It strikes me as not taking advantage of what you have to place the house a mere 40' from the road. I would add another 10' at least, but more likely another 20' or 30' or more since, after all, the space is there for your taking and the potential to create a much improved setting for the house correlates with it. You would end up with two areas that are maintained very differently. The roughly 1/2 acre or less house and yard would require maintenance similar to any house and yard located in the suburbs. The remaining roughly five-acre pine forest would be essentially unmaintained outside of any particular projects that you wish to undertake, such as cutting & maintaining a trail through it. You will want to remove the dead lower limbs from the trees where they are highly visible from the yard, on account of their being unsightly. It will cause no damage to the pines and can be done anytime. It would be pointless to remove them from the remaining 5 acres as you would not see them. You'd also want to remove fallen branches within view of the house on account of their being unsightly. The way you keep weeds at bay is to first kill them by digging or pulling their roots out of the ground, covering them from light, smothering them with mulch, or killing them with herbicide. Then, areas must be planted solid, paved, heavily mulched or have a building on it in order to keep weeds out. Lower growing plants will begin to grow where sunlight reaches the soil below the trees, but at a distance from the house and yard it will be inconsequential. in the yard itself, you'll have lawn, landscape bed and perhaps some trees other than pines. While mulch alone is sometimes used in landscape beds, it is inferior to beds that are planted solidly with shrubs and low growing plants, especially groundcovers for areas of much size. It is inferior because mulch deteriorates in appearance and must be top dressed. Neither does mulch alone hold soil well from erosion. Planted areas are also mulched at the beginning but plants end up covering the mulch, so no more is needed. It would be necessary before building starts to create a drainage plan for the yard that surrounds the house (not the outlying 5 acres) so that you don't end up with drainage problems. Soil MUST slope away from every exterior wall of the house, ideally for at least 10'. From that point it must be carried to where it can run harmlessly into the surrounding land or road. Be sure to factor in grading for any outdoor areas, such as a patio at the back of the house. A "heads up" I would give to any home builder is to pay special attention to the front walk that leads to the home entrance. As a rule, these walks are of inferior design for the vast majority (upwards of 95%) of new homes. They are usually too small and too close to the building, killing opportunities for even decent landscaping around the home. If your walk is not designed by an experienced landscape designer or architect, I'd return here with a site plan and hash it out yourself with help from the Landscape Design Forum.

"Relative humidity in lumber is read with a moisture meter." No, it's not. Moisture content of wood is measured with a moisture meter. I own two pin-type moisture meters and they are exercised regularly. Relative humidity is measured with a thermo-hygrometer or a (old school) wet-and-dry-bulb thermometer. Relative humidity is the ratio of how much moisture is in air compared with what it can hold at that temperature, expressed as a percentage. Wood has an equilibrium moisture content that is a function of temperature and relative humidity of the environment. The equilibrium conditions can be obtained from sorption isotherms for the particular wood species. Equilibrium conditions are rarely the case in homes because indoor relative humidity is subject to change due to both outdoor and indoor conditions. Acclimation of hardwood is intended to minimize the difference in moisture content of the flooring and subfloor to minimize the driving force for moisture transfer between the two. The moisture content of the subfloor should be stabilized. Typically that requires the HVAC system to be in operation for a week or more. But you might find the moisture content of hardwood flooring to be within the manufacturer's guidelines right off the delivery truck depending on conditions at the mill. If you'd like to consult an industry source for information, here's a link to a brief overview from the National Wood Flooring Association: https://hardwoodfloorsmag.com/2018/07/02/acclimation/#:~:text=When%20your%20temperature%20and%20relative,always%20defer%20to%20the%20manufacturer

@Laurel C thanks for sharing. You and your husband sound so interesting. Average me could never even begin to imagine such a journey. We have had lots of fun with real estate over the years, but our adventures didn't stray too far from home and what we knew. Every now and again we would talk about how it would be fun to move out of comfort zone. We never moved farther away than 100 miles...Boston, and over the Cape Cod Canal. Life has not been boring, but I think both of us have a bit of wanderlust in our genes. My lovely high school nuns were from Louisville . My French teacher would greet us every morning..."Bon Jour, y'all" I am so glad you are near Costco. Try the stuffed peppers.

Hello - It looks like you may live somewhere cold, and that would make us hesitant to advise on more hard surface flooring. Usually we love wood, LVP, limestone and other hard surfaces, but in this case, taking into consideration the lighting and space, we suggest a high-performance, low-pile carpet. It would be a nice contrast and complement to the rustic, heavy wood finishes. A neutral carpet as a solid foundation will soften and temper the many lines of the planks and beams as well as literally retain some warmth and insulation as will drapes which would be another soft surface to add your design to create balance and harmony. Area rugs with pattern can be used to designate separate living and leisure zones, while a charcoal slate or honed limestone can be more functional when used at the entry area, kitchen and bathroom areas where water and dirt are prevalent factors to consider. Good luck!