As part of various homesteading projects I often times drive through areas where people are snapping up heavily wooded land razing it down to the dirt and then trying to build it back up again into a homestead. Generally there is a lot of interest particularly in lot that range in the 1-5 acre range as they can often be had for a deal.
Clearing land might be seen as a clean slate to start building things back up but as that land sits out in the blazing sun with no cover it tends to destroy micro nutrients and bacteria in what remains of the topsoil that has largely been removed because the vegetation was uprooted along with it. The insect population and associated food chain is devastated and well as wildlife including predatory birds (leaving you most of the time with a rattlesnake problem).
In the end you be easily able to build a cottage, park an RV or build a house on the property but when it comes to growing food you’ll be spending a ton of money on soil, fertilizers and mulch just to try and recover the soil within 3-5 years. Not to mention you’ll be working in direct sunlight.
A good alternative to property development would be to precisely undercut only the brush need and leave a tree canopy in place while only cutting the necessary trees to park the home. There are brush hog attachments for skid steers and also forestry mulching attachments that will accomplish this task easily while leaving you a nice even layer of mulch in the wake.
