Sunshine!

Yes really! That yellow ball of light is sunshine!

Yes! We really do have sunshine. Not only do we have sunshine we have had sunshine for the past two or three days, with blue skies too. Bliss! It does mean that it has got pretty noisy around here. Often it is so quiet you could hear a pin drop, but at the moment we hear chainsaws, strimmers and tractors as people get jobs done while the sun shines. We are no exception and Ian has added to the noise from time to time. Not to mention the 4x4 cars that kept going past all Saturday. We saw more cars in a day than we normally see in a month.

I got to feel George's coat this week and it is super soft. I'm
usually quite a good judge of fineness, so I'm hopeful that
his turns out to be a good fleece

We saw the first flock of geese heading south-west tonight though. In Latvia they say that the geese fly off two weeks before the first snow. I do hope this group have got it wrong. I know it is due to get colder and we have had snow in mid-October before but please not this year! Not yet!

Frederiks is such a cutie. His fleece doesn't feel quite so soft
but it is very dense, so probably still a very good fleece
producer

It has been, shall we say an entertaining week of sorts. On Tuesday I went into the village as normal as it is milk day (as is Friday). This means that unless I have dropped a bottle off earlier, I need to be in the village by 8am or thereabouts. It has become a bit of a bind this year and probably one we will not continue next year after we move back out to the caravan in spring. We will see if we can source the milk more locally or worse have to get supermarket milk. Not keen of the supermarket idea, so we hope our neighbour will supply us. We haven't wanted to change as we have had our milk delivered to us for near enough 10 years now from the same lady and when we are in the apartment delivery days are not an issue. Oh well! Times change and we have to adjust.

Glowing in the sunshine

A contemplative moment

Anyway, as I was saying I went in as normal and did the normal Tuesday type jobs, such as get a shower, do some washing, bake cakes and bread and bottled up some tomato sauce. I also did some sewing on my sewing machine. Not so normal though I ended up clearing what appeared to be a leak from our upstairs neighbours in our other apartment- fortunately not a big leak and one that had stopped, but as always a bit of a concern (we have had a few leaks from upstairs over the years). Also fortunately it had leaked onto the vinyl floor that is sealed so no worries about causing other issues and only needed mopping up. As I set off to go home that evening though I tried to start the car and it wouldn't fire up. It didn't sound good at all, so I phoned Ian. He managed to get a lift with one of our neighbours who was heading back into the village and they came to the conclusion there was an issue with the starter motor.

More contemplative moments and a spot of sunbathing 

Gathering on the few dandelions that have popped up 

Sigh! I was relieved though it happened this week and not next when Ian is due to go on his travels. Our friend who gave Ian a lift was kind enough to lend us his wife's car. She was going away anyway, so wouldn't need it for a few days. Unfortunately the car is just a two wheel drive car and our land was rather squelchy from all the rain. We managed to get the car on, but then got it stuck in a trench that Ian had made to divert water off the roadway. We resorted to pulling it out with the tractor and was able to park it where it wouldn't get stuck getting off the land. What a day.

We put in some barley to suppress the weeds. It is supposed
to be green manure over the winter too, but it has gone to
seed and looks healthier than any barley we have grown
in the fields. Typical it might even ripen too or not if it
snows

It still amuses me the balance of alpacas when they have an
itch to scratch

The next day Ian went to the garage to sort out getting our car repaired. The mechanic asked if we could tow the car with our friend's car, but it was not something we wanted to risk, so he got an old Fronterra and the mechanic and Ian went to collect our car from the village. After bump starting our car they got the car going and they both headed back to the garage (as Ian said, why didn't he think of that! Well it is not something that would have occurred to me either). Along the way though the Fronterra developed a fault and when Ian caught up with it, there were clouds of steam coming out from under the bonnet. Ian ended up towing the Fronterra back to the garage. Our car was fine until it stopped and then it wouldn't start, so not an issue to tow the car.

One bowl so of course the cat has to sit in it

If you go down to the woods today, you're
sure of a big surprise

That was a bit of a wasted day since it was a day without rain, but we still got the chance to get out and find mushrooms. We got a nice load of chanterelles but there weren't many other mushrooms we recognised as edible, enough for our evening meal and some to dry at least. The next day was wet again and during a discussion a few days previously we had decided on the next wet day we would have a brainstorming session. We decided to discuss what we want to see happen on our land and what our values and focus were. We were doing quite well and we were both reasonably happy and positive about the ideas when the phone went. Our car was ready! We decided to go straight away, so we could return our friend's car back as soon as possible and we also decided that since it was still rather wet, we would have a drink and cake at the bakery. End of brainstorming session!

