I’d pony up for a thirty dollar soil test if you are willing to proceed inorganically.

If weeds are a bad problem I would consider planting buckwheat in hopes of choking them out. Otherwise I would plant alfalfa and turn it in. Maybe do that twice.

I think the suggestion of cover crops like buckwheat, or alfalfa or legumes, possibly a mix as with some hays, whatever makes the most sense.

A few thoughts: keep in mind that soil test results are going to tend to telling you what's lacking in the soil mostly for the purpose of growing plants for some use. Obviously you don't plan on growing corn, and you don't need to blast it with fertilizer for corn. So perhaps go easy and take your time - you're not planning on harvesting buckwheat (for example), it's okay if it takes a couple years as part of rebuilding the soil. You'll be able to add fertilizer later if you want, so go easy, better to build up the soil life over time.

Second, what you do and your approach for areas that will eventually be garden or orchard will need to be different (and obviously for spots that will be occupied by buildings, too). You can cover crop those areas for now, too, of course. But eventually you may want to add lots and lots of organic matter to your planned garden area - manure, compost, wood chips, whatever. Since you'll (probably) want a lot of it, whatever's available cheap locally in quantity will help. (Whatever you don't need for areas you want to use for garden can be used wherever else or piled up to compost for later). If you're lucky, perhaps you'll find free/cheap delivered, but may be certain times of year. It likely won't be practical to do this at scale for the full area.

You may also want to ask around if there are farmers who'd be willing to do some of this, for some money, of course, particularly for the first time round. Some of these steps might be a big task by hand but be a few hours light work with equipment. If you just want planted and cut or turned under, and you're not picky about timing (e.g. for perfect planting conditions), might be reasonable.

But if there are NOT weeds, it's a sign that they may have used herbicides. The aminopyralid class of herbicides, which is used on grasses and grains because it kills broadleaf plants, is extremely persistent. It survives composting and the digestion of ruminants, for several years. So ask the previous users of the land, and also be suspicious if there are very limited broadleaf weeds. Google up "garden damage from aminopyralid" and this article from Oregon State University.

all good advice. Adding to HCD, if you do have pesticides, they are efficiently degraded mostly by fungi (and sunlight). So finding OM in the form of wood chips and/or trash wood (such as stumps that you could bury in your future growing areas) will help, while for re-mineralization (if the soil test so indicates) manure is still top. For cover crops, select mixes that have some deep rooted plants. Some of your nutrients have gone deep and you need those to pull them up. Alfalfa is a good one, but also daikon, sorghum, sugarbeet, sunflower, red clover, chicory.

Contact your local Extension Service. They have ag agents who know local growing conditions, soil structure, appropriate cover crops and available resources -- the key word is LOCAL. They will help you so don't be shy.

Lot of good suggestions, thanks. We know we're probably a few years away from getting horses again for the simple fact that it'll probably take us that long to afford the barn and other stuff, but it's a long-term goal. I'm not sure about pesticide use, but it wouldn't shock me. It just seems like the whole field has been burned out over the years from not having much of anything put back into it. I think the guy just plants it for the insurance money, honestly.

You may be able to tell a fair bit by getting out there and digging in a few places and doing simple hand soil tests. If the previous owner wasn't putting much back in, it's likely to be short on organic matter - mulch, woody / fibrous materials, manure. Corn very demanding for nitrogen, so may not be much of that left. The alfalfa, buckwheat, clover or legumes (or some mix) will fix some nitrogen, daikon will help break up some soils with good deep roots (as the deep radishes decompose especially). The problem with blasting with fertilizer is that the soil won't retain much if the soil structure is bad and there's little organic matter, i.e. what you put in may just wash out. An advantage of not being in a rush is that whatever is in the soil like pesticides will generally break down given enough time, and soil structure can be built up without that much work. Let stuff grow, cut it occasionally (read: not often) and let it break down in place. You don't necessarily need to rototil or disk stuff in, and it may actually be beneficial to not do so; it might make sense to do so in some circumstances, too - my point is if it's going to be pasture and/or you don't need a garden to produce vegetables right away, you don't have to focus on productivity and can focus on letting the soil build up on its own, adding organic matter, etc.

Another advantage, you don't have to worry about planting a field of just alfalfa for harvesting, you can do mixes, and also not worry about 'weeds'. Remember, weed is a human concept - plants we don't want in a given circumstance/place. It's a lot easier to tolerate a few weeds or plants that're growing in places we don't want them to if variety is okay. Plant/sow more of the stuff you want and whatever does best, great. Don't want some plant to proliferate too much? Scythe it or pull it up before it goes to seed and let it rot in place, earthworms and bugs and others will be very happy. If you miss some and it goes to seed, it's usually not the end of the world, plant some stuff you want next year and hope it out-competes the 'weeds.'

The test will tell all the good info. One thing I would be intrested in is the shape of the soil. Not just the nutrition available but how hard the soil is and if it absorbs water evenly? Lots of problems can be traced to poor soil structure. The good news is that soil structure can be fixed and the benefits to the over all ground are amazing. You will have things grow better than ever before and you will water them less.

If you're looking to have gardens or flower beds in certain areas, you can sheet-compost there starting now. Collect materials wherever you can find them - manure, free mulch from a city yard waste/mulch site if there is one, or utility tree trimming crews, grass clippings, spoiled hay or straw, kitchen waste, leaves, etc. etc. Pile it up in layers and let nature do its thing for a year or two. It works wonders for the soil below with almost no work. After it's mostly broken down you can till it in.