How much land is enough?

[moosehead]

I have been searching for info on all kinds of sites for the subject of plot or acreage sizes and havent really found anything yet... so I thought I would ask here.

So how much land is enough to survive on? I have noticed that alot of plots for sale are very small in size *I have a few hundred acres here where i live now for ranch and farm use* so the 5-10 acre plots seem really small to me.

One thing I am wondering about is the long term wood fuel and building supplies... if say I purchased a 5 acre plot and built on it... a few years down the road if the whole 5 acres werent completly covered in trees then I may run out of trees to cut off my own property.

So what would I do then? The only thing I can think of would be to cut any other trees close to my plot... but what if its state land... does the state have laws against cutting trees that arent on your own property or is it a normal thing to do if you have really small plot size?

I have seen plots as small as 1 acre for sale so im assuming that the owners of a plot that size would be faced with this same question and would also have to find fuel off their own property alot sooner then one person may think.

where I live at now I own almost 400 acres and lease more then that for cattle and farming purposes. where I live at I do use wood burning fire places as my heat source for the winters... we have what I would consider to be light winters. I usually cut and stack around 3 RKs of wood most times that would last me... but sometimes it wont. the only difference in me living here and say living on a small acreage is that I dont have to worry about my heating fuel... if i run out then I go cut more and dont have to worry about getting fined or later find out that I cut a neighbors timber... which here it would be a big a deal if I cut someone elses timber lol

So if any of you know or have been faced with the same problem please post it.

Thanks

[Kristianna]

Moosehead ~

There is actually a formula on how much land you need to be able to heat your home. 'Course in Alaska you may need more wood since the winters are colder and longer.

Anyway, here in New England I've heard it said many times that you need one acre of wooded land per room in your home. My parents have and 8 room house and live on 8+/- acres. Their land is thickly wooded and according to this rough "formula" they should always be able to heat their home from wood on their land. (They're getting older now, though and do buy their wood cut, split, delivered).

We just bought a "log load" of wood - should be 8 cord once its all stacked. My husband cut it all into firewood length and split a couple cord by hand. Then on Monday we rented a splitter and split the rest.

I am sure that the formula should be adjusted for Alaska, but this is what I've always been told.

K

[moosehead]

thanks for the replies,

Naturerules... you can send private messages to all the members of this board, so if i ask a question and you or anyone else feels inclined to reply to it you can send it private if you want, either way is fine by me. ;D

yes i also understand about some things being private like if someone has a special gadget that they make for their sole sorce of income out there or somthing, but I'm not asking those types of questions, although if anyone has any great ideas they would like to share by all means please send them my way LOL. or a winning lottery ticket would be nice too ;D

I didnt know about the formula for the wood fuel... thanks for that reply kristianna

[Terri]

I imagine that a lot would depend on how many months you need to heat your house.

My husbands Uncle lived down South, and a couple of trees a year was enough to supply his wood-burning stove. It was his only source of heat for many years, though he did not cook on it.