Well that was a big surprise. It was huge.
Unfortunately also past its best

And as for these spiky little chaps

The next morning we woke to the rumble of thunder. It was quite weird as we could feel the caravan shake with each rumble. At one point we heard a crashing sound, a tree near our pond had come down. The weather cleared up after that so Ian went for a walk and found a few more trees had come down in the morning storm. I think the rain soaked ground and the buffeting wind had been just a bit too much. We managed to get some jobs done that day and so we didn't get back to the brainstorming session until the evening, by which time we were both a bit tired and cranky. That didn't go too well, but we still made progress. We decided that if we were going to make any progress our caravan had to have a permanent shelter and not one to move in and out each year. This would free up the greenhouse to make it more suitable for a workshop.

Really weird

You can see the stump of the tree in the middle of the photo.
It makes the place look a bit empty now, as it was the only tree
growing in a swampy area

The girls out in their extended area. 

Our land has beautiful rolling terrain and so trying to find flat places for buildings, even small ones, can be a bit of an issue. It took a morning of discussions to finally settle on a spot for the caravan and a method to house it that we think will work and won't require any special permission to build. It is also close enough to the greenhouse to run electric to. We also decided on where to put a barn. We had decided on an area before but realised that wouldn't work with the caravan. Such a palaver! If that goes there, then that can't go in that spot, but if we put that there... and so on! We are not sure if it will happen this year, as it depends on the weather when Ian gets back, especially with those geese flying over. The forecast is dry for now, so I guess it is unlikely to stay that way for much longer. We do at least have the wood to build it. The caravan has served us well, but it will not do so out in the sun and rain every year for six months of the year. It needs a cover and it definitely wouldn't last long in the winter weather, hence the need to move it into the greenhouse every year.

The finished fence

The last two days have been glorious and so we finally got the girls fence wired up. This is a huge area covering about half a hectare or just over an acre and the posts had been in since May. While Ian is away the girls can be just left to roam around in it during the day and I won't have to worry about moving fences. It also means we won't have to worry about visits from the boys. We nearly had an incident this morning. We were sat in the caravan having breakfast when Ian issued an expletive and said "Mr P's just walked past the caravan". I didn't compute what he said straight away but knew by the tone of his voice we had to move fast. We got outside to see Mr. P. heading up to see the girls, he had obviously missed them. Fortunately he knew where to go and wandered up to the gate where we eventually managed to catch him. There may have been some bribery involved and it wasn't quite that simple but we got him in the end in a relatively short time. Ian harnessed Mr. P up and walked him back to his own paddock where he was confined to calm himself down and forget about the girls.

The boys were really excited about all the extra space,
especially George. I'm not quite sure if Aggie wanted to join
in or was just exasperated with George for getting too close
at huge speeds. 

Our view at morning coffee yesterday. Mr. P. staring at the
girls, pining again

We are not quite sure how he managed to break the fence, but they will be getting a new area to graze tomorrow, as Ian was out putting up a new one this evening. The problem is that they exhaust the grass quite rapidly at this time of the year and have to be moved often to give the grass a break. At least with the girls behind their big fence we now have more spare poles to make the boys grazing area bigger and even if they get out, they can't easily get to the girls. Our only worry would be Veronica really as the others are almost certainly pregnant. Mind you, Veronica knows how to put up a fight when it comes to amorous males and she hasn't wanted any of that sort of thing. It is not something we want to risk though, she is too old and she is retired.

We'll have none of that carry on!

Playing the waiting game

Posing in my wellies

It was my daughter's birthday this week and in a Skype conversation, she mentioned she was rather fed up with what she could eat for breakfast, so I managed to find something suitable online and sent her a breakfast hamper - actually hamper is too posh for a cardboard box, but it does sound nicer. Thank goodness for the internet that makes that kind of gift possible these days.

Agnese at one year old

It was also Agnese's birthday this week, unfortunately Ian goes out to our land before the shops opens and so no cream cake for her - not that she would have appreciated it, but Ian would have. Despite the appearance of the stork on the ladies’ alpaca house, we still do not have any new arrivals yet, well not of the four-legged variety. We have new arrivals in terms of seedlings, which have finally started poking through the soil. The soil must just have been too cold, because within a few days of warm sunshine and some rather heavy downpours, we now have different sorts of plants popping their heads up, here, there and everywhere. Some are welcome and some are definitely not so welcome.

