Riley Hall

That’s why I love this forum! I figured someone out there had already figured this out. Thanks! Now I just need to find someone that will ship to Alaska without doubling the cost 🙁

I’ve seen the Gallagher one before. That price tag is pretty lame. Do you have a source for the spring gates? The ones I’ve seen max out at 16 feet, so I would either need to redo my rail spacing (not again!! 😛) or have a post in the middle that they reach to.

Here’s a photo of the posts

So I’m trying a to make rotational grazing a little more efficient. I use electric fencing and give my 5 goats a fresh little paddock every day. I think it’s called “ladder fencing” though maybe I made that up. I keep the rails of the ladders up all grazing season and add/remove rungs every 1-2 days to keep the goats on fresh greens (see drawing). They seem healthiest when I do this, but it’s a bit of a time suck the way I’ve been doing it. The rails of my ladder are about 25 feet apart and to set the rungs I have to string up 4 strands of wire (my goats are jerks and escape if I only use three strands), not to mention weed whacking the grass down along so that the wire doesn’t ground out. To help make it a little faster I bought some cheap 30’ tape measures, taped them to my step in posts, wired the other ends to another step in post and now have a retractable fence segment for the rungs of the ladder.

They say that necessity is the mother of all invention. I don’t think this is a perfect setup because tape measures are pretty fragile. I’m worried that a big wind day is going to rip them up bad. But they do conduct the fence charge and they are retractable which makes them easy to move and set-up. Does anyone that practices rotational grazing have a better system for this that makes it faster? My ground is too brushy and uneven for poultry netting and I haven’t been too impressed with it in the past.i always get all tangled up in it.

I really like this one by dewalt. It fits their 20v battery system and can be plugged into a car jack. I’ve had it for a couple years and use it to air up my backhoe tires regularly. It’s pretty tough.

https://a.co/d/08Es8z7n

Your concept of spoons reminds me of the Rae-Holmes stress inventory:
https://www.stress.org/self-assessments/holmes-rahe-life-stress-inventory/

There’s not as much in it about the small 1-2 spoon detracting events, but the takeaway is that the more stress points you garner in a short period of time, the more likely you are to develop health issues.

In my field (counseling) I often talk with clients about having a stress reserve that functions like a bank account. Stress, is a withdrawal, positive things are deposits.If you live with too many stressors it’s best to decrease the stressors to live within your means in the same way you might need to with your finances if spending outrunsearning. If your stress is non-negotiable, your second best option is to up your self-care. Basically the same idea as your spoons, just a different metaphor.

In the last few years I’ve really been inspired by Mark Shepherds “Restoration Agriculture,” Joseph Lofthouse’s “landrace gardening” and the Florida Bullfrogs “Free Range Survival Chickens.” There seems to be a theme across the three that I found very inspiring for plant and animal breeding using natural selection to help find genes that do well in your place with your management style.

Joel Salatin’s “Polyface Micro” would be an honorable mention as well.

Very curious about Bill Mollison’s permaculture bible, but it’s hard to find and appears to be pretty spendy.

I made mine out of a busted plastic bucket. I cut the bottom off, bent it into the right shape and secured it to a post with two roofing screws. If I need to butcher another species, I undo the bottom screw and widen or tighten the hole that the head comes out as needed.

Diverging from the food emphasis but - put a handful in some sawdust/sand/dirt in a container in the fridge sometime in late winter and get them to sprout and then plant them in the spring!

That's super helpful. Thanks everyone! I think I'll focus my trees on the uphill side, maybe try some berries and veg on the middle and downhill sides.