Spit happens

I gather it was a week of sunshine and showers for Ian, but
maybe more showers.

Well as you may have gathered, the last couple of weeks have been a bit hectic. Trying to work in academia and do farm tasks can get a bit tricky trying to balance the various tasks involved for both. They get done though. It is no wonder there were times last week in the conference I attended where I had a gentle dig at comments made by academics when it came to issues affecting farmers. One comment in particular from one young academic was about the apparent need for farmers to diversify. That particular comment is like a red rag to a bull. Of course farmers would like to improve their income but the costs to body, mind and soul can be enormous. It's like telling a nurse that actually if she could take on a bed and breakfast establishment as well as work shifts then her income will be fine. Hello! I don't know many lazy farmers who get lots of time off. Yes arable farmers may be able to take off on holiday while the crop grows but really do they not deserve a holiday? For livestock farmers the issue is even harder. I'd better stop there!

I think all the alpacas have been having a party while I've
been away. Aggie looks like she's been on the razzle

It's hard to believe but two weeks ago, I had just returned from a trip to Finland, this time it is from Hannover in Germany. So just like two weeks ago there was a bit of email catching up to do and sorting out for work. Supposedly I'm on holiday but there is a deadline to make and besides I get a few days off next week, in between more travelling, so I have to be a bit flexible. At least that is one advantage of remote working and everyone seems happy enough with the work I do put in, so all is good.

I'm glad she picked up later. She looks much better now

Even Herk looks like he's had a drink too many

Before I set off to Germany there were a few things that needed sorting on the farm that Ian wouldn't be able to do on his own. We didn't get them all done but we did get the most important ones done. One of the main tasks is the bimonthly trimming of toe nails. We got 16 done in one day and three the next - or to be honest two and a half. Half an alpaca? Yes! Brencis! Our gentle giant is not that gentle when it comes to rear toe nail cutting. Not sure why but he does kick up a fuss but he's too big for me to deal with and hold still when he doesn't want to cooperate. I guess we will have to sort that out this week, one way or another.

Apparently there were still leaves on trees. The gusty weather
over the weekend meant there were none left by the time I
got back

Dear, sweet Chanel. Pity she is just a little excitable.

The alpaca owner's refrain is "Spit happens!" and it sure did during toe nail cutting. Chanel always kicks up a fuss, but she wasn't too bad, we coped and avoided the spit. I wasn't quite so lucky when it came to cutting the toe nails of her baby. I got a face full. Fortunately not full on but I still had to go back and wash it off my face in case it burnt before carrying on. I do hope little Ilvija isn't as bad as her mum when she gets older, I don't think she will be. The only issue will be how long will Chanel be possessive if Ilvija stays with her? I guess we will find out.

Little Ilvija glows like her Mum. She was out for a stroll
this evening though

See! I said they''ve all been having a
party

We had hoped to move the chicken arks and caravan into the greenhouse but decided against it as the ground was still soft and we were running out of time. Ian is regretting that decision as over the weekend it rained, and rained and rained and so the ground is saturated. At least the well is filling up very rapidly despite being pumped out several times to help flush it through, so that's an improvement on last year. We soldl one of the cockerels and then culled the rest to free up an ark so that repairs can be made later. I spent a while explaining to one lady, who I think was vegetarian why it is necessary to cull the excess cockerels. They were beginning to fight and if there are too many cockerels to hens then the hens get harassed. One of our hens has only just got her feathers back after being harassed by one cockerel in particular. It is just mean to keep them for too long unless they have a role of mating for fertile eggs to keep the flock going. Even if we let them go, they would fight or be eaten by foxes so not much of life either way.

I'm not sure Amanda was joining in the party though. Maybe
she is pregnant then. I guess we will find out soon.

Mari looks like she's been dancing all night

With those jobs out of the way, it was time to catch the bus to Riga in time for the overnight bus to Berlin. I would like to catch a train as there is more room to move around, but it is not that convenient from the Baltic States yet. The bus though is convenient, as I can get the international bus from the same station that my village bus goes to. I wouldn't say the seat was that comfy but at least there is enough room to recline without the seat going into the face of the person behind. It also reclines more than an airplane seat and I found I could sleep. I think it is the practice I've had of travelling. The neck pillow I took though was helpful.

I think Jakobs looks like he was dancing like his Mum

The pond is very full now

One of the nice things about travelling to conferences is that I get to meet lots of people from all over the place, as well as make friends with people who they know. It was a friend of a friend who I organised to meet up with in Berlin. I'm not particularly fond of cities and so no burning ambition to go sightseeing, but if I can stop for a chat with someone then I'm happy. There wasn't much around the bus station apart from mainly fast food eating places. There was a restaurant with a view over Berlin but my new friend was not particularly fond of heights and this restaurant was 55m up a tower.  I wasn't keen of the staircase and wasn't sure if there was a lift so I wasn't keen either, not with my suitcase in tow (if you fancy a visit, here's the link). We decided that the American diner worked the best for us and it didn't turn out too bad if you ignored the rather rude or laidback service, depending on your point of view.

With the leaves gone off the trees it's
easier to see across the road to the
other section of our land. I love the
misty look in this photo

At least Freddie looks like he would
never be out partying

So after a lovely lunch with good company it was off to Hannover. I did have one heart stopping moment as the bus pulls away - where was my handbag? It had slid behind under the seat, but fortunately for me the kind lady behind found it. I arrived in Hannover mid-evening and found where I was staying easily enough, but then realised that I hadn't got the details to get in. I think it was my fault but with a quick hunt through my emails on my phone and a text to the owner I was let into a lovely apartment with a nice clean room and comfy bed. It was a nice place to stay and the lady even bought me some black tea because there weren't many black tea teabags left. She taped one teabag onto the handle of the door for when I got back after my first day at the conference, so I would know they were in the drawer where the teabags are kept, which was very sweet of her.