The stork on the ladies' alpaca house but still no little
arrivals. Maybe just scouting out the area

Storks are magnificent birds though, when they fly

Well the raindrops do look pretty hanging off the oak leaves

The weather forecast at the beginning of the week was not good, more rain and some which was predicted to be quite heavy and prolonged, so Ian got on with cleaning out ditches, adding more ditches where needed etc in preparation. He also ensured that there were bales of hay nearer to the animals and made a cover for our periscope, aka mobile internet (if you have no idea what I am on about, you will have to take a look at the picture) to stop it raining in down the pole. On the day though, the rain was nowhere near as persistent over us. To the East and to the West it was though, so I feel sorry for the farmers in those areas. The next day after that was colder and wetter than predicted and Ian was feeling pretty fed up of not being able to get on with work – although it didn’t stop him getting on with digging the beds in the greenhouse. We are way behind on that work, with tomatoes only just going in today.

The periscope, aka mobile internet. The gadget is inside the
margarine tub, which is covered in gaffa tape. The cover
Ian made for the hole is from a cup from an old broken thermos
flask. The bad news is, that is just another excuse not to throw
anything away, the good news is, it works

Sunflowers coming through

There are some short beans in there
somewhere

Orchard plot, finally tidy

As I mentioned the rain did dry up though and we have had a few days of some quite sunny weather, hence the seedlings coming through. I managed to get the orchard vegetable plot tidied up at last, which was a relief. I have even started work on the new plot, which is showing a lot of grass growth, rather than much in the way of seedlings. They are there, just the grass is more visible. I have spent a lot of time outside rather than on the computer, which has made a nice change. I just wish weeding was not quite such slow work. I also planted up the climbing beans and made a nice wigwam terrace, as Ian calls it. I had asked for bean poles over the winter, but I think they ended up in the shredder and so Ian had to cut me some new ones. It is nice we have a patch of thin tall young trees that needs thinning out. I would have got them myself, but I’m useless with a machete or more likely lethal.

Climbing beans planted and construction for them to
climb up

I got the beans planted in and cossetted with some hay to keep them from drying out or being buffeted by the weather – it is a good job I did. Just as I was finishing off the structure for them to climb up, some very black clouds rolled in and we had the first thunderstorm of the year. It was a good test for those ditches, but I was not so thrilled about the hail. My poor beans! Fortunately the hay mulch protected them, as did the construction. Unfortunately the construction itself got a bit of a battering in the wind and a third of it had to be set straight again after the storm. With the clearer skies, I went back to sowing peas, since the ground was nice and moist, but I just got started on that and more black clouds rolled in. Talk about speed sowing. I got them in and got into the caravan, just as the next thunderstorm started – fortunately not as ferocious as the last one. It was a bit frustrating, because if it was just a rain storm, I would have worked in the greenhouse, but since it was a thunderstorm, I would rather be in a tin can than a plastic/wood construction.

A very obvious baby bulge there on the right. 

It does look like a lawn with stripes

Whilst I was planting beans and finishing off the construction, Ian was mowing the lawn – okay not quite a lawn, but from a distance it now looks like a lawn. The cow parsley was starting to come into flower and the dandelions were heading into making seeds, so rather than let that happen, he cut everything on a high setting. The alpacas are not fond of long grass and so Ian will often cut the grass before putting them on it about a week or so later, so cutting the field does not matter to them, especially when it is on the high setting as there is still plenty of grass to eat. The cow parsley is a biannual and so hopefully by cutting it back, it should be greatly reduced in a year or two. It would be simpler with a weed killer of some sort I’m sure, but since we don’t like using those, we do the best we can to manage the weeds. Cow parsley and ground elder which we have been battling for a few years now are not favourites of the animals and so we are trying to ensure they are definitely reduced. I think it has been working, slowly. Dandelions, whilst not great in a field, as they have a habit of taking over, are at least nutritious for animals and they will eat them – especially once the grass is getting low.

The flail mower that Ian has been using to cut the lawn. A
normally very trusty machine but seems to be suffering today
and as I write this, Ian is in the barn trying to service it.
The service book is out

Greening up quite nicely - well if you like grass too

Big bird having a rest, before the fox had a go at her

We did manage to get to see some friends of ours this week – the ones with the goats. Her goat business is doing really well, which means they haven’t got a lot of time to see us and we have been so busy with the start of the season, we haven’t had the chance to see them either. Unfortunately our visit coincided with a visit from Mr or Mrs. Fox and so one of our good egg layers went missing, whilst we were away. A couple of days later there was a commotion and our cockerel was strutting up and down the field sounding the alarm, with a very muddy looking big bird following him gingerly out. We didn’t realise it at the time, but we think the fox had a go at her too. Ian managed to get hold of her to check if she was okay the next day and found she had a nasty gash on her back, so we cleaned it up and set her in a box for a quiet day, away from the cockerels.

