Land acquisition

[pghmyn]

My parents decided to purchase some land for my dad's impending retirement in the next couple years. They had a budget set aside, and were prepared for this. Family problems occurred, and a couple massive shifts and setbacks to add. Because of that, the search was put aside for awhile.

Things were settled, and they found what they have been looking for! Just under 4 acres of land, about a 2.5 hour drive from our area. Mostly wooded with mixed hardwood and those row softwood trees. The land is in a huge private up-north subdivision type set up. There are 60 parcels of land over about 500 acres with 100 additional acres available to be used by only those who own land in the area. Private ATV trails all over the land, just for those who own land in here as well.

There is electricity on the land, and septic and well system will be installed very shortly. They plan on purchasing a camper/trailer some time in the future. But we need to work on clearing the area first.

Best part for myself is we have over 2000 feet of deeded frontage to the Menominee River that borders Wisconsin and Michigan. The river from our land is about a 15 minute walk, or 3 minute ATV ride. Boat landing is about 10 minutes down the road.

On the woodworking subject, I was thinking about saving some parts of these trees that we are cutting down to make some nice log furniture for around the property. Should I cut them down and let them sit for a long period of time to dry, or work with them while green?

[davewyo]

That's fantastic! Congrats to your folks...and to you.

I think folks around here work the logs green when making beds and such.

Get yourself a draw knife and some tenon cutters, and expect to work up a sweat.

[pghmyn]

We want to put up a pole barn to store the boat and other toys up there. Is a pole barn kit easy enough to follow? We are going to price out having the work done for us, but if we can do it ourselves, that would save more money for other land prep things.

[Tpt life]

Toughest thing with a pole barn (IMO) is posting the poles. This is much more efficient if you can rent or borrow a tractor or skid steer with an attachment to bore them. The rest is just framing and finishing. I'd hire the concrete just because a floor is a big pour. 

[pghmyn]

Toughest thing with a pole barn (IMO) is posting the poles. This is much more efficient if you can rent or borrow a tractor or skid steer with an attachment to bore them. The rest is just framing and finishing. I'd hire the concrete just because a floor is a big pour. 

 We were thinking the same thing about the poles with renting heavy equipment, or finding someone in the area. The concrete can wait, since getting a dry place to store our things is first priority. We will probably do a floor of crushed rock first, unless the concrete price isn't too bad.