Leibniz University where the
first day of conference was held.
We moved to the Hannover
Conference after that.

The conference week had some long days and early starts so that comfy bed was very welcome. I think that is probably why I don't feel so worn out. I also didn't have to do any cooking all week, which made a nice change. I hadn't been to one of these kinds of meetings before and they had been going for 10 years, so I was surprised to meet quite a few of the people from my summer school in Peyresq, France from about 5 years ago. One of the keynote speakers was also a fellow student on that course and we had gelled as two older ladies. I was surprised she remembered me as she is a busy kind of lady. I managed to embarrass myself when a young lady walked past who I recognised and she recognised me, but I couldn't remember where from. It wouldn't be so bad but it was only the week before in Helsinki. I guess I had the excuse I had been on an overnight bus the day before. It must have addled my brain more than I thought. She was very gracious though and I found out she would be joining us for an evening dinner.

Mr. Cool. I don't think being at a party would ruffle George

One aspect of the conference made me realise what a rich life we lead. The conference dinner was rather pricey. It was great that I got to chat with a lady who does work with communicating research to people on the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland who would be affected by climate change.Many traditional activities would be affected with the knock on effects on tourism and a whole way of life if, as they expect, sea ice does not build up in winter. No cross country skiing across the ice, no ice fishing, no driving on the iced up areas and so on. Life would be very different!

But don't be beguiled by his sweet looks. He's the naughty
one who eats through fences, just like his Mum

Anyway the meal itself was nice, but felt rather ordinary. It was all locally produced and ecological. Errr! Yes! It tasted nice. I had guinea fowl with green beans, broad beans, pine nuts, salad and pesto sauce. It just did not feel very special when we kind of eat like that anyway. Okay not the pine nuts and much pesto sauce, but we quite often have wild mushroom sauce instead - it's no big deal when you have a forest. All our vegetables are locally sourced, either from our own garden or gifts from others. I haven't had guinea fowl in a while but grass-fed lamb, grass-fed chicken, elk, wild boar, beaver sausage once, organic goat and so on. All locally sourced. We eat like kings.

I love the balustrade on this house. This
was on my walk to the conference. I always
try to make sure I get to walk from where
I stay to the conference centre. 

Of course it was interesting getting to know some of the research going on, but it was more interesting meeting new people and reconnecting with others. I did manage to recognise one name, a fellow PhD student who used to take me in his car from Latvia to Tartu for some of the courses we did together in the same year. I hadn't seen him for a few years, but it was good to hear what was going on in forestry in Latvia, whilst on the field trip to the lovely Lüneburg Heath. There were other people who I did not know but were at the same university that I work for, but they knew me. The head of department had been telling them about me and the fact I had alpacas. One of the guys and I had quite a long conversation on alpaca care to see how they might work for conservation purposes on some of the sensitive heathlands. Not sure if it would work but it might be something worth investigating and I was able to point him in the direction of the Estonian Alpaca Association, which he hadn't realised existed and also to say that he would be better talking to my husband too. So maybe we could organise a university field trip to alpaca farms - now that would be intriguing.

It's hard to believe that much of Hannover is actually
reconstructed as it was decimated during the second world
war.

The week flew by and my waistline may have suffered again, although I was fairly good and didn't snack often. I wasn't happy though on my last night in Hannover to be woken at 3:00am by a text from the company I had booked a train to Berlin with to say they had booked me onto the later train. It would be a bit tight to get from the train station to the bus station. I looked to see if there were any other trains but to re-book on those would have cost a fortune. I had to leave it till the morning. I woke early and looked at the train times again and then the bus times. It was possible to book on the bus an hour earlier than the train time and I still had time to make it to but had to rush to make it. I had told the hosts I would be getting the 10am train and so had to leave a note to say I had to leave earlier and hope all was okay. I gather it was as I got a nice review on the AirBnB site, as a quiet hardworking guest.

Slept in?

Fortunately I made the bus and it didn't cost me much more - although I shall complain about that, it shouldn't have cost me extra at all. It would have been helpful to have had more of a choice in timing.  At least I didn't have to work out how to cross Berlin, it just meant an extra hour sitting on a bus. I went back to the diner for lunch where the service had improved since the last time I was there, which was a good job as I didn't have as much time for them to mess around to eventually serve me. In fact the older lady was very pleasant. I had more space on the bus to Warsaw as the adjacent seat was empty and I had the chance to spread out. Unfortunately that wasn't the case for the nighttime but I still slept. With plenty of coffee, tea and lunch in Riga before my bus home to the village, I was fine, but it was still nice to see Ian turning up in the wind and the rain that greeted me on arrival in Latvia.

Munching away. There isn't much grass so they've been
eating more hay. It's probably good for them as it is easy for
them to get too fat.

I was back to work this morning and learning to work in the coolish caravan. It can be warmed up quickly enough, so not too bad at night, but during the day we try to be economical. It was a bit of a chilly afternoon though as our local vet came around. She wants to learn how to make blood slides so she can check the blood of the animals she cares for. Ian was showing her what to look for. A step back in time for him as it would be over 30 years since he learnt the techniques. It was amusing for him to think about the guy who taught him, as I guess he wouldn't have thought how useful that skill is on an alpaca farm in the middle of rural Latvia.