The Journey: Squelch!

The weather may have warmed up, but it is still
rather dreary. I think Silla is singing a lament

The weather warmed up a bit after the wintry blast of last week when we had a good frost, but only a bit. At least it has dried up somewhat and we have stopped squelching around in mud. I was getting to the stage where I thought I had better dig out those ark plans and start building or looking up special shoes for walking on mud. It isn't even winter yet and I've already perfected the penguin walk, arms out, feet pointing outwards (kind of like this Youtube video). I suppose it's good practice for walking on ice. I hope I don't need that much practice though.

Ginger Tom is still a shy cat. Rocket Ron will
jump up onto our laps and loves a good cuddle,
Ginger Tom though is more likely to run away.
He also prefers Ian but that is cupboard love.

The soft lighting and damp conditions makes
Josefs hair look super curly

Ilvija with her pack lunch

Amazingly we still have so much in the garden that is keeping us going in fresh veg. The brassicas are looking amazingly well, so green and red cabbages, Brussel sprouts and broccoli. My parsnips are humungous and the turnips and celeriac are coming along nicely too. We've only just started on the beetroots, one was so large I'm going to feed it to the chickens tomorrow - it looks suspiciously like a cross between fodder beet and beetroot anyway - which it might be. I have a mix of beetroot seeds and plant some for seeds in the following year and since some are for the chickens and some for us, it doesn't really matter that there are a mix of sizes. I've also just remembered that there are the Jerusalem artichokes to dig up, or at least another bucketful for the chickens. They do have some rather smelly repercussions if we eat them, but since we are supposed to be social distancing it doesn't really matter that much I guess.

Ilvija looking like she's had one or two rather good
pack lunches too many. She isn't starving for sure.

Poor Turbjørn. He's struggling and could do
with a massage, the problem is that he is beginning
to hesitate coming in and so Ian's had to stop. We can't
have him stopping out at night with the risk of dog
attacks. Ian's possibly found a source for a heat
pack that goes on horses though, so that
might help enormously. We have to find out
though how the battery does in very cold temperatures
as the deep cold kills batteries as we've found out to
our cost.

Lady V trying out the new minimalist headwear

This weekend I finally got some more pickling done. So now we have jars of piccalilli, pickled red cabbage and I pickled the last of the cucumbers and green peppers. Something to pep up the main winter diet of squash, potatoes and beetroot. It's a good job as I don't think I planted enough onions this last year and the carrots didn't do very well either - although the ones outside are doing okay, they are nowhere near ready for picking yet. Not sure how they will fare over winter, but we'll see. I might try and put a protective bank of hay around them and plastic over the top, like a protected mini greenhouse. My pantry and freezers are full to overflowing too, so we won't be short of food. Ian's a bit worried that it is a portend of a bad winter. I like to think it is just good planning but in reality it is just I did manage to get a lot frozen this year.

A bit bleak these days.

Ian has been busy chopping and stacking wood
ready for the next year

Not the sort of evidence of wild animals we like
to see. Obviously the wild boar are getting active
again.

The drier weather has meant we have finally got our caravan into the greenhouse. We had hoped to make a permanent construction around it this year so we wouldn't have to, but just didn't get around to it. I was a bit worried about getting it in because of the new flattened area just outside the greenhouse that meant there was now a very large edge to reverse the caravan over. Ian found some substantial pieces of wood that had been intended for a bench and used those and it worked well. There was one hairy moment when I had to get Ian to stop quickly, as it was a bit close to the edge, but once we worked out a system for directing we managed it fairly smoothly. In fact, despite my reservations, it went smoother than normal.

That's ma' boy! Tellus at the front, father of
Brencis at the back

Is that my girlfriend over there?

The caravan in the greenhouse. With only the
chicks in the top corner this year and the older
ones out in the new greenhouse, the caravan
has been pushed further back. This is partly
because the greenhouse now leaks rather
badly where it used to go. Another thing on the
list of jobs to do.

I'm pleased we are under some protection now as the wind today was vicious and it felt like sleet in the air. We can hear the plastic flapping about a bit and it is a bit cool in the caravan at times but on the whole not too bad. My Granny's old Arran cardigan is working well, it is so warm and keeps the wind out. We manage quite well in the caravan for most of the year, but it is getting close to needing to move back to the apartment. The apartment needs heating for a start, but also the nights are getting too long and cooking and washing up becomes a pain in the greenhouse as it is cold and damp.

My view is not so interesting while I work these
days. No longer can I look out and possibly glimpse
an alpaca. All I can see now is my washing that is
taking ages to dry. In fact we now are putting it on
the radiator in stages in the caravan with the
dehumidifier going.

The caravan in the greenhouse again!

Finding green grass at this time of the year is
tricky. We don't want them to completely scalp it
but they do generally prefer the grass to hay,
although Ian thinks they may be starting to
prefer the hay now, which means they can stay
in their paddock areas for winter.

We are still not on lockdown here in Latvia, although the numbers did climb rather quickly and new restrictions were put in place, so we managed a little road trip to see someone who has new alpacas. Outside of the cities the numbers are generally fairly low, so still relatively safe. It was nice to get out for a bit and see someone. Ian had mentioned I had graduated last week so they gave me a bottle of apple juice as a present. Very nice it was too!

The reason these girls got some extra green grass
is due to moving the caravan into the greenhouse
(that bare patch in the middle of the photo).
We couldn't move them to this area until the
caravan had moved as Ian needs the space to swing
the caravan round to back it into the greenhouse.

I think we can safely say the new pond is full

I had some good news today from work. I'm getting a pay rise as I they found I wasn't being paid the rates for a PhD graduate, so that will be a nice Christmas bonus. I also have extra hours and some new challenges for next year, so I'm quite looking forward to that. It certainly takes the pressure off trying to work out how to make sure the farm pays its way. It will be still nice to find out how to do that, but for now in these uncertain times we can relax a little and try to think of what we want in place for welcoming back people to our farm to be able to enjoy our alpacas with us.

Rocket Ron looking super cute....

....on top of the caravan with Ginger Tom. It didn't
take long for them to work out it is warm up there.
Don't be beguiled by these super sweet kittens, they
are little rogues and tormenting Eyre. Sofie has
gone to our neighbours again. She likes the
warmth and her hunting skills are greatly appreciated.
Probably good for her as she is starting to get old,
she is over 9 years old now and the warmth of the cow
barn will be good for her over winter. She did
pop back to say hello yesterday afternoon though.