Getting there! Again!

A rather dramatic sky, but not tonight's.

We are sat in the caravan in the sweltering heat with the fan going. The last few days have been hot and dry. We could have been haymaking but the weather forecast said rain for today. Pah! When the forecast was for no rain - we got rain, not just a sprinkling but a torrential downpour. They forecast rain and we get blue skies and hot sunshine! Perfect haymaking weather! It's not helpful. The thunder clouds are rolling in now and we may get rain after all but they stopped forecasting rain for us yesterday. Sigh!. We still have one field left to cut for hay and time is ticking on as we collect subsidies on that field. That means we have until August 15th to cut and clear. The forecast is for lower temperatures next week and we are still not certain about the rain, one site says no rain after Friday and the other says yes and only goes till Sunday. Sigh again! Will we won't we? At least we did get some hay in last week and that's why I didn't blog. I was in the field until well after 10pm and we only rolled into bed at midnight. 

Finally got to see some noctilucent clouds. Usually
it has been too light to see the high silvery clouds
that you can see in the background. I decided that
the reason I never became an astronomer is because
really I'm not a late night person.

Poor guy! All a bit too much at
times

Turbjørn is doing a bit better these days. He doesn't seem as stiff. He still obviously has a sore neck and it is still a bit twisted. The animal physio came out again and used some laser heat to heal the tissues. She is fairly sure it is just soft tissue damage because of the way he is responding to treatment but she cannot be absolutely sure without an x-ray. The problem is that, although we found a couple of vets that can do mobile x-rays, they can't come until August. Meanwhile Ian continues to massage the tissues around Turbjørn's neck and the tops of his legs, where the problem may have started. At least he seems to be staying out of the way of any fights that break out from time to time. The young boys are growing and testing their place in the herd and the older ones have been on mating duty, so hormones are a bit high. 

Sometimes he looks quite perky though.

I have a wilderness for a garden, as
usual, but it never ceases to amaze
me what beauty there is to be seen.
This is just a weed, but so pretty.

Hopefully the boys will all settle down soon though as the females get pregnant. We are fairly confident with a few of them, as they are usually compliant and are definitely being resistant now. We were surprised with one of our particularly spitty females though (at least to males not to people), as she actually sat down for mating today. It seems she may have been ready. Normally she puts up quite a fight. Her and her mother have not read the books on alpaca mating that say spitting and fighting only occur once they are pregnant, not before. They are definitely a feisty pair and take after Veronica, who is the mother and grandmother of the pair. She too though has been showing signs of being ready to mate. The difference is that there is no way we will let a male near her, she is not in a good condition for pregnancy with a bowed back and wonky front legs. It is possible for alpacas to give birth successfully at her age but not recommended with those issues. 

A damp morning making the grass look frothy

Clustered bellflower

With the increase in temperature comes an increase in flies that are bothering the alpacas. Some of them get sores from the constant nibbling by flies and is not pleasant. I've been putting some of my cream on mixed with clay. The clay of course is good for skin, but it also hides the redness of the sores, which should stop the flies getting to the sore patches. Unfortunately that is not working quite as well as we would like and so they also still get some fly repellent sprayed on them too. At least that seems to do the trick.

The lawn's doing well

Flowers amongst the grass

This last week we took a trip to just north of Riga to see a couple who have got some new alpacas. It was interesting to see them in their large garden. They are hoping for more space but the animals seemed contented enough. We were able to reassure them that on the whole fights at their age are not really something to be concerned about, they are still young. As it is between the less dominant ones they are probably just working out their hierarchy in the small herd too as well as just playing.

The remains of the old small greenhouse, repurposed
as a smaller drying shed again.

A start of another project. There will be a replacement
shed here where the old little greenhouse had fallen down

You can just about see the new greenhouse. The 
potatoes have taken over. No chance to mow
between the rows at the moment.

