Advice for Living on a Heavily Wooded Lot

Life amongst the trees can be beneficial. You get plenty of shade, ample privacy, and can use some of the wood for heating, cooking, or camp fires with the kids. However, living in the woods can also present a few challenges that many aren’t prepared for when purchasing a home in a heavily wooded area.

In this article, we’re going to give you some advice on how to survive and thrive on a heavily wooded plot of land so that you can make the most of the trees you’ll grow to love.

Branch management

While all of those trees in your yard may be beautiful, they can be dangerous to you, your home, and your vehicles if you’re not careful. Storms, especially in colder climates where ice is likely to form, can bring down large branches and cause a lot of damage.

They can also be a minor annoyance when you have to move branches before you back out of your driveway in the morning.

The best way to avoid potential danger is to take inventory of the branches that are within striking distance of your home, garage, vehicles, and driveway. Healthy branches on younger trees might not pose a hazard. But, if you notice dying or large, heavy branches that could fall somewhere dangerous, it might be better to remove them now than pay for the damage they cause later.

This brings us to one of the most important tools you can have living in the woods: a chainsaw.

Since you have a wooded property, it’s most likely best to buy a gas-powered or battery-powered chainsaw to avoid having to use several extension cords throughout the woods.

When it comes to the high sitting branches, you can buy a pole saw in the $150 range that will handle small branches.

One of the benefits of cleaning out some trees is that you get free fuel for your fireplace (if you have one). However, you’ll need a dry place to season your wood before you burn it. Ideally, wait at least a year for your wood to dry out before using it in your wood stove.

Embracing nature -- the good and the bad

To get the most out of your tree-covered yard, you’ll have to learn to accept some of the things that come with it. If you’re the type of person who picks up every stick on their lawn, you’ll come to realize that it’s best just to pick them up before you mow.

When it comes to mosquitos and other insects, you’ll learn the times when they come out to feed and learn to avoid exposure at those times. However, when you live in the woods, bugs and critters are a part of life. So, it helps to learn about them. You might find that the spiders you hate help keep your home free of other undesirable insects.

When you get fed up with the sticks you have to pick up and the insects you have to avoid, just remember that you have privacy from passersby, that it’s more calm and quiet from the trees blocking the sounds of the road, and that the shade will give you a cool place to sit outside and save you some on your air conditioning bill in the summer.