The final push!

A panoramic shot of rain clouds on the way. Noooooooooo!

The field is cut but what are the strange shaped
clouds?

I've said it before, but haymaking time is nerve wracking. We have EU subsidies to cut hay on some of our fields and the cut off date is August 15th for regular payments. The weather has been so unpredictable this summer that there has been times when the forecasts said no rain and we had rain, then there have been times when they said it would rain and it didn't. This does not make an already unpredictable but vital part of our calendar a nightmare to plan. Haymaking can occur any time between the end of June till mid-August and of course depends on the weather. If it is very hot, it can be done in a few days, or like this year it has dragged on and on and on. We have three main areas to cut, these are the main part of our land in the areas not eaten by our alpacas, our meadow - or what used to be a ski hill and a neighbour's land. We managed to get the neighbour's land cut, the main section of our land cut, albeit we lost maybe a quarter of the hay when the weather turned but the ski hill was left till last. 

Amanda does look tired. Hopefully she is pregnant, she certainly
does not like to see the males going past now.

Ian's boots were falling apart. He forgot to take them to the cobbler
in the big town, so he decided to fix them himself

They are very robust boots, so he drilled some holes and fixed 
them with wire

Surprisingly, they don't look that bad.

Potato beds

Finally the weather stabilised and the forecast was for no rain for a good long period of time. It was also forecast to be fairly hot and sunny, so perfect weather to get going. Ian started the process as soon as the grass has dried out after the overnight dew. The following day he turned the hay in one section and then the next day he started on the steep section, meanwhile I was in the garden cutting the tops off the potatoes to reduce the risk of blight getting to the tubers that will carry on maturing in the ground until we get around to digging them up (they are still a bit new to get the out just yet). I was surprised to see Ian but no tractor. The tractor had died. It just stopped working in the middle of the field. 

My companion when I was cutting off the potato 
tops. I don't think he/she was happy about me removing
his cover and certainly wasn't happy about me 
relocating him or her to somewhere safer. It peed on me

Another companion and an unwelcome one at that. 
Colorado beetle larvae, a significant potato pest. I was
only telling someone the week before that we hadn't 
seen any in a while and most potato crops are too far away.
Anyway it and its companions have now been dispatched.

The visitor attraction has now been cut. The flowers had gone
over anyway and it has to be done before August 15th

Josefs got a telling off from me tonight as I had to put them
away, since Ian was baling, and he bumped into me.

We managed to get some neighbours to turn the last bit of hay before we had a couple of showers of rain - not great for hay but with continued fine weather, not the end of the world. Thank goodness for good neighbours. Ian then spent Sunday working on the tractor to try and find the fault before the rain stopped him as the tractor was still stuck in the middle of the field. He thought it might be a faulty ignition switch, but after taking it out, that turned out not to be the problem. He finally traced the fault to a wire between the ignition switch and the fuse box. Apparently the wire must have rubbed on the fuse box bracket over the years, until it rubbed through the insulation and shorted out. He has never been so relieved to find a singed piece of metal that confirmed his suspicions. So the bracket has been altered so it doesn't rub on the cable and the cable re-insulated. The tractor is now working and Ian is in the middle of baling as I write this blog. Hopefully he will be finished soon and we can eat. Tomorrow will be a hay shifting day to get it all undercover before Thursday's predicted rain.

How many bales? 269 off the ski hill you say? Good job, I'm 
eating for two (at least we hope so!)

A knot grass moth

Freddie with his bandage on.

I've worked hard this week. Most of the blackcurrants have been picked and processed. I also started the process of preserving the tomatoes for tomato sauce for over winter. As I mentioned above I've been cutting off the potato tops and weeded the plots while I was at it, which took me a bit longer than I would have liked. I've also been spending quite a bit of time fixing alpacas. The hot weather has meant an increase in flies and all the alpacas with vulnerable skin have been struggling with attacks from the flies. Each one seems to have a different reaction. Herkules has another growth on his leg, similar to a reaction he had a couple of years ago. I thought we were getting on top of that, but now the bandages keep working loose. Freddie seemed to have developed more of an ulcer, but some cream from the vet's and the bandages seem to be working on him. Veronica was developing a few red spots on her back legs but that has been sorted with my cream mixed with clay, the same with Aggie. Well until tonight when the flies have now got to her leg. Another one to bandage up in the morning.

Herk's bandage is slipping down. We've tried the t-shirt but he
knows how to take that off. For goodness sake Herk! It would
be much better if you kept the bandage on. The growth will 
go away much quicker.