We have been getting a trickle of visitors to the farm. People are coming in small groups of about 6-7 at the moment. That's nice as it is small enough to handle but the money earned is of course better. One group sent Ian a very nice email afterwards to thank him for showing them around. Obviously they have enjoyed themselves. I leave Ian to it, so I can get in the garden or on with my work. Sometimes I would like to just join in, but then I wouldn't get other things done and I only have so many hours in the day. One family who visited turned out to be someone we had met many years before at Gančauskas, a camp just north of Sigulda that started us off on our journey to living in Latvia. This lady had been there at a time when it was just the two of us, without the children. Not sure if she recognised Ian or not and I've changed a lot since then, but we managed to find her picture amongst ours. I wonder how many more there are who will visit us and will they remember us?

The tomatoes are doing well though

In different colours too

A cloud building this afternoon while I was working
on the project

I'm still working and trying to finish off work projects. I'm determined to have them finished by the end of the week to get some time off before I start on my next project. I'm getting there, it is just taking too long for my liking. At least I got the chance to get in the garden at the weekend but that is another slow job. I have a huge pile of weeds and a long bed and a half of strawberries cleared out now. At least Ian has somewhere to dump the manure to give the strawberry plants a good start for next year. Strawberry season was a little short this year as there were not many strawberries, probably due to a frost at a critical time but they were nice. At least the tomatoes have got going and so we are starting to get colourful salads again.

Our fruit is doing well. I must get some of it in the freezer or in jars.

Raspberries

White currants

Red gooseberries

Redcurrants

Blackcurrants

The one cherry! Actually there was probably about 5

The wilderness garden

Somewhere in between the hemp that self-seeds there
are carrots and dill.

Self seeded pansies

And self-seeded little violas

The day lillies are just about hanging on in there from 
the onslaught of the hop. I think I'll have to move them
this year to give them some space.

A viviparous lizard.

We love collecting mushrooms, but these aren't
on the menu. A hairy mushroom fungus on a
mushroom, a new one to me. 

A regular week

Little Ilvija will be one year old
tomorrow

We've had a trickle of visitors this last week, which is how we like it. Enough to buy the food for the alpacas, without being inundated and means we can still do what we need to on the farm. One set of visitors were friends of ours from up north. I used to stay with them often in Tartu, but this time they came to visit us. The idea had been to set up a tent but the weather was not great and forecast for some rain overnight. Rather than having to take a tent down in the wet, they opted to stay in our greenhouse, which worked well. At least they didn't get wet. The cat was put in the cat box and was quite content to stay there until about 6 in the morning. I was a bit worried that she would disturb them.

An everlasting pea. What a wonderful
colour for a wild plant

Not sure what happened to some photos, they
seemed to get lost in the ether somewhere as
this turned up along with a batch of photos I 
emailed to myself. Need a better system
obviously. This picture shows the disaster I
had the other day with the strawberries. How
can a third of a pan of strawberries make
this much mess?

I'm enjoying the slower pace of work at the moment and I actually got a full weekend off too. Normally I'm playing catch up at the weekends for the time I take off in the week, but this week I got the work done, mainly during the day and a little at night. It does help that during the summer we technically have fewer hours anyway and also technically I'm down to part-time. It did mean that I managed to get quite a bit done in the garden. I found asparagus, brassicas of varying kinds, a bed of strawberries and flowers amongst the weeds. I had a humungous pile of weeds by the time I'd finished but at least I had the satisfaction of being able to see what I've done. There was also a good shower to wash away any soil and settle the plants left in place. 

If you blow this picture up you can see the colourful
plants at the back of the pond. All natural. 

A wild geranium

We also went for a walk in the forest. We went to a special spot where there are cranberries (not ready yet of course) and for the first time I saw sundew plants up there. Maybe they have been there all along but I don't ever remember seeing them before. What makes it so special is the smell. It is worth clambering over the logs through the swamp to get there. It isn't the smell of pine but something very sweet and reminds me of my godmother's place up in the Lake District. I just wish I knew where it was coming from. I have tried to identify the plants but nothing makes that smell when crushed, so no idea what it is. I sometimes catch the drift of it on the breeze in the main part of the farm. It always makes me stop and inhale deeply. We didn't find many mushrooms, as maybe it was a bit cool the other night, but we found enough for a lamb and mushroom pie. I'm sure there will be many more coming through over the next few days with the rain we've had this last week.

The carnivorous sundew plant.

 

I'm quite proud of this picture. I think
the lichen on the tree, really offset this
forest bug - and that is really it's name,
kind of apt for a bug found in the forest.

