, but my wife and my wallet are pretty well set on staying in the $15k range and that's what I can...

Well the big advantage would be the mowing and trail clearing, plus having the bucket on front I'm sure would be handy in ways I have not yet ascertained. PTO driven mowers also seem to be cheaper than tow-behind mowers with a dedicated engine. I guess I don't know how often I would need to...

Hi everyone, I have been scouring the internet (including this forum) and none to my surprise I have gotten a lot of different answers. This seems like a great place for some advice tailored to my specific situation so here goes: My wife and I are about to close on 20 acres in Central...