◂ All Domains

Tend — Tend

How does my Ark tend its living partners?

The Cooptwo lanes A backyard chicken flock structured not as a poultry operation but as an integrated household partner. The Coop produces eggs and occasional meat, but its higher-leverage outputs are the work the flock performs: scratching compost into amendment, eating kitchen waste, controlling garden pests, processing greywater via duckweed feeding, and generating high-nitrogen manure that fertilizes every other Grow rig. This is the rig that teaches the Tend domain. Anyone can keep chickens. The work of the Ark is to design the household so the chickens make every other rig more efficient — and so every other rig makes the chickens healthier and more productive. The chicken-over-grate compost grinder is the signature pattern of this rig, and arguably of the entire Tend domain. The Coop is also the highest-cross-domain-density rig in the entire Ark — it Feeds and is Fed by Loop, Grow, Well, Mend, Trade, and Shield. Footprint60–200 sq ft totalYield1,500–2,000 eggs/year per 6-hen flockCycleDaily routine, 5–7 yr lifetime per hen 10 steps · ⇄ Grow · Loop · Signal · Telos · Tend · Trade · Transform · Well The Hive Top-bar or Langstroth beekeeping. Pollination cascade across all Grow rigs; honey-to-Transform; propolis-to-Mend; beeswax-to-Forge. FootprintA couple of boxes in a sunny cornerYieldHoney, beeswax, propolis, and pollenCycleA spring package or nuc installed, worked through summer, harvested late summer, and overwintered on its own stores 7 steps · ⇄ Grow · Mend · Trade · Transform The Hutchtwo lanes Rabbits as integrated household partners in the closed loop. Fast-cycle protein and pelts with the unique advantage of cold manure that can go straight to garden beds without composting. Highest labor-discipline rig in Tend (twice-daily checks), with massive fertility labor savings. Lane 1 keeps them alive and productive; Lane 2 turns the hutch into an Ark rig through direct-to-bed manure, urine-to-hydro, pelts to Forge, bones to Mend, and surplus to Trade. Footprint8–40 sq ft totalYieldFast protein + pelts + fertilityCycleDaily AM/PM checks (5–10 min each) 12 steps · ⇄ Grow · Loop · Tend · Transform The Paddock Goats/sheep on small acreage. Rotational grazing builds topsoil; milk-to-Cheesecave; wool-to-Forge Loom. FootprintA fenced acreYieldMilk, meat, wool and fiber, tallow, and manureCycleA seasonal round 7 steps · ⇄ Grow · Loop · Trade · Transform · Well

Also taking shape in Tend

Each one appears here once its Manifest and Sequence are finished.