Along with our house, we own a decent sized property of just under 100 acres in Eastern Canada. Some of that is field, some overgrown with alders, but I'm going to guess that about 75 acres of it is mixed forest woodland - mostly fir, spruce, maple and white birch. It was cut over (in a very brutal way) ~30 years ago, but it has some areas of nice trees and the others are recovering.
I have it in the back of my mind as a potential small hobby income source after FIRE, but I have no idea what type of income I can generate with it, or the best way of doing so. I don't get a lot of time to play around with my chainsaw in the woods right now, but the time I do get is pretty fun and rewarding work.
Does anyone have any experience they could offer about what might be the best type of business plan to look at? I'm only interested in ideas that provide a sustainable income puts me in the role of caretaker/improver of the forest; I'm not interested in ideas that involve clear-cutting, for example. Other than that, I'm open for any ideas that do not require full-time effort. Pulp wood, portable mills, mushroom farming, etc (no maple syrup; no sugar maples to speak of, although there are a few - enough for my own use).
I've read over some places that throw out lots of ideas of what can be done, but I'd like a more specific short list of things that experienced people have had success with. And maybe things people have tried that haven't worked so well, or been worth the effort.
Also, does anyone have any ideas for something worthwhile that can be done with approx 5 acres of south facing sloped field and doesn't require a huge investment in time, money and is pesticide free (I'm next to a stream)?