Another week over

Ilvija is turning into quite an inquisitive little soul

I finally got some garden jobs done this week. I reseeded some carrots, beetroot and fodder beets. I had so few that have actually germinated that I had to do something and now the rains have arrived it seemed the best time. I sowed carrots in someone else's garden and they germinated but mine didn't - timing has been so critical. At least there is still time to grow smaller carrots but maybe they will not reach maincrop size, we'll see. It has been such a slow start to the season due to cold, then the drought and now the season is slipping away.

Not a bad view for an evening cuppa

I thought we had lost this rose this
year, it took so long to come
through. Fortunately it did and it is
still a lovely colour with a
wonderful smell

I even had help this week, which was great. Now tell me, how many teenagers do you know, who could correctly identify plants to make teas with no prompting? Not only can identify them but also know how to prepare them to make the tea? That was the sort of help I had at the weekend. I now have lovage (a herb that tastes a bit like celery and coriander/cilantro but without the hassle of growing celery) in the solar drier and marjoram tied in bunches drying in the barn.

I have been trying to collect
examples of the biodiversity on
our farm. A yellow crab spider
apparently. 

Ian has been busy too fixing the horse
box. It should have had its technical
 a while ago, but no time to sort it.
It is a pain as we usually collect hay
with it, but this time we only have
the tractor.

I also have all my peas staked up. My helper was able to go into the forest and sort out the right sort of sticks for stakes and with only a little initial guidance. I got the peas weeded and the beans staked up while all that was being done. We also prepared a bed out of some rotten wood to put the blueberry bushes in that were bought at the beginning of the season. Watered all the plants in the greenhouse by hand, because we still don't have enough water in the pond yet to use the pump; recaptured three escaped chicks; cleared a bed ready for some garlic bulblets and talked about plants.

After some cleaning

One of the many number of medicinal herbs in our fields.
This one is called Self-heal in English and Parastā
brūngalvīte in Latvian.

My helper is so fascinated by plants and their uses I suggested she take a look at ethnobotany as a possible subject to study. It may have some very valuable uses in the future as crops fail and we have to reconnect with a wider variety of food plants than we do now and going back to ancient uses may therefore be helpful. Maybe we will have to go on some visits to different places to find out more, because along with her other accomplishments she is also pretty fluent in English too, so I think we would both find that an interesting day out. It was also fantastic to get so much done in one day and we both wondered where the day had gone because we were just getting on and chatting from time to time.

Aggie has been a bit miserable this week. She doesn't like
the heat and she doesn't like other alpaca's babies. The little
ones learn fast to avoid her

Lady V, unlike Aggie is a favourite Aunty Alpaca. Ilvija
will often sit with her.

I was working on my paper again based on the two reviews I got last week but just as I was nearly finished, I got the third and final review in. It was a weird one. The reviewer said I needed to add a literature review, which I already had, just not called a literature review. They also suggested half a dozen references to articles in tourism journals. My article is not focussed on tourism and it is only briefly mentioned. There was a common factor though in most of the article suggested - one particular author. Hmmm! Fortunately the editor also suggested that we did not need to include references suggested by reviewers if we did not feel they were needed. More hmmmm! I suggested the changes we had already made would answer one of the criticisms made and sort of ignored the rest - in an academic way of course - by explaining full references were not given, so not entirely sure which ones were recommended and being in tourism journals meant they were not really relevant.

The grapes are growing well

They are even starting to change colour

We've had a couple of trips out this week, both in the rain. One half day trip included a trip to the hairdressers, collecting some chicken food and visiting our friend's alpaca farm nearby to update our records for the data centre that we have to do twice a year all rolled into one. An eclectic mix of tasks, but all very much needing to be done. My hair was truly awful, we had completely run out of chicken food and the data centre update has to be done this month, in fact we might have been slightly late for it. All was done anyway.

Fleabag formerly known as Flossie. She was dashing around
the greenhouse tonight, so we thought we had better
investigate. Sure enough, three fleas were found.

Sofie on the other hand, couldn't care less 

The other trip was today, to go and shear three alpacas. Ian had made it clear that they had to be kept in so they would be dry, but the person who organised it forgot and so they were drenched. Having said that, we went to have a look anyway, as we were over half way there when we found out. When we got there we realised that we wouldn't have been able to shear anyway. There was only a covered area for shearing and not an indoor place and it was raining pretty heavily. There were also only two who needed shearing and not three, one was too young. Fortunately they paid for our travel and our time and we will let them know when we can organise to come again.

The idea was they would be on here while the cria was little
so we could see them. She arrived so late, they ate most of
the grass and now had to be moved to behind the alpaca house.

Chanel is a very attentive mum

One of the reasons we haven't been able to get out of course was our little cria, born last week. We had been waiting and waiting for Mum to give birth and so off farm trips had to be kept to a minimum. We then couldn't be away for long at first, as mums don't always seem to ensure their babies are safe from rain or sun. They maybe intelligent in many ways but not always with respects to their babies, certainly not Chanel anyway. She is very, very protective of her babies and goes into a panic if she can't see her, but that doesn't seem to extend to ensuring she is in the shade or undercover when needed. Chanel wasn't keen of us weighing little Ilvija every night either. At least we knew she was putting on 200g to 300g every day, so obviously she was being well fed and thriving.

This photo makes me laugh. Chanel looks like she has a
cigarette in her mouth. Trust me, she does not.

Just don't you come near me!!! No I will not play! I am not
your Aunty Mari.

It seems there have been more awful outbursts from President Trump this week. I am appalled that he is still supported by Christians. We should learn to disagree in politics but it should never be acceptable to stir up a crowd to shout, "Send her back" or "Lock her up". This is not the 1930s Nazi era. It is not just thoughtless, it unleashes forces that should never be unleashed - the power of a baying crowd. I cannot think of one single reason for backing this kind of behaviour. His actions destabilise the world by enabling other leaders to justify their own actions. The US has lost much in moral leadership and sadly not the only country to do so.

Just how?

Dane's blood. Strange name, but there
you go. A less sinister name is clustered
bellflower, which sounds quite boring
in comparison.

I have got a sample of this to decide whether
it is St.John's Wort of St.Peter's Wort

Oh yes! Mushroom season has begun. These
are Orange Birch Boletes - at least I think they
are. What I do know is they are perfectly safe
to eat.