Feels like a lifetime

Our little fluff ball, Jakobs

It is funny how quickly we have settled back into our summer routine. There are still some hitches to sort out, such as things left at the apartment that we need. Things like scales to make sure our porridge is nice and thick and not runny. Cakes and bread I can make without scales, but the amount of porridge to add to the milk I kind of misjudged. Shall we say Ian was not amused. We make porridge in the evening and eat it cold over the following mornings. It might sound awful, but when it is made with the rich, creamy milk we get, it is delicious, at least when it is made properly. Probably only appreciated by the sort of people who like cold rice pudding though.

Now the snow melt has gone, the pond is receding. It hope
it is only disappearing so fast because it is the first year
after digging it out some more. Sometimes it takes a year or
two to settle back down.

Our morning coffee view

One aspect of moving out to the caravan is that I have enjoyed being able to sit outside to enjoy a morning cup of coffee with Ian. It is just about warm enough most mornings, even if it means huddling in a coat and lots of layers, but the benefits of being outside in the sunshine outweighs getting a bit cold - at least most of the time. There are days when the wind blows too strong or from the wrong direction to be able to do that though. One morning we witnessed the arrival of the wagtails, back from their winter holidays. They are cheery little birds that often torment the cats. Whilst they resident in places like the UK, here in Latvia they are definitely migratory and could have been down to the Mediterranean for their holidays. Ian had only said the day before, he wondered when they would be back.

One of the wagtails that returned this week

The view from our Oak tree hill

It has been an odd sort of week. I spent the first part of the week trying to put together some work that needed to be done for an online workshop that was happening for the project I'm working on. It should have been the whole team working together on it, but the other members of my team were away on conferences and so I had to try and figure out what we were supposed to be doing. I went to our apartment to make sure I had good internet connection for the Skype call and put the fire on to warm the apartment through a bit. I muddled through the workshop and at least have a clearer idea of what now needs to be done for the next stage. That's progress at least. I even got the report for my colleagues written before setting off back to our caravan.

Chanel is starting to look big. She did with Freddie too.
Either that or it is all the fleece she is carrying and not
just a big baby.

The new girls are also enjoying spending lots of time
outdoors and even getting quite a bit of sunbathing in.

My article for Dispatches Europe and its subsequent translation into Latvian is still causing a bit of a stir. One ex-neighbour rang Ian, since it is his details that are on our webpage, to ask if I would be interested in teaching English at a school about 30 minutes away. It is definitely not something I am able to take on at the moment, as I need the flexibility to work on the university project and not enough hours in the day to teach English, continue working on a paper for my PhD and start the garden off as well. That wasn't the only phone call Ian took from someone trying to contact me. He also got a call from Latvian National Radio asking for an interview with me about my views on the EU. Not because I am some world expert but because they were doing a series, which included various nationalities who are now living in Latvia.

Signs of spring. A miniature daffodil making an appearance

The cowslips are coming through

Mr. P

The presenter came to the farm on Saturday and we sat outside in the sunshine with storks flying over and the alpacas peacefully eating hay in their paddocks. The interview went well and she said she got more out of it than she anticipated. Not quite sure what she anticipated or what on earth will end up in the final cut. The interview I can handle, but I am a bit nervous as to what will come out in the broadcast itself. She was thrilled to see the alpacas and is talking about coming to see us again in the summer with her family, so looking forward to that.

The winter wrecked the tarpaulin. They really are not good
when they start to disintegrate and we are finding plastic bits
everywhere.

The peony is starting to poke through that I planted last year

She asked if she could interview one of our neighbours and so I contacted our nearest neighbour to see if she was willing. It turned out to be a good story, two neighbours who are neighbours in part due to the EU. We can't speak each others' language well but we communicate and get along, helping each other out as best we can. In a country where mistrust can sour relations, it was a positive story for the broadcast. I think my neighbour came out with the best quote of the day though. She was asked for the first thing that came to mind when she thought about the EU and she said, "Family." I think that is a brilliant analogy. As in all families we don't always get along, but we try to find the best way forward. At least I think that is what we should be trying to do.

The elder tree is starting to bud

The swamp at least still has water in it. This is Ian's makeshift
bridge he put in last year to make a section of our land more
accessible

He found our cranberry patch is still under snow though

Brencis and Herkules enjoying time outside in the paddock.
Mind you they are itching to get out on the grass but it
hasn't grown enough yet.

She wasn't the only visitor this week. We've had a couple who came to take the alpacas for a walk and they have uploaded a video to page that discusses different places to go in Latvia. It will be interesting to see if we get more visitors through that. We also had a visit from another neighbour who owns land but doesn't actually live on site and he wants Ian's help to dig foundations for a cabin he is planning on building this year. So that's a job for Ian this coming week. He won't be bored.

The weeds are doing well despite the lack of rain. Here you
can see the docks and ground elder coming through

Sigh! And this is cow parsley that we don't want either

The pig damage harrowed. You can see how dry the ground
is though

This week Ian has been busy harrowing the land to deal with the mole hills, the pig damage and to scarify the moss a bit. It is looking better now than it did but not as good as we would like as we've hardly had any rain. It is hard to believe that we are worrying already about a lack of rain, when the snow has only just gone and we are not even half way through April. We also both went to the camp/sheep farm where Ian will be working part time. We were putting plans together for a new vegetable garden and to sort out the plans to rework the old vegetable garden so that it doesn't wash soil down the hill. Because Ian has a two wheel tractor he can work across the garden, whereas a large tractor can only work up and down making ridges - which is why the soil was washing down the hill. By mulching and slight terracing he should be able to make sure that doesn't happen. We will also make sure there is a good herb garden and start on organising raised beds with the sheep manure.

