A good week

Sunshine and showers along with some warmer weather

It is those little miracles in life that help. We started off by getting three important things done whilst in the big town. We finally got the cash books stamped at the tax office, so we can officially once again write up any cash we receive. Ian got a pair of army boots that he is finding very comfortable to wear around the farm. He is a bit tired of boots that fall apart and he is hoping these ones will buck the trend. They are proper leather for a start.

A gorgeous sunset. By the way, sorry for no pictures from
Estonia, too busy either shearing, talking or driving

Unfortunately the alpacas are not liking it so much. Except
Chanel, who seems to be a bit of a sunworshipper

The third job was to get a contract for the internet on my phone and cancel our Wifi. This saves about €5 a month, so that helps to make our savings go further. It was amazing to turn up at the phone shop and there was no queue - that's unusual. Then the lady behind the counter was a relatively helpful and smiley person, the last few times they have been quite grumpy and we got it sorted with no hassle. Even better.

Having thought Lady V might be pregnant, now we are beginning
to doubt it. It would be fairly miraculous if she was though

Aggie looking a little worse for the wear. She is still not
enjoying the pregnancy lark we think

The next job on the agenda was to get the apartment in a fit state for visitors and washing done. All sorted! It still needs finishing off for our long term visitors, but for now it was fine. It feels like one of those Chinese puzzle games where you have to move something first to be able to move the next piece. Slowly though it is coming together, although it looks worse now than it did in places.

Says it all really

Thursday morning was an early start, as we woke up at 5am on a very frosty morning (-7.3C) to head up to Estonia to do some shearing. We hadn't had a response from those in the very north of the country and the big breeders decided to do the shearing themselves more gradually, rather than over an intense few days, so it meant that two days was enough time for us to get the shearing done. To be honest it was enough for us too, as we have other jobs to do on the farm and our own animals are not sheared yet either due to the cold spring we have had so far.

Aggie is not the only tired one

Ian used the bad hay from the hay bales to cover the wood
pile that will gradually rot down to give us some rich soil

Shearing this year was very different to last year. We were much more relaxed, we had 14 to do in one day, which was a long day. We got there about 9am to set up and with breaks to eat we finished at 9pm. It wasn't too bad for the first shearings of the year and Ian quickly got into the swing of it. We also enjoyed the abundant food on offer and the perfect time to talk alpacas. Next year it is likely to be a two day job as he increases his herd.

Mari does look funny sat like this

We stayed overnight at my regular haunt in Tartu and then went to two sites the next day with three alpacas each. Ian was able to sharpen his own combs and cutters with the grinder he bought last year. This is one of the biggest reasons for the more relaxed feel to the shearing, besides less to do. It meant he wasn't worried about running out of combs and cutters or jetting off to get them sharpened, which usually entailed a longer wait than we liked. Also the fleeces of the animals seemed much cleaner and they weren't so long and overgrown. Altogether a much more pleasant time. We enjoyed last year, but it was stressful

Crowing at the moon! 

We arrived back home a little later than anticipated and so the animals were a bit reluctant to go away. The sheep eventually went in, after running in and out several times. All the alpacas bar Tubjørn went in, but he regularly ends up left outside anyway. The chickens, however, would not go in and I regret not making them. The cockerel started off by crowing at the moon and kept that up intermittently throughout the night, consequently I had a very interrupted night's sleep.

Ian got some ploughing done. We are not planning on doing
much of that this year. We will use this to put in buckwheat
and squashes. 

Saturday was another cleaning day and Sunday we were off to the airport to pick up Ian's brother and his wife. Ian did the usual notice of Griezites Alpakas with their name below. They laughed when they saw it. We've had a great time. The sun has shone for some of it and they thoughtfully brought us some rain to water in the seeds. We even had our first thunderstorm of the year. At least we had a good few showers rather than one torrential downpour - something we badly needed. Ian has talked a lot about alpacas and this is the first time we have been able to show some of his family around our land. They now see why we love it so much.

Mystery solved?

Such a sweet little alpaca.

We went to Estonia again to shear alpacas. We managed six out of ten on the first day and Ian became more and more frustrated. The shears were just not cutting well and seem to be blunting very quickly. Not all of the alpacas were with year and a half long fleeces, which are challenging in themselves (some of that fleece was about 20cm long and tangled together) but many of them had fine fleeces. It still should not have been that hard. We ran out of combs and cutters again - something that should last many, many more animals.

The black alpaca paces up and down the
fence each and every day eyeing up the
ladies. He once broke through the fence
but made a mistake and ended up amongst
the beef cows, who are not so friendly.

Sharpening our cutters and combs

We ended up travelling to see a lovely guy who had a slightly hippie look about him with his long bushy beard. He was a shepherd who had about four hundred sheep (if we remember correctly) and despite being on the older side and living in an out of the way rural place, he spoke quite good English, which suggested another side to him that we didn't have much time to enquire about. We did find out that he had been to Wales to shear a few times. He had also taken part in competitions and taught on shearing courses. His son was a champion shearer until he came down with Lyme's disease. He sharpened our shears at a fraction of the cost that it normally costs us in Latvia and he agreed that some of the combs were quite badly scoured, suggesting that the grit in the local area was causing us problems.