At least the amaranth has germinated quite quickly

And the hemp is getting away well too

The tooth-a-matic for cutting alpaca teeth that arrived last
week. Yes that is an angle grinder with attachment

I haven’t had all week away from academia; there has been time to finish off a short paper for a conference in August, as well as finishing off marking the Masters thesis, that I was doing last week. I found out that one of my Masters students got an A for their Masters, which I am very pleased about. I thought he might, it was well written and so I am pleased someone else thought the same and it gives me more confidence in my own ability to mark work. Still not sure how the other student has gone, but I think hers not due for another week or two yet and since hers will be written in Latvian, I will not have the opportunity to read it apart from a summary, which is usually in English. In addition to all that I have worked on Sociology lessons and worked on THE paper (the one I have been doing for soooooo long). I may have cracked the problem there at last, with some help from a friend who happens to be a Sociology tutor. The answer for that might have been hiding in plain sight. I'm also signed in for the Latvian Rural Communities Parliament, which happens this week as well as a development forum that is running some parallel sessions that I was invited to join. So this next week will be a bit different again.

The critical tenplate that makes the operation so much
easier - apparently!

Storms in the heavenlies

The Heavenlies are churning

It has been a bit weird today. A thunderstorm started around two in the morning and it didn’t really shift until about two in the afternoon. I’ve never known a thunderstorm roll on for so long. It makes me wonder if this is part of an answer to prayer. On Saturday I was walking between our two apartments and a strong breeze was blowing and I started praying for the winds of change to blow through our village, for the hidden things to be revealed and justice to flow. All through last night I could sense the flashes of lights, but there wasn’t a great deal of thunder that I could hear - I can sleep through thunderstorms though - but each time there was a flash I kept thinking it was angels zipping through the room. I remember thinking I know how the disciples felt on the day that Jesus was betrayed, as I couldn’t keep my eyes open I felt so sleepy. It was as if I was sensing something changing but was too tired to work out what. Well maybe that is the meanderings of sleep befuddled mind, but if things start changing here in our village and justice happens for the oppressed then I shall be very happy.

A Bumble bee gathering pollen from one of  our
numerous, nay billions of dandelions

Of course it might not just be our village where justice starts to roll out. Only this week the facade that Latvia is doing very well after the financial crisis swung open. A report finally mentioned that people are not doing well in Latvia, no matter what the GDP statistics say. A UN expert raised concerns about the problems of the poorest and raised concerns that the economically active are leaving the country, he also stated that the improving economic situation had to address the issues urgently. It makes sense really as these issues do not aid the sustainability of a nation’s economy.

The tadpoles are getting big

I am writing this blog in our caravan out on the land, not that we have the internet here but I can still use my laptop to type this up. The rain has been that heavy from the thunderstorm that it was even been bouncing off the ponds and the overflow pipes between the ponds are gushing, even the middle pond that loses water easily is full to overflowing and so there wasn’t a lot of chance of getting on with much but I did manage some greenhouse work. Ian has been out in the rain checking on all the structures;


Horse box - needs a new top
Workshop that will become the alpaca home- the roof is no longer leaking, so that’s okay
Greenhouse - a leak on the apex but no big issues
Barn - fine

What was nice though was being able to sit in the greenhouse and the caravan and watch the rain, only a few years ago we couldn’t do that as there was nothing built. We also spent a bit of time divot stomping. I only found out yesterday what divot stomping was, I had no idea. If you are as clueless as me, a divot is the raised bits of turf from a polo match and at half time spectators get out on the field and stomp them down. Now we don’t have polo matches on our land but we do have pigs that nose up divots and so it was those that we were stomping down since the ground is quite mushy.

The overflow from the top pond, to
the middle pond. That is a lot of
water!

