RE: Homesteading Reality: Your Beautiful Land May Be Filled With Trash.
My land wasn't occupied or farmed as far as I can tell until the 1989. It was clear cut probably a few times. It's too hilly and sandy to farm, but I'm assuming it was all maple oak and beech, clear cut, turned into a sandy dune once the soil all eroded and then finally replanted with Pine in the great depression and the more wet portions naturally turned into oak.
Wow, that was a quick history rant. Anyways, the family who originally had a house built here in the late 80s apparently were too cheap or lazy to deal with their trash properly, and they burned it in barrels. I also found a 10 x 10 area that they burned some furniture. I dug up remains of springs and melted foam from it. Fortunately it wasn't too large or deep and I threw the soil I dug up on my driveway never to poison my growing area again.