Clearing Land

General Considerations
Clearing Land is practically a continuous task in the game. It is your primary source of ressources like Ordinary Logs_(Item), Sequoia Logs_(Item), Fir-Tree Logs_(Item), Fresh Grass_(Item) or Dry Twigs_(Item). Unfortunately it is also extremely energy consuming. Clearing the entire starting area from all obstacles takes several thousands of units of energy. Unless you are willing to buy a considerable amount of emeralds to add 1.000 energy every time you run out of it, you need patience and some tricks to manage within your meagre energy limit.

Grass and Jasmin
The easiest, albeit somewhat longwinded way to get rid of grass and jasmin clusters is to have sheep or cows wandering about, eating it. This has two downsides, however. First, you will miss out on a lot of Worms_(Item), which are needed to raise poultry and later on to catch fish, and you'll miss out on the occasional set item and the experience points that come when digging up grass patches. Grass and jasmin patches are small enough to be cleared within the energy limit of a beginner.

Bushes
Bushes are usually too big for anyone but a high-level player, but being sized in the low or mid twenties, they are easy to chop into player reach. For instance a size-23 bush can be chopped down 5 or 6 pieces and then be within the players energy limit. If you are over your energy limit, using the comestible trick or after an energy bonus, use this to chop several bushes down to your limit and pick them off one after the other. The same can be done with summer trees, which are comparable in size. As an added bonus they leave a small hide to harvest.

Large Objects
Fir trees, Sequoias, rocks and ore deposits are usually too large to be in reach. Use the Quarry_(Building) and the Sawmill_(Building) to chop them down to below the energy limit, but keep an eye on them. If the workers clear them completely, you'll lose the massive hides they leave.

Energy Management
Do not be tempted to loot hides right away. Keep them for when you want to max out your energy. Also, the hides can be looted by visiting friends and neighbours without "stealing" anything from you. Here's what my wife, who (unlike me) does not like using emeralds for energy-pushing, does every morning:

Since her energy has fully regenerated over night, she does one whack on a bush or grass patch, then uses the biggest energy-comestible she has in her storage. Then she visits all her friends and neighbours and after that she usually has 40 energy or more. After that she loots all the hides from the day before and this way she often starts the day with close to 100 energy or sometimes more, especially if she levels up in between. That gives her the option to bring home the heavy treasures from out-stations and to chop several bushes and small trees below her energy limit.