Marty Mitchell

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi Marty,
That is an awesome before and after picture. A testimony to good grazing methods.

Thank you, Matt!

I really don't know what I am doing... but have been nerding out on YouTube and Podcasts on the subject. Had been for a long while before enacting everything.

Congrats on getting started with cattle!

I am about a year ahead of you. I just got two Dexter heifers a little over a year ago. The pasture has already taken a dramatic turn for the better with a few practices. They say that you will see 60% of the benefits of rotational grazing by making 3 rotations. The more the better though. Just have to find what works best for you in your situation.

Started in 2021 (when we bought the new home) with a horribly destroyed pasture that was mostly mud/buttercups/and some small patches of white clover/bermudagrass/whatever could survive 3 horses grassing on it constant.

It is now a few years later/one year since we got animals spreading manure/urine into the mix. It is taking off really well for me!

I spent last year moving them rapidly in small strips back and forth. I then pulled them to a sacrafice lot in early Fall to let the grasses get big and build stockpile for the Winter. Let them constantly graze/rotate all winter. Putting hay down on the patches that had no cover on the soil. Then pulled them off again for several weeks in the Spring so it could get ahead of them and get strong/big again.

I am now so buried in grass that having my pastures divided into 5 semi-permanent plots with step-in posts/electric poly is really so incredibly easy. I just leave it there and open the next section every week or so. Which costs me about 15mins a week for work most weeks.

I would not have been able to do that last year with the grasses so young and vulnerable. I just either put a halter on them to bring them back to the beginning... or setup a skinny path of poly and they follow me.

Here is my thread I have been putting together.
https://permies.com/t/204982/Dexter-Cattle-small-homestead-AC

Here is what the pasture looked like this time of year in 2021 vs 2024. Of course, most of that is annual ryegrass I am letting go to seed so it comes back this Fall. It greatly extended my grazing season. We will still have to wait to see what the summer slump looks like.

I have transplanted several of the "Bocking 14" comfrey plants out into my pastures. The cows have a tendency to graze it all the way back to a nub when they find a clump out there. Which means they really like it.

I have a great many copies in pots I made that I totally intended to transplant out there this past Winter but didn't.

Anyways, I think that pastures are the most resilient when you have a great mixture of species that will be at max performance during the cold months, cool months, and hot months. As well as a mixture of species within each of those periods. As stated in a previous post... it goes dormant and disappears out there during the Winter.

I aim to have more comfrey out there at some point. However, since I have dialed in the rotational grazing and pasture management, the grasses are going gangbusters out there here in year two. I am no longer sure that the comfrey would survive long enough to establish out there without being shaded out. I may have to work the comfrey into the micro-climates along the forest edge or something.

Here is a pic of the girls (Dexter cattle) I took this evening after I moved them into the last section before starting them over again in the rotation after a week or so of this section. Some parts of the pasture… they disappear. 😂

I do. Am a newbee... and am doing it with the Layens system. No chemicals or sugar water involved. The best honey ever!

I have a thread I have been doing about it to share my experiences....
Long story short... I am expanding slowly and am setup to start selling honey this year. This method makes keeping bees The Easiest thing I have on the homestead.


https://permies.com/t/179108/Layens-hive-story

[quote=L Floden] Do you have recommendations for figs that do well espaliered but in ground in zone 7b?  I have a south facing wall at the back of my (concrete block) garage that is well protected from N and W winds.  It's 10 feet from my guesthouse but gets good sun >8 hrs a day.  Brown Turkey variety is common in the nurseries near me.  [/quote]

As stated in the last reply… ourfigs.com is a great resource for sure! I am on there too.

I would say that… if you are in 7B… I would save that special space for citrus. A cold hardy type… using C7 Christmas lights and plant jackets for the first few Winters.

I was on the border of 7B/8A until this year when they changed it… even though I saw temps down to 7F at sunset (but it got colder after that) with high winds making wind temps below 0F…. Which is almost into the 7A zone. All of my baby 1st year trees survived. Even the Smith. What did damage was the false summer for a few weeks followed by a 25F night . Some branch damage was done… and the smith that woke up got knocked back to the ground

That was last winter.

This winter there was not even any tip damage on the trees mainly. My trees are all out in the open and in the ground and pots. No added protection except on smith this year.  

I suggest a slow grower/dwarf type probably if still going espalier. What flavor do you like? There are honey, honey-berry, berry, sugar, and more.

If your hot season is short… I suggest an early to early-mid cultivar like Rhonde de Bordeaux or Violette de Bordeaux. RDB will continue to pump figs slowly until frost allegedly if in the ground and mature. Super early just not as good with rain as VdB.

Welcome!

Excellent post. I just moved to costal Chesapeake, VA with my family as well. Not nearly off grid though!


In the last few years we have been here I have an apiary going… built the dream garden… planted fruit trees…. And Dexters too! Plus a good bit more. Just getting started though.

Fred Kilm wrote:Your experience with the Layens system sounds fascinating, and it's awesome to hear about the success with your honey and bee swarms.

Thanks!

Here is a link to my thread…
https://permies.com/t/80/179108/Layens-hive-story

Here is a link to the website that has free plans and sells Layens system stuff…
https://horizontalhive.com/

Lawson Smith wrote:Anybody know of where you might find miniature black angus or longhorns in the southeast?

There are a few “Lowline Angus” groups on Facebook. They may be in your area.

@ Dr. Leo Sharashkin

Wow! I didn't realize that you were here on Permies... or at least you were around 3 years ago. lol

I have fallen into the Layens system and am a return customer of you. Thank you for all of your work and for your wonderful website/resource you have built.

I agree... that sugar-free honey is 10x on another level. I was not a super big fan of honey until I got to try some of the real stuff from my hives. I bet your honey is amazing since you are much further from civilization than me (southern Chesapeake, VA)

I am surrounded mostly by woods and overgrown fields within 2mi of my home. The honey... and the free bee swarms I have been getting have been amazing. I may start feeding some of the Fall suicide swarms I catch some honey from my other hives though.

I have a thread dedicated to my journey with the Layens system (as a newb) if you want to read through it.



~ Marty

I have 2 Santa Rosa plums that I cloned… onto their own roots… from micro twigs that were 4” tall. Actually had a 100% success rate cloning them in the old Aquaponics systems… and gave all the others away.

Anyways, they are in brick-like clay and thriving on their own roots!

I pruned them back heavily a few months ago and they are now doing their first bloom here on year 3. I like how they form fruiting spurs.

So far, I am impressed. If the fruit works out well, I will begin cloning them in bulk and selling them on their own roots.

The flowers smell amazing!!!