The rain reminds me, we think we may have worked out what the issue is with the orchard. Some of the trees look like they could have canker usually a sign of stressed tree but some of them look fine apart from the fact they are not coming into leaf. Our Swedish friend suggested that the high water table may have killed them off and that makes a lot of sense. We do have issues with water coming up in random places all over our land, even on the tops of the hill and so the water table must be high under normal conditions. In addition last autumn it was quite wet and this Spring it took a long time to dry out from the snow melt, not helpful for our trees. I should say though that our Gingko tree survived (or Gecko tree as it gets nicknamed in our house- well it sounds like Gingko doesn't it?) but that’s about it.  This means we have to either abandon the site of our orchard or do a rethink. Drainage is one option and it is on a sloping site so that helps but it will take a lot of drainage pipes as ditches are not an option, another option is to grow the trees in raised areas so that their roots are not sat in water, or some combination of the two. 

Enjoying being outside, although safely confined in the ark

On the animal front we candled the second batch of eggs, but we haven’t the experience to know for sure if they were viable or not. We did get two out of the fridge to compare them and that gave us a lot of hope that we have quite a few viable ones as there was a significant difference. We will try again next week as I think it will be quite a bit clearer then. The chicks that hatched out two weeks ago are now out permanently on the land as they just got too big to keep inside. They have grown so rapidly that they were bumping their heads on the mesh that keeps them safely penned in their box. They are not big enough to go outside all the time though and they are going to spend their nights in the greenhouse with some fleece over the top of their box to keep them warm and shade them from the early morning sun as the weather has been forecast to be warm (mind you, they hadn’t really forecast this thunderstorm, so I hope we made the right decision). On fine days they can go outside in the ark that Ian made, which they thoroughly enjoyed yesterday, but of course it was much too wet today to put in the little chicks which haven’t got their proper feathers yet.

Ian has been stripping the bark off logs
ready to make fence posts for the alpacas

We also have good news on the alpaca front, it seems like the Latvian veterinarian department are passing the responsibility to the Swedish vets and as long as it is fine with them, it is fine with the Latvians - that sounds like it is good to go then! Well nearly! We still have the issue with the transportation and might just need to spend a little time sorting that out this week.

I actually did some babysitting this week and was due to start at 6:30am. I woke early though as our darling, blessed cats managed to knock over a clothes airer and were making a right racket at 5:30am, at least it meant I didn’t sleep in! The children were supposed to sleep till 8am but as is usual in these cases one woke up before the parents left for work. Still I got to watch Rio, a film about a blue Macaw, not sure of the exact details as it was on very low and in Latvian anyway. It was funny though watching the places I have seen in Rio but cartoon caricatures of them. All kind of familiar but not familiar at the same time. Despite the language problems the babysitting worked out quite well, the oldest of the two chatters away in Latvian and I chatter away in English and we both nod and humm in all the right places as if we understand each other perfectly. It works!

Yes that's me in Rio. I had long hair then and it wasn't so grey
It is taken from the look out area where the Statue of Christ
stands.

Not the best video quality in the world as I was just using my camera phone but this is Ian ploughing with the two wheeled tractor again this last week. As he says, "Once the plough is set up right it goes really well!" Usually takes him about five rows to remember (I'm just as bad by the way, always forget the best way to set things up until I'm up and into it). I think he should add his findings on the blog, one for future reference to remind himself how to set it up and if anyone else ever wanted to know. Mind you a better video camera would be needed to do that.

Re-imagining a new world, does prison start with this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18121914

Good times

Our attempt at a Latvian style hay rick. Not too bad for our
first time

It has been a busy week this week, still hot and humid with lots of thunderstorms too which has added to the mix making planning work on the garden interesting. My young helper left on Tuesday and we had great fun chatting about faith and gardens, squishing caterpillars and building our first hay rick on Latvian style wood supports. There is so much that can be learnt from the garden which relates to faith, such as the necessity to remove those things which maybe good in themselves and yet inhibit the growth of other things which could be developed, a useful lesson to learn in a busy life. Anyway she did not leave empty handed and took with her bags of carrots, lettuces, beetroot and beans and pots of marjoram, sage, mint, lemon balm and chives to start her own indoor garden. My young helper is very concerned about the way tea plantation workers are treated in many places and since fair trade tea is not readily available here in Latvia she decided that growing her own herbs to make teas in the winter would be a better option. I love it when the younger generation get passionate about justice and she is hoping to get a website up and running soon to voice her passion, so as soon as it is set up I shall pass on the website address.

Gančauskas 2002. This building was originally a KGB
place, can't remember if it was for training or for holidays

This week was an important milestone for us as it is 10 years since we first visited Latvia. This was the start of our journey that took us to Denmark, America and finally to live in Latvia. Our Latvian experience started at Gančauskas camp where we travelled to this last Thursday to meet some friends of ours from our old church in the UK. They had come to help out at an English camp for young Latvians wanting to improve their English, just as we had done all those years ago. Normally when we visit our friends in camp we only manage to snatch some conversations as they travel between activities and so it was great to be able to sit around in the staff kitchen drinking tea and chatting away during some free time. It was also an important milestone for some of our friends who have lead the teams to Gancauskas for many years as it was their last year, time for them to move on too!

