It's a process

Hello! Lolly is fully weaned now and she seems
to have accepted this graciously. She doesn't
bother Ian for milk in the morning. 

Well not quite a monthly blog, but getting that way again. There have been more changes since last month, but it is all part of our regularly yearly cycle. The timing changes, to some extent, but they still happen. We are back out in the caravan as the animals are going way at night so late that it is difficult to find a sensible time to eat together. Fortunately, although the nights are cool, they are not that cool that they are unbearable and so we made the switch. Okay, -6C overnight was a tad cool but snuggled up under a quilt and blankets it works, plus the radiator is only an arm's length away and soon warms up the small space of a caravan.

Wearing our presents from one of our 
Australian grandsons. Not quite sure
how long it took to first get them to us,
via the UK and then for us to finally get
around to taking a photo, but we did it 
in the end. Oh and please ignore the hat
hair - bit of a problem at this time of the 
year.

Tuesday 5th April

Finally the snow is beginning to clear properly here. I drove up to Estonia recently for work and it was amazing to see stretches of land with no snow and then I got back to our land and there was still 20-30cm in places with hardly any grass showing. Gradually, gradually though it began to reduce in height and larger stretches of grass.... errr... I mean moss began appearing. As the snow got thinner larger areas of green appeared quite suddenly. It is startling to see green where earlier in the day it was white. We still have the occasional snow or hail shower but nothing that lasts and it finally feels like winter is drawing its last breath and fading away. I know, I know... it can still turn white, it is still early April and we are far north. 

Saturday 9th, yes a dusting of yet more snow and 
not much difference to four days before.

And three days later, Tuesday 12th. I
do believe it is finally going.

Well are you going to feed us
or not?

The normality feels deceptive whilst reading the news. The horror of the situation in Ukraine is awful, especially as I have read the history of post-Soviet countries. I can't even begin to imagine the sheer awfulness of the butchery that has been meted out on civilians, but a shudder went through me when I heard of people being bussed to locations in Russia, which sounds so innocuous but isn't. I've read about the forced deportations from Latvia to Siberia during the Soviet era and it is frightening to think deportations are happening again. This is not a benign action to take people to safety, this is a systematic attempt at terrorising a nation. A nation that knows its neighbour has been guilty of deliberate mass starvation (Holdomor) and forced deportations in the past. 

The crinkled effect of melting snow

The gas oven all cleaned up
and ready to go in the 
greenhouse! As you do!
Mind you, not sure how 
much use we will get out of
it this year, if there is a gas 
shortage. Good job we are
not dependent on it, we have
other options.

Another aspect that horrifies me is the slow response of governments to change for the sake of peace. Oil and gas is the currency that keeps this war going. On the one hand governments are supplying arms to support Ukraine and on the other the nations are paying out for the gas and oil that fuels such butchery. The reason given is that it would decimate the economy. War decimates an economy. War in Ukraine will have serious impacts on economies. When people die due to bowing down to the economy, then the model is wrong. One thing I have learnt over the years is that things like famine are not a failure of harvests, it is a failure in society. Famines happen when society lets it, after a failure of a harvest. There is no reason for sections of society to suffer unnecessary hardship due to a severe shock to the economy if the rest of society pulls together and works together then everyone can weather the storm. 

Yes the storks are back. Really! Look hard!

I guess the frogspawn will be appearing soon
then.

We only have to look at how Ukrainian refugees are being absorbed into societies close by to see how societies can pull together. It is possible to take care of and support others going through a bad period. This, of course, will not be a short-term event. Even if the war ended tomorrow, not all will be able to go back. Some will need to heal, some will make a new life in a new land because they do not feel able to go back, some will have to wait until there is some restoration of their homeland. We are in this together until we are through it, which we can, if we want to. I know I don't want to live in a society that puts the economy first and people second. The economy should serve the people and not the other way around. 

Oooh! Sunshine! I'm not one for sunbathing like
Silla, but I know how she feels to see that 
sunshine again.

The paddocks have been pretty wet as the snow
has melted. Mind you, it is surprising where the
water appears at this time of the year. How is
it so wet on the top of hills? 

So what do we do now? Grow as much as you can. Hoard or not to hoard? Maybe hoard what you will consume, like societies used to do before the advent of ever open supermarkets - in other words, store your excess from the summer for the winter. Share what is needed. I had thought I would take a year off from growing veg, but I've put that idea on the backburner. I'll throw in what seeds I can and hope for the best. Maybe help will turn up? Who knows. Our cabin is on order and as soon as this snow goes and the ground dries enough to stand on we (or Ian) is out there preparing the ground for foundations. 

Tasty!

Someone needs a haircut!

So is it crazy to be planning veg beds and cabins with Russia rattling its sabre? Who knows! They seem to be pretty occupied at the moment and we are in a NATO country, unlike the poor Ukrainians. So we carry on and wonder what we would do. We have the kind of animals you cannot just shove in the car and drive off, so that complicates matters. How do you even process these kinds of thoughts? I guess we don't. We watch, we wait and we pray, or stick our head in the sand, whichever is the most appropriate at the time. We have food, we know how to grow food, we know how to store food for the winter without using electricity, we know how to forage. We've already had our first meal with wild greens of the year - admittedly they were growing in the greenhouse. Does this prepare us? No not really, but it helps.

Arrrh! That's better I can see now

Greeeeeennnnnnn! Well nearly! Kind of
green anyway

At least with today's accessibility to information there seems to be more time to make the kinds of decisions to leave if we had to. I just wish someone would turn off the tap that fuels these kinds of atrocities (no pun intended), wherever they are in the world, not just Ukraine. We need to get serious about renewable energy for a more sustainable future in more ways than one. Let's hang on in there and be kind! Please!

There's nothing like a good scratch, but could you
do this while being 8 months pregnant.

Finally outside enjoying the sunshine and finding
the odd blade of grass.

The wagtails are back

Just chilling! 

The snow is getting further and further away

Mr. Tellus

A crane. They've been back longer

Not snowdrops - but snowflakes.

We don't know how much is snow
and how much is manure in these
beds yet.

The snow wasn't deep enough to
protect this bush that was trying
to be an apple tree.

Slowly, slowly melting

Rocket Ron is still an active cat but Ian had to take
him to the vet today as he's got ever so thin. We are
hoping it's just worms, although he was wormed 
recently. He has expensive kitten food, several 
injections and big tablets and he goes back to the
vet 26th.

The willow is budding

There are still a few piles of snow around

Who needs to dye eggs? Actually I think
the light was playing tricks on me. There
aren't really purple and pink eggs, more
a delicate hue perhaps, but they really are
green eggs.