The Journey: That time already?

The sun comes up further and further round
in the sky each day.

It is amazing how quickly the days are getting longer. Ian is coming back from our land later and later. There is only Friday now that he comes back before 6pm and that is because he visits the bakery on the way back home. The owner only lives next door and so she doesn't mind if he arrives after they have technically shut, but he doesn't like to leave it too late. It is still a bit too cold to move out to the caravan, but it feels kind of close, even if the weather forecast doesn't seem to suggest it yet. The mud doesn't suggest it should be soon either. It is not much fun being out on the land and bringing mud back into the caravan, even though caravan is still in the greenhouse at the moment.

Freddie our gently timid soul

I love the golden glow of the early morning
sun on the snow

It's another meeting kind of a week for me, as I have quite a few short meetings arranged individually with my students to see where they are at. I only had two of them today, but I really enjoyed chatting to them. It was just a pain that my internet was a bit slow at one point. These are the kinds of students who give me hope for the future. I know life might be tough after graduating but with their care and creativity, the world stands a chance and it is a privilege to be their tutor, if only for a short time.

The snow has come and gone several times this
last week. Only now the snow is wetter and
less powdery.

It was still deep on the 9th March

But today's scene is not so pleasant with mud
and puddles everywhere.

One rainbow dress as requested.

I managed to finish off another of the patchwork dresses for my granddaughters this weekend, now only one left to do. It's a good job as it's not so easy to finish off things like this when we are back out on the land. I haven't really got somewhere to put a sewing machine and a bit noisy anyway for an evening cooped up in a caravan. Looking forwards to being out in the caravan does make me wonder if this summer I will be coming back to our apartment to clean it ready for a guest, or will it be another quiet summer where I only come back to do the washing, shopping and visit the bakery.

It's not spring yet and no grass, so we are not
coming out!

Vanessa has ventured out

I managed to get out to our land this weekend. Our alpacas were in need of toe nail cutting and Vitamin D injections. Brencis was the only one up-to-date because we had to have help for him, so we took advantage of friends bringing some alpaca food. This time we prioritised the girls because some of them are expecting in summer and doing all of the alpacas in one day is a bit hard on my arms if they don't behave. Vanessa's crew were relatively good, except for Valeria who has quite a kick on her, but I think she may have stunned herself by kicking the shed and not us. Ian also checked to see if he could feel any progress from the two babies we are expecting in that group. They are still a little way off and most of the growth is in the last two month's so not too much activity yet but he could feel something was there anyway, so that's good news.

Someone's else has ventured out too

But did I tell you it is muddy

Aggie with her, "I'm not talking to you face!"

Aggie's crew were rather more problematic. Aggie was definitely not pleased to see me. She knows it means that we are going to do something. Still we managed. Ian had been able to separate little Ilvija from her Mum so that we weren't covered in spit. Chanel sure knows how to express her displeasure at messing around with her baby. That didn't mean it wasn't spit fest though when it came to doing Chanel's toe nails later. I got caught twice and so need to clean my coat. Sigh! We also ended up cutting her toe nails with her laid on the floor - not as easy for Ian but easier than trying to wrestle with her when she's up and down. Mari was her usual feisty self, not too bad but not exactly very cooperative either. After that we were ready for a cup of tea.

Yep! Definitely muddy

Such a crisp clear shot. He does well does Ian

Later on I managed to dig up some Jerusalem artichokes for the chickens. Ian feeds a handful of them to the chickens in the middle of the day and he'd nearly run out. The ground wasn't too hard underneath the snow, and it's easy to see where they are as I didn't cut back the stalks in autumn. The cats have taken a liking to the Jerusalem artichokes too if they can get hold of them - strange cats. They've been eating manky potatoes as well that they found, however they do look surprisingly well nourished on it. I have now deposited the manky potatoes far enough away for them not to find them. It's not as if they don't have enough to eat, they do, along with any mice they catch. The only other job I got done was to sieve some rotted wood chips for some compost for planting seeds in. Now I just have to get myself organised to do it, along with learning more Latvian, which is still ongoing.

Aggie looks tired, bless her. Only another few
more months Aggie.

Only another few more months before we try to
get this sweet-looking alpaca pregnant again!
Vanessa is really good at standing still for toe-nail
cutting but put a male alpaca near to her- sheesh!

Have I mentioned the mud?

Snowdrops poking through at last

We had the last of the Brussel Sprouts out of
the garden. Some survived the weather better
than others. I think the ones that were under the
snow lasted the best, or maybe it was just the variety?
Hopefully find out next year.

The start of a new strawberry bed, the easy way.
No digging, just dumping the alpaca manure
directly on the ground, well snow and then this
will be planted with squash in the summer and
strawberry plants in the autumn.