Our indoor mini forest of sweetcorn. It
is now around 3m high, only another
metre to hit the roof!

We had a visit from Simon Bell who I first contacted after finding papers he had written for a PhD on how Latvians feel about their countryside. Very few academic papers are written on Latvia in English, I found out whilst doing my studies, and to find a paper written by someone with an English sounding name was very exciting and I wondered what connection he had to Latvia. An internet search lead to his website and I contacted him. I was surprised to get a response and we met up last year at his holiday home in Latvia and chatted about forestry which is his main area of expertise, PhD's and life in Latvia. This week he and his wife paid us a visit and we went for a walk in the forest, or rather Ian and Simon went for a brisk hike through and his wife and I wandered through at a more sedate pace. What we did glean from the walk though was an outline management plan and it confirmed to us the trees we need to keep and those that need to go, we also found out the most common tree in our forest, alder a pioneer species, does not live very long before getting diseased and dying and so it wasn't a problem to get rid of it and let in some light to other more valuable species like spruces, oaks, maples and birches. At least we feel much more confident with our approach to managing the forest. By the way getting rid of many of the alders is not a major problem as there are still lots of the other trees too.

A ginormous mushroom, possibly a cep and edible but we
didn't try it.

I still managed to keep up with some of the internet feeds that I keep an eye on for the sake of my studies and it was great to read that in Brazil they managed to pass a major anti-corruption bill that bans anyone convicted of a serious crime from standing for office for 8 years. I have been to Brazil three times and I have sat in one of the states government buildings and I know from those times the way corruption weaves itself into the life of Brazil and so this is a major major breakthrough. Even more amazing is that 1.5 million people signed a petition to get the bill through the governmental processes despite the fact that 147 out of 513 members of the lower house and 21 of the 81 senators will be affected by this law and not able to stand at the next election. This is a huge victory for democracy and for people power and I really pray that Brazil can go from strength to strength as they clean up not just their governance but also their society at large.

Meet Fred! I found him (or her) in the cabbage patch and
thought I would keep him as he is huge, rather than squish
him like his numerous cousins. I was wondering though
if he is edible!

Another article was the way that Haiti's peasant farmers have said no to Monsanto "aid" and yes to local native seeds. Monsanto have seemingly generously offered 400 tonnes of seeds of which 60 tonnes have already been delivered. The Haitian farmers though have realised that this will then lock them into future purchases of seed as the local native seed will be ousted and not grown. Reduction in native varieties of seeds puts farmers in greater danger of pests and diseases. Greater variability of seeds developed for the various environments is the ideal situation for a healthy vibrant seed bank, and not reliance on expensive herbicide dependant seeds from a major international conglomerate.

The oddest cucumber we have ever grown, looks rather like
a duck we think

The Latvian fireservice have had a major boost this last week too with news that the US army corps of engineers are to fund developments in many fire stations. Amazingly they will actually pay for local companies to be employed to do the work so that they are not only improving the safety of communities but boosting the local economy too. Wish many missionary organisations would take note too, instead of well meaning goods being shipped from long distances which are not always useful if the goods need repairs which cannot be accessed locally and sending folks to work on projects when people here need jobs to boost much deflated wages. The funds are being made available to fit roll top doors to fit the new larger fire engines which have been funded by the EU, so many of the fire engines in service at the moment are ancient looking beasts that look like they came out of the ark, rugged four wheeled drive but ancient looking nonetheless (must get a picture of our local fire engine). Our own local village fire station was offered a newer engine by a German twin town and it makes me wonder if it will be too big for the little place, I guess I will have to wait and see.

Our neighbours are rather generous, these are the second
gift of zucchini we have had this week. The first lot there
were three of them. Good job we have a freezer and a
food drier

These strange contraptions are the internal structures of
the Latvian hay ricks that Ian made ready for the grass he
cut the other day.

Ian is on a roll with the two-wheeled tractor and spent a
whole day cutting this steep, pig roughened, bank 

And while Ian was making hay ricks I was carting stones to
build up this bank. Our second pond is still emptying fast
which gave me a chance to get lower down to add more rock.
Good job as that night it absolutely lashed it down and now
the pond is full again and staying full for the time being.