While Ian was observing to pick up tips, I marked some
students work, so this was my office for the day. Amazing where
you can work these days

Wile looking very smart with his new haircut

We got to our friends who have a large alpaca farm and managed to shear all but three of their alpacas, theoretically leaving us enough combs and cutters to do ten the following day. We should have been able to do all of them, but it was all taking too long and Ian's frustrations bubbled over at one point. Added to Ian's woes the transformer broke and so we couldn't cut teeth either. Our teeth cutting machine is American and so will not run on European voltages. Despite all the problems though, we have been well looked after along the way. We have been fed well and treated kindly, with many paying Ian extra for his work in appreciation.

Our hobbit home for a few days. It also has a sauna, but we have
not really got into saunas, but it made a lovely place to stay.

The girls looking shadows of their former selves

Alpacas and ponies

The last place we went to was a farm with ten alpacas and forty horses or ponies. The guy had a look at our transformer but could not see what the problem was, so he pulled out an old Russian contraption. It looked rather alarming and I was relieved to see a modern tester also appeared before Ian plugged in the tooth cutting machine. The guy even had something that would take an American plug to attach to the contraption. There was something about the chap though that made us think he knew more than the average person and in our chats later we found out he was a retired physicist.

Back at home Estelle is getting bigger every day

Trying to keep cool during the day.

We managed two alpacas before Ian's machine was starting to struggle, but earlier the guy had said he had also bought some shears, but just didn't know how to shear with them. Ian asked to borrow his to see if it would do any better and showed him the technique along the way. It started off well but before we had finished the whole animal it started to struggle - it wasn't Ian's machine then. It must be the local environment.

The rain has encouraged the barley to germinate

Barley poking through - at least where the crows have not
been digging it up

Buckwheat too has started to show through

The left hand side is where the girls were and the right hand
side is the newly fenced off area

We didn't shear any more but we sat down to a lunch of salmon soup and discussed alpacas and life in general for the rest of the afternoon. It was a perfect way to finish a frustrating few days. He did mention that he hoped people in the UK would see "common sense" and vote to stay in the EU. He could not comprehend why the people in the UK would vote to exit the EU at all. This shearing venture has cost us more than we would like, but we have learnt a lot and also met some great people along the way. Most will have us back too because Ian is the only alpaca shearer in Estonia and there are even problems finding sheep shearers, one person we met is working her way through around 50 sheep by hand. Our friend with the large farm felt it was easier to sort out the fleece when Ian was shearing, as sheep shearers do not shear the blanket - or the best wool- first. They also shear so fast that it is hard to keep up - not one of Ian's problems yet. It will be different though when he gets a grinder to sharpen the cutters and combs on-site. It will quickly pay us back just in reducing stress and wear and tear on the car.

Spring planting of broad beans, kale, mizuna, beetroot together
with cucumber and peppers for the summer. 

Strawberries in the greenhouse

 Ian emailed the people where he took his shearing course to see what they said. They suggested that it could also have something to do with the fleece density. Our animals have quite dense fleece - apart from the crias who are notorious for collecting grass, muck anything in their fleece and so it means that the dirt does not get right down into their fleece. We also do not have the grit and these two factors explains why Ian doesn't have as much of a problem with our animals and has been having so many with some of the fine fleeced Estonian ones. So I think it is mystery solved now.

We shall have grapes

Fencing off the garden to protect it from wild boar who love
potatoes

It is still dry here and we haven't had any significant showers since last week's rain. Of course that rain was enough to encourage plants to put on some growth spurts and so Ian has had to mow paths and strim around many of the areas that need to be kept neat and tidy. We attempted to put up the fence around the garden and got over half done before the mosquitoes drove us inside. We will finish that off in the morning when they are not so active. I have also been trying to finish planting up the tomatoes but not quite got there yet. At least I have finished off my herb bed and most of the vegetable plots are tidied.

Chanel and her happy quizzical look

There is water to drink, honestly! So of course she has to drink
the rice water that I drained onto the path

Brencis 

Thank goodness our land does not have lots of gritty areas.
Alpacas love to roll

All of them do and the whites end up looking grey at first

Not quite sure why Sofie has taken to sleeping near the
chickens. She was not a happy cat today, we had to give her
the second dose of worming tablet. She is the only cat that
I have not been able to get a tablet down successfully
in no more than two attempts. She was even trussed up
 in a towel by Ian as I attempted to get the tablet down her
throat and then wash it down with water. Even tried cake!
There is no kidding that cat and she can foam out a tablet.
Still we sort of managed in the end.

We had some visitors over the weekend too. They are neighbours to us, well 2km away, which counts as neighbours in a rural area. They have wild horses and come every weekend to see to them and had heard about us, so paid us a visit. She was thrilled that we love working here in such a rural place. In her words she saw through our eyes what a wonderful place the area is. Like in many things, it sometimes takes an outsider to see the extraordinary in what to us is an ordinary place.

