All the sudden the pastures are looking fantastic. I can't tell if it's just because I've gotten used to them looking so dull all winter or if they are improving. Plenty of grass, clover, dock, chicory, dandelion and more out there. Lots of lush diverse nutrition for the sheep to mow down. #permaculture #permies #homesteading #grownostr #sheep #rotationalgrazing #localfood #carnivore #keto #regenag #regenerativeagriculture #pasturemanagement #diversity

The transition from winter to spring is in full force with the sheep. East Friesian Dairy sheep are shorn.

Then two ewes Izzy and Bella are in a paddock close to the milking stanchion ready to begin training for their milking routine.

All the rams are moved into their 2 acre paddock in the sugar bush where they will enjoy the shade and sapling trees until fall. A lot of work to get done for one day but it feels good to know winter is over for the sheep. #permaculture #permies #homesteading #grownostr #sheep #dairy #localfood #rawmilk #sheepmilk #regenag #regenerative #sustainable

I can relate to this...

It's been an excellent rabbit feed, and now it's spread so much that we should have enough to feed the sheep. It should be very easy to cut, hang/dry, and store in bundles for winter feed too. Grows so tall it's excellent as a privacy screen too. Very useful, hardy versatile plant for sure.

Cup plant is taking over in the food forest so I am transplanting as much as I can out to the swales in the silvopasture where we graze the sheep. The swales are already planted with apples, pear, peach, plum and cherry. There is hazelnut, black locust, chinquapin, in-between the fruit trees and asparagus, horseradish, rhubarb, comfrey and strawberry planted in-between the trees. The hazelnut and now this cup plant is intended to be more food for the sheep. The hope is that they prefer to eat these plants rather than abuse the young fruit trees. I might have to wait one more year for things to establish before I stop excluding the perennials from the sheep paddocks. Going to play it by ear this season and experiment with letting them graze on these swales for a day or two here and there. #permaculture #permies #grownostr #perennials #swale #silvopasture #gardening #homesteading

https://i.imgur.com/0vZ0U8w.mp4

On to the last paddock in this pasture, the Katahdin hair sheep managed to complete a full pass over this pasture in only 4 days. A couple of paddocks in the woods still needed some time to grow. I'm being extra cautious making sure not to over graze so I'm moving them daily. Next week things should be able to slow down to every 2 days and eventually 3 days per paddock in the summer. Trying to time things so that the sheep end up close to our handling system when they start having their lambs. That way we will have quick access to any supplies we might need if there are any issues during birth. #permaculture #permies #homesteading #regenerativeagriculture #regenag #grownostr #rotationalgrazing #pasturemanagement #sheep #localfood #lamb #carnivore #keto

The miner is close enough to the shit as it is.

Did you figure if mining Bitcoin with the extra power would make sense?

One of my favorite recordings from bitbuybit pleb miner month. Not only great discussion on mining but also food production and community.

#[0]

If you're keen, you can figure out how many sats the setup can produce.

Mining Bitcoin with excess solar power at my yurt. System is 975w of panels on a 24v system with a 225ah battery bank. (Adding another 300w panel soon which will max out the 60a charge controller)

I'm currently using an M29 (whatsminer m20 hashboards in a S9 enclosure) with 2 of the hashboards unplugged to reduce the power consumption down to ~600w. On a clear sunny day I can mine for 5-6hrs.

Today, I started using the airflow and heat generated by the miner to help evaporate liquids in the collection tank of the composting toilet at the outhouse. The toilet system had an option to add electric evaporators but using a Bitcoin miner instead was worth a shot. Hard to beat hashing from the sun and getting some extra use out of the airflow and heat the same time! #plebminer #bitcoinmining #permies #permaculture #homesteading #grownostr #solarpower #offgrid #yurt #bitcoin #stackingfuntions

What area of Michigan are you in? I'm in SW, I have power through aep and pay over 15c even though much of the generation is nuclear. The riders add over 4c for nuclear decommissioning ect.

I'm moving sheep. #[1]

They eat well! And so do we.

Do you have a pond? I've heard fish are good a converting food into meat.

Is there something that might be helping to warm up the soil more quickly?

Also, mid Michigan Bitcoin meetup is tonight. Free food, drink, and high signal pleb interactions!

#[2] can vida implement something like this?

Rabbits fed with excess, and any other prunings/weeds. It's amazing how they can convert plants into meat. Chickens need bugs.

#[1]

Are you going to get it up off the ground or put a barrier between the pot and soil underneath?

Found a bag of small potatoes from last year's harvest. They were growing up out of the bag! Figured I could try to quickly plant them and see what I get. I pulled back the straw mulch on this bed and laid the potatoes down with the stems laying along the ground. Covered it back up. Didn't take long but I think I'll have to come back and hill them up if they end up growing. #permaculture #permies #grownostr #homesteading #gardening