If you live off grid, or have ever considered it, almost immediately your mind wanders off to images of a vast wilderness waiting to become your home. The dream for many consists of a secluded property on the edge of an immense forest or nestled along a snow-capped mountain range. And why not? With the wilderness comes adventure. Every day is different. If you can last one week, then a month, and push on until the first year is over, you eventually become one with the peace and serenity and freedom it provides.

Then at some point you may have children, or eventually maybe grandchildren. Your homestead grows into a working farm and you need light to work past sunset.

You want to grow a garden. There is virtually no place on your property with enough sun to do so.

The call of electricity and the convenience of being able to use power tools grows into a heightened pitch in your head. You tire of tripping on furniture or various things in the night. You now think you want to try out solar power, but you are surrounded by trees. You have fantastic never ending trees that give you heat (firewood) and protection from the wind. They provide shelter to the wild game that you hunt to survive. And so the dilemma begins.

I'm going to finally publish this in part because it is one of the secrets to my homestead plans, but I feel it's time to put it out there instead of waiting for my clients to ask. In this way everyone can benefit.

You CAN have both TREES and SOLAR. Without having years and years of cutting the trees yourself risking life and limb (no pun intended) and benefitting immediately from a cash windfall to finally complete some of the essential homestead projects we all have.

FOREST MANAGEMENT = A PLAN + CASH FOR YOU + MORE SUN FOR SOLAR.

I chose the picture of the world's tallest tree for this article for a specific reason: Unless you live in an arid plain devoid of life you will commonly have one tree or a group of them that grows beyond all others at exactly the spot you want your panels to acquire sun. Even if you do not now have shadows, some day (maybe well beyond your life) someone at your property will have to deal with managing the great forest you have tended or simply appreciated. That is where forest management comes in handy. In rural areas, your local forester (person trained on management of all the myriad species of trees) can develop a comprehensive management plan for your property. They not only develop the plan, they can immediately set the gears in motion to have your trees thinned out. In addition, they can provide you sun exposure for solar panel installation, remove disease stressed trees that threaten your other trees, provide a log deck full of trees you can easily cut for firewood, and drastically reduce your risk for wildland fire.

I haven't even gotten to the good part: YOU CAN BE PAID FOR SOME OF THE TIMBER AND BUILD YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM.

Read those last words carefully, you can actually have them come out, survey your forest (called timber cruising) to determine what is there, and when you agree to have a logger thin the property, they do all the work to haul the logs away to a mill and you will get paid. Cash.

You may be thinking: wait, I don't want all my trees cut down. I like the shade and the wind protection. That is perfectly ok. That is entirely not what happens if you discuss and approve a plan with a licensed forester. You can simply have your property "thinned" and retain the strongest or most desirable species depending on what your goals are. That is the beauty of finding a good forester. The great foresters I have met work with you to make your plan MATCH your needs.

Forest fires are becoming more of a problem each year. Don't lose everything you have invested your life savings and precious time on. Have your stand of trees thinned.

A final word of caution: Make sure you screen your forester. There are a good many people out there that want your money simply to cut the trees down and let them lay where they fall. There are also hazard tree removal businesses, and people who will simply trim or top trees. Your best bet is to call a company like my friends at Idaho Forest Group and ask for an experienced forester. I add this final word because I have seen first hand what happens when a client previously paid a fly by night sawyer to cut down their trees overnight. It happens a good bit more than you would think. Don't just have your trees thinned or cut, get paid. Have the work done by a professional.