I extended a flower bed for the irises that a
friend gave me. I also added some lavender
that she has grown from seed.

Who me? Would I do a thing like that? 

Now Chanel!!!!! Oh my goodness! She is a sensitive and spitty soul at the best of times, more so when she is pregnant and she seems to be now. The plan was to get some oil on her back legs overnight and then to wash it off in the morning. No chance! Ian could not keep her still long enough for me to get her scaly skin covered in oil. We had to abandon that idea. Normally she improves over summer, as she gets out in the sun and onto the fresh grass, but this year she didn't. So we are now trying Vitamin D (with a few other vitamins because they are in the bottle), some metabolites and Vitamin B complex to try and boost her immune system. She does seem to spend a lot of time indoors and she is a dark alpaca, so she may not be getting the full benefit from the sun this year, plus it has been overcast. It is weird, but giving her injections isn't as much of a problem. She didn't seem to bother as much about that, but she was not going to let us in to look at her legs. We'll just have to see how she responds to that as the stress could just exacerbate any other type of treatment. Sigh!

Sunbathing again!

Yup! And this group are all at it!

Such a hard life.

Angelica

Other than that! We've picked mushrooms from the forest and dried them. We also been backwards and forwards to the village for bandages etc. for the alpacas, diesel for the tractor, to do washing, get plastic to cover the hay bales, fuses for the tractor, the bakery, shopping - it's a good job it isn't far. Normally we don't do that much running backwards and forwards to save diesel and wear and tear on the car. We try to keep it to once a week. Ian also had a trip to the big town to get baler twine. Annoying now there is not a tractor supply place in the village now. 

These mushrooms are easy to find, they grow in 
our greenhouse. Very tasty too.

We think Aggie's pregnant, not only is she spitting off the males,
she's very grumpy and here she is getting ready to spit at Ian if 
he gets any closer. 

Miss laid-back Mari. It's hard to tell if she's pregnant as she isn't
the spitty sort at all. We thought she was, then maybe not and
now Ian's not sure at all. Let's see what she does next time
Mr. Tellus pays a visit.

Mr. Tellus sure has a spring in his step. Not bad for an old chap
and the girls do like him, when they aren't pregnant.

Mr. P. has finished on mating duties for this year. 

Finally! We had visitors, or rather we didn't have visitors. Ian had an email for a visit from 25 children and four adults, he responded and then the night before but no confirmation, then the night before there was a flurry of communication and they were coming, but later than originally planned. We tidied up the greenhouse a bit, so that there would be more washing stations and then Ian got a message to say they weren't coming. The greenhouse needed tidying but we both have other jobs to do than prepare for visitors who then change their minds. It is amazing how many people ask to visit and then change their minds or turn up late - as if we have nothing better to do than wait around for visitors. It is a good job that the vast majority of people are not like this, otherwise we would seriously question whether we open for visitors or not. Rural areas are supposed to benefit from tourists, but I sometimes wonder. So many of our friends are seriously cheesed off with visitors who do not behave or do not do as they are told or do not obey notices. It is not as if the hosts are being awkward, we just have other things to do, we have our animals to keep safe and we have visitors to keep safe. Maybe people should go on courses before they are allowed to visit farms.

Looking for shade

Daisies are pretty

Fortunately not as many hornets (pictured here) or wasps this
year. Mind you, hornets are not quite as aggressive as wasps

Turbjørn is doing okay. Not as good as we would like, but he seems to be better in himself

Bee balm

There is a vegetable garden in there somewhere.

Marshmallow flower

So happy with my waterlilly. It's still blooming away.

Blueberries are ripening

He looks like such an in charge chap! Apart from he isn't, he's
a coward really. This week when I was doing something in the 
greenhouse when I heard a commotion from the chicken arks.
There was something about the noise that made me think that
the pine marten might be back, so I ran down and next thing
I see is an eagle flying off. I went to check on the chickens and
I think it had been pulling at the netting to get to them. No wonder
they were freaked out. 

Not a plant I wanted to find. I think it's ragwort
which is poisonous to alpacas and many other
animals. I pulled it up.

Grape season is on us. Plenty of little ripe ones to snack on.

More strange clouds and you can see more of the field where
Ian has cut the hay

With love - tomato style

I think the tree must be sick, but with what.
The insects are going mad over it. There are 
flies, lots of musk beetles, hornets and butterflies

They seem to be feeding off something but what?
The grass is also dying around it.