Outdoor broad beans and onions for onion leaves

Showing the advantage of pre-soaking carrot seed and the disadvantage
of sowing them too thickly. I obviously should have added more peat
to spread them out more

Cherry blossom time

Had to mow a path down to the office

I found out today that my presentations for the end of each year of my PhD have been very favourably received by the people doing the evaluations. All I knew was that I had passed each year without too many questions or hassles. I only found out because my supervisor asked if I had any presentations and ideas that other students could follow because of the positive reflections he had received on my presentations. Nice to know I am doing something well.

Dignity

Some soggy looking alpacas. Notice Veronica our older and
more sensible alpaca in the background - she isn't venturing
far in the yucky weather

I had a Latvian lesson this week in return for letting someone make felt. My teacher is nine years old. One of her parents is English and the other American but she goes to a Latvian school and therefore is able to use both languages competently. I told her that I would have to ask her a word lots of times before it sticks but we had fun making felt anyway and have plans to make some presents. Trying to find a teacher has been a nightmare and so we will see how this works. Mostly she told me about her school and what she does, she told me first in English and then in Latvian so I could hear both. I think that worked quite well.

Soggy messes and the winter isn't supposed to be over yet

As the weather warms up the cut surfaces of the felled alder
trees start to oxidise

My young Latvian teacher's Mum is doing a Masters in Music Therapy and we often chat about studying and various aspects of our work together. She had a brilliant idea the other week of us having a writing day together. We would each work on our own pieces in the same room. It helped to concentrate my mind for sure and we occasionally shared what we had written and commented on that. I actually got two pieces of work completed in the morning, which was great. We both have a lot of writing that needs doing in the next few months and so hopefully we can work together some more and encourage each other in the process.

My attempt at painting an alpaca. I'm happy
with the way it is going but not happy enough
to say it is finished. At least it looks like an
alpaca

A little cherub

Ian and I finally managed to work together to get something spun and knitted with the wool from the alpacas. Ian carded and spun the wool and I knitted this cardigan. This little cherub is my youngest granddaughter, so it seems fitting that the cardigan also has buttons from my grandmother's stash that I inherited. My grandmother was one of my teachers and an inspiration for knitting. Many of the jumpers (sweaters) we used to wear were knitted by her. I have to admit though my granddaughter didn't smile all the time whilst wearing the cardigan, she did find the collar itched a bit, which is a shame. Her Mum will try some fabric softner on it first and if that doesn't work will sew in a piece around the neck. At least there is plenty of growing room in it.

Remembering cold, sunny snowy days

On bus number two of four to get to Estonia. This is an old
army town in Latvia and would have been off-limits to
even most Latvians in Soviet times

I am up in Estonia again today. It is a long time since I have made it up here and on the way I stopped off in a small Estonian village for an interview with a lovely lady who has an open heart and an open house. An American couple helped me with the interview since they know the language and have known the lady for many years. I love hearing stories from people who have such a generous heart and although she has three of her own children, there are many more who claim her as a Mum in their own lives. She had invited two of her grandchildren to be there too and they were testament to her generous nature, as they were infused with it too.

The boys were locked in one day because the paddock was so
icy they were in danger of hurting themselves

The snow starting to go Wednesday

At least the welcome at this dear lady's home was warmer than when I set off this morning. Last week it had warmed up a lot and just about all the snow disappeared into a wet sludgy mess. However it snowed overnight and so there was about 10cm of snow again this morning and more than up here in the North ironically, but that is because it is at a lower altitude. I have come to expect warmer weather here in Tartu than back home in Latvia.

By the afternoon of Thursday it had largely disappeared
until today

A veritable river of water running where water does not often
run, except like now when the snow melts

We have just got the results back from the histological examination on Snowdrop's liver (our alpaca who died just over a week ago now). We need to talk to the vet to check that Google translate has given us a reasonably accurate translation - as far as it manages with Latvian anyhow - but it appears to say that the cancer was in her bile duct epithelium and had spread to her liver; it was also a fairly aggressive type of cancer. That possibly explains why she wasn't jaundiced and why she deteriorated so quickly. At least we can be fairly confident that there was nothing we could have done for her except to make her last days as comfortable as possible. It is always a worry in case we had inadvertently caused her suffering, but I think that we can be reassured that it wasn't the case here.

And this is the result, our temporary lake

Posted by Kripu Kasumarthy on facebook of ''You Blew Me Away''
Garden Sculpture by Penny Hardy.

As usual I have been pondering on life the universe and everything this week and one of the things I have been pondering on is dignity. The picture on the left set me off. It was posted by a friend on facebook and it first of all spoke to me of my cares being blown away by the whisper of God. It then it also spoke to me of those who have travelled so far in the face of such atrocities and losing little by little parts of themselves in the trauma. The Danish law that requires refugees to be searched and have their valuables removed to me is encapsulated in this picture too, where humanity is gradually being stripped away in the face of hatred.

Oh the joys!

The lady in Estonia reached out to her neighbours when they were in need. Even if they took her for granted at times, she still showed them much dignity. Some of those neighbours would often drink, losing themselves little by little in an alcoholic haze and yet she still reached out to them. All who came for help would be helped.