I’ve read horror stories about heat lamp bulbs causing barn fires so just looking for a safer option for heating in the winter

I’ve got about 100 acres in southwest Wisconsin, and roughly 65 acres is very hilly, black walnut-dominated woodland. We’re planning to break ground on our homestead in 3–4 years. For now, we’re working on land restoration and planning, planning, planning.

In addition to letting the walnuts grow for a potential timber harvest for future generations, I’ve been trying to figure out whether we could manage portions of the woods for food and other useful plants.

The main goal would be supplemental food for our family, with perhaps a small secondary income someday.

I’ve been geeking out lately about agroforestry and perennial food plants, especially their ecological benefits. Last weekend, our family visited the Savanna Institute’s demonstration farm in Spring Green, where they research tree and shrub crops and agroforestry practices suited to our region.

That visit got me excited about a few possibilities. I’d love to hear from people who have tried any of these—particularly in the Upper Midwest or in walnut-dominated woods. Also let me know if there are ideas I'm not considering yet but should.

Fruit and nut shrubs along the woodland edges

We’ve been removing invasive honeysuckle, which has me thinking about what we want growing in its place. In the sunnier woodland edges and openings, I’m interested in elderberries, black currants, aronia, hazelnuts, and other perennial food plants. Has anyone established productive berry or nut shrubs along a black walnut woodland edge? What has done well, and how much sun and ongoing maintenance did it need?

Managing patches for woodland food and useful plants

Edible mushrooms, walnuts, ramps, American ginseng, wild berries, maple trees, willow for basket weaving, and other edible, medicinal, and useful plants grow in our area. Some are already on our land, but not in abundance (well except for walnuts, LOL). I’m wondering about establishing or expanding a few managed patches that could eventually provide reliable supplemental harvests for our family. Have you successfully encouraged woodland food or useful plants this way? What was worth the effort?

Possible silvopasture for a family milk cow and companions

We’re considering a family milk cow with some company, probably 3-5 cows max. We have about 3–4 acres of open pasture field available (the rest we're converting to tall grass prairie, which is the centerpiece of our restoration efforts). Could thinning selected areas of woodland create additional rotational grazing space? I’m interested in whether that could fit with our woodland restoration goals and growing walnuts for future timber. Has anyone combined a small open pasture with managed woodland grazing on hilly ground? What would you assess before deciding whether it’s feasible—and what would make you rule it out?

We’ve got time to experiment before moving out there full time, so I’d appreciate advice on what to start now, what to learn more about, and what to leave as a daydream.

If you’re curious about the visit that sparked these ideas, I made a video of the Savanna Institute open house.

When I built our place I put in an old water tank heater a buddy wasnt using in one of hist rental properties and its served us well for about 10 years. Now I am eyein tankless options because we can use the space for canning and other storage. We arent currently fully off-grid people in the traditional sense (in that we have gas and water to our property) but philosophically and practically we are trying to rely less and less on outdated systems and corroded infrastructure. can tankless be done if youre trying to move to solar? Google seems to think it would be difficult but possible. I am handy, but im not sure I am that handy and even when I built my place we hired out for a lot of stuff. Is this a roto rooter or contractor or DIY situation? Trying to understand venting requirements, gas line upgrades and maintenance costs before pulling the trigger too. Any homesteaders on tankless AND solar? I just dont know if gaining a little more space where the water heater was would be worth all the extra $$$

hey, we close our first real ground next month, 1.5 acres, but my partner wants a kitchen garden before fall and the kids want veggies, so i'm not really sure what do we plant first. The south side's full sun, north end's heavy shaded, and I have no idea which of those'll actually keep anything alive past July. We got no beds built yet, just containers on the shady side for now, picked a veggies seed pack from Organo just to test the soil, wyt about that?