Yes Brencis! You might actually be a daddy this
next year.

Turbjørn is still causing us some concern and is back on some pain medication. His neck seems to slip in and out of alignment. He's been quite good for Ian as he massages his neck. He just stands there and let's him do it. This is not normal for Turbjørn because he is one of our most nervous alpacas and usually won't let anyone near. He's also the grumpy one and all the other alpacas quickly learn to avoid him. We have the physio coming back out tomorrow and we'll probably have to organise an x-ray before we decide what to do. An operation is simply too expensive and probably not a good option for Turbjørn due to him being so nervy anyway. He could probably do with a neck brace while his joints stabilise, but that is a challenge in itself. At least there is some good news with the mating season as some of the females seem to be pregnant. It is easy to tell with the gentler ones, because when they turn round and tell the male he's not wanted by spitting at him it is a good indication they are pregnant. The more feisty ones are not so easy to know - they haven't read all the alpaca books apparently.

Pineapple weed. The tops make nice little snacks

Cabbage thistles make very
statuesque looking plants, but they
do seed themselves everywhere.

Well as we carry on in our very private bubble it is hard to believe that there is a crisis out there. Then again I can read about it in the news and on my Facebook newsfeed, so what I am struggling to believe is that there are still people who think that Covid19 is a hoax. I understand to some extent that some people are not taking it seriously enough, if you haven't seen the results then it all seems a bit far off,  although don't they pay attention to the news? The signs are not good in the news I'm reading. It seems that people have low levels of immunity only a few months after mild symptoms and so it is possible that people can become re-infected. It could even be worse the second time around. What that does mean is that this could rumble on for quite a long time, clogging up the health service, until people really do take it seriously. 

Common cow-wheat so my app says. It 
is similar in flower shape to wood cow-wheat
which grows profusely on our land. 
They are both parasitic plants.

When I looked this up on the app, it said black
sooty mould and yet it looked so yellow and fluffy.
Then I blew the picture up to see it more closely
and sure enough, it looks pretty slimy underneath
and starting to go black.

So is there any good news to come out of this? Children under 15 it seems are largely immune and so maybe they can go back to school in September. That will of course be a relief to some, maybe many, parents, although I do know some who have enjoyed their time at home with the kids. Outdoor learning would be much better and healthier under normal circumstances and making that more available would be fantastic. Maybe less time in schools for some so that there is room to move around more freely. Outdoors is also good for all of us, so maybe people are beginning to realise that somehow moving a work environment out of the office, at least some of the time might be good. Less air conditioning and more natural airflow. I look forward to seeing how workplaces, cities and homes can be designed for the better in the future, more people friendly, less polluted and more nature friendly. Just maybe, we can make changes for the better - if we take this seriously enough.

Four-banded longhorn beetle on 
meadowsweet

My app says muscina but that could be one
of 27 species. Interesting against the rue 
flowers though

Jakobs and George have been play fighting a lot
just lately and Jakobs and Josefs had blood on them.
There was no sign of injury, no limping or torn ears, 
so no idea what happened. George will probably need
his teeth looking at though.

Veronica keeps plodding on. Considering her legs
are collapsing at the front, they don't seem to bother
her. Her condition is still quite good overall. She is
getting on and is 17 years old now.

Alpacas down! These really, really like to sunbathe

All is quiet!

Jakobs looks such a cutie, especially amongst the
daisies, but don't be fooled. If there is some play
fighting going on, he's in the thick of it.

Well it is kind of, if you ignore the squealing alpacas. Yes mating continues and the squealing cones from the protestations from some of the females. Some alpaca females are fairly compliant and some are not! We have some that sit very firmly in the latter category and do not seem to be relenting. Poor Mr. P. With mating season comes heightened hormones from the boys paddock too and so there is just a little bit more tension between them than normal. It's one of the reasons that Ian has suspended alpaca walks for the time being, well that and Covid19. We don't want the boys stressing any more than they are now.

I'm sorry to all my arachnophobe friends but I 
think spiders are amazing. This one was crawling on 
my leg and I jumped up and shouted to Ian to get
a photo. It wouldn't cooperate but we finally
managed to get a photo anyway. I'm still waiting for
an ID on this one though.

