Landowner's Notebook
Practicum for the Small Private Landowner
Starting from scratch
A layman-to-layman exchange: a working notebook for enjoying and managing private land.

The Notebook
A field guide built from experience
This resource is particularly directed to the new landowner. It is based on personal research and more than twenty years of field experience managing private land in central Virginia. The web offers many professional resources; this notebook organizes useful starting points while sharing practical lessons from Hillcrest.
Your way does not need to be my way, and my way may not always be the right way. The hope is that these chapters make the first steps clearer and the long project of stewardship more enjoyable.
Chapters
Explore the notebook
Goals, stewardship, history, and legacy.
Chapter 2Getting Your Arms Around ThingsBoundaries, GPS, and aerial photographs.
Chapter 3Plot AgricultureFood plots, gardens, and wildflowers.
Chapter 4Wildlife HabitatCover, edge, succession, and diversity.
Chapter 5Timber and ForestryFrom seed to sawdust.
Chapter 6Farm PondsHabitat, structure, docks, and consultants.
Chapter 7EquipmentTools, leverage, rigging, and adaptations.
Chapter 8Pythagoras, Hipparchus, and ArchimedesAncient mathematics in practical land work.
Chapter 9RecreationHunting, shooting, campfires, and family time.
Guest author Marc Sudac. Coming soon.
A steward's motto.
Our Story
A weekend laboratory to the outside world
Hillcrest began as a family property in Cumberland County, Virginia, in November 1997. Over time it became a place for recreation, wildlife-habitat improvement, forestry management, hunting, shooting sports, annual food plots, and an ongoing education in private land stewardship.
Give more than you take. When you leave, make sure things are better off than when you started.