I think even the humble clover looks
amazing. This one is zig-zag clover

Talking about Covid19, I can understand people wanting to get back to some sort of normality but that is not really possible. What is possible is to start to imagine a new normal, where people can spend more time outside in the fresh air, in green spaces or by the sides of lakes, ponds or the sea. Even better a new normal where health and well-being are considered more important than the the economy or the profits of a company. I'm not suggesting that people do not work and walk around in some sort of utopia, but that the working environment becomes much more pleasant and humane. Let's face it, it is better and more productive in the long run to have a healthy, well educated and motivated workforce. It's one of the reasons that I won't buy from Amazon. I will spend ages researching alternatives rather than buy from them. I wish more people would do that and save the smaller companies that actually value their employees. I'm sure it's going to be a tough time ahead as we adjust to a new normal and still have to cope with the virus, but I feel hopeful that so many are ready for a change and the old normal will just not be good enough.

The common hemp nettle, not really a 
nettle or hemp but such amazingly
intricate flowers

A cooler wetter week means...
mushrooms. Yey! Mushroom 
sauce anyone? 

The reason for the quieter week is that I'm finally beginning to finish off tasks and projects. It's also been a cooler and wetter week, so no haymaking but I did at least get some gardening done at the weekend. I found a strawberry patch, I froze some strawberries, I also boiled over some strawberries. How can a third of a pan of strawberries boil over so much? They would have gone off if I hadn't boiled them, but then losing half of the juice over the top of the cooker was just a waste of time and I only ended up with half a jar for my efforts. I also finally got to tame the tomato monsters that had taken over the new greenhouse. I did that while it was raining outside. I say raining, more like a deluge of biblical proportions. When it stopped there was so much water running down the roadway towards the barn that Ian had to dig a channel to divert it. It fortunately wouldn't actually run into the barn but the road gets saturated and making it difficult to the tractor out. All the ponds also filled up and even started overflowing - that usually happens after the snowmelt in winter, not in summer.

Wild strawberries. They are so finicky
to pick but the taste is so sweet and
packed with flavour.

Did I say it had been wet! 

Besides getting some gardening done, the academic paper I should have been doing last week, was finally finished off and submitted yesterday. I had to submit it twice though and that didn't help. Still all is well and now and its going through the process. Hopefully it won't take long to get a response because this journal has a fast turnaround. Some journals take months and months, this one has a month for a first review and 10 days for the second round, only I couldn't make the second round due to my PhD defence, so it had to be a new submission. Are you following all this? No I didn't really. Anyway, as I said, it's done.

George in contemplative mood

But George is also up for a laugh

The highlight of the week was a visit from one of my supervisors. One of them regularly visits us, but this one had never made it down. Anyway he promised his family a trip and they all came. They enjoyed their tour around the farm and we had a meal. As the trip was in honour of the completion of my PhD they had brought an accordion and the two oldest children played some folk tunes, one an English one - which they were delighted we recognised because not many Brits actually know many folks tunes, we couldn't remember which one exactly but it was definitely familiar as we've listened to a lot of folk songs over the years - the other was a Seto folk tune because I've written a few papers now on the Seto people. It was a wonderful way to finish off a meal and greatly, greatly appreciated.

However, we really wish he wouldn't put his head
through the fence, it's not funny and he's broken 
fence posts before now.

Just look at those legs on Josefs in the middle. 
Jakobs is in the front and Freddie at the back.

Sofie has hung around with us
for a while now. She still
disappears off to the neighbour's
place every now and again though

Oooh! What's that, everyone 
come and have a look!

Yes it's just Sofie. She doesn't care much for the
inquisitive attention from Josefs

That's better, she can look down on them now

Josefs is not quite so scary from that angle

Sofie is rocking the mohican look. I had to cut off
a lot of felted fur this year, because she disappeared
off just as her coat really needed regular combing.

Brencis, Mr. P have been on regular mating duties

Mari, with a slightly weird hairdo. I think she needs
a trim again.

Chanel has been very spitty just lately, but still
a sweet girl - most of the time.

Ilvija looking very cute and getting so much like 
her mum.

Just for your information Mr (or Mrs) Stork, but
your on the wrong house, that's the boys' house.