More greenery

These were last years potato beds. We planted the potatoes
into the manure and then after we pulled up the potatoes
heavily mulched the plots for over winter. I pulled off the
hay that hadn't rotted down and raked it. The only digging
I did was to straighten the edges. The right hand side has
got parsnip seeds in and the left-hand side has another type
of parsnip, hamburg parsnip and a salad mix.

I've been working on other little projects. Another article for a webpage but it needs mulling over and a project for my grandson that is taking far more time than I would like. It has been one of those projects that sounded like a good idea at the time and involved a bit of filming. I then tried to download the iMovie but my software was out of date, so I had to upgrade my software to Mojave. Well that went okay and I'm getting used to the dark side. It is easier on the eye to have more black and less white on my screen but of course it takes time to sort things out. I also found out that my computer could not read the format of my sound recording, although my old computer never had a problem with it and so that was another piece of software to download to make that work. Pah! I'm getting there now. I just need to synchronise visual and sound. Hmmm!

I cut back the autumn raspberries and mulched this with the
hay from out of the alpaca houses that Ian has stacked over
winter. It has alpaca poo in too, but it doesn't need to compost
to be added to the garden, so this should make a good mulch
for them.

Another view of our rather parched looking land

Something has been busy doing a bit of
woodwork. Possibly a deer or an elk. Wish
they would stick to trees like this rather
than our orchard.

The boys looking for the tiniest bit of grass. We are not sure if
they are eating the moss too. Don't worry, they still have plenty
of hay to eat.

Ian has been busy chopping and stacking the wood for next
winter

Errr! The cats busy sleeping

It came, it went

A magical Narnia like scene once again

I guess it has been that kind of a coming and going week in more ways than one. The Brexit deadline came and went and the UK is still in the EU for now. March came and went. The snow came and went. It is frightening how fast this year seems to be speeding by. We even moved out of the apartment and into the caravan for the summer on Sunday. Although it snowed last week, the days since have been sunny, which makes staying in the caravan okay. It is still in the greenhouse protected from the wind and therefore has some insulation of sorts and soon heats up with an electric radiator.

The snow then headed to the land and this is Ian's photo
just as it was arriving

The day after was a glorious but cold day

I do feel a bit responsible for the snow. I did say in last weeks blog that it would snow because I had planted some seeds outside, so lo and behold it did. It didn't last long though and now the snow is only lingering in the shadiest of places like the forest. The grass is beginning to show some small signs of recovery and the weeds are racing to get ahead. It meant I was able to forage enough leafy stuff to add to a meat soup. It makes a change from squash and onions anyway.

Dear, sweet little Freddie. He had his splint taken off
on Friday and so far he is doing well and his leg looks
good.

The young men of the group. Soon to be joined by two
little ones

Talking of Brexit, I got an email from the Estonian authorities outlining what will happen as a British citizen in Estonia after Brexit either with a deal or without. It was reassuring on the basis that they will issue British Nationals with the relevant ID and there will be no hurry. They will also allow me to return to the country, which is a relief. There is so much unknown, especially with the MPs in the UK Parliamentarians still discussing the issue at this time in the process. As the MEP Guy Verhofstadt said, please can the Parliamentarians vote "for" something and not just vote "no" all the time.  Such a shambles!

Oh Mr. P. You do need your teeth cutting.
Couldn't you have waited until shearing
time?

A stork visiting our pond

Anyway leaving politics aside for now, we've also had some comings and goings on the farm. The storks have come back from their long jaunt and visitors have been arriving to see us and the alpacas. The first group consisted of one of our local friends from the nearby sheep farm and camp and a guy from England who manages a large walled garden. I remember many years ago watching the Victorian Kitchen Garden that was set in a derelict walled garden and I always loved the idea of having a sun soaking walled garden. I did use to do some gardening for a friend at one time in the old walled garden on her farm, but that wasn't quite so grand as our visitors' 4 acre plot. We had a good time though talking about some of the ideas we use here on our farm and thinking how we could incorporate a no-till garden into the set up at the sheep farm with a demonstration plot too. This will be Ian's part-time job to develop over time with probably a bit of input and moral support from me.

Up close!

Brencis looking very stately and calm here. He's lovely
really and will come up and allow you to stroke his
neck - well most of the time and if you have food.

We also had another three groups who had come to see the alpacas. One group arrived as we were walking Josefs and so they were thrilled to see us walking across with him on a lead, but I don't think Josefs was that thrilled as were were just on our way back to his mum when we spotted the group. He was fine though and we soon wandered over to take him back. The next group were an international group, a Dutch guy with his Russian wife and two children now living in Riga. They came for the tour and then walked two of our alpacas. We took Tellus, who is a steady plodding sort of alpaca and Mr. P because Brencis is getting a little more unpredictable. He is just coming into full adulthood and I am sure he will calm down a bit later, but he's too big for young children to take for a walk. We hold on too while youngsters walk the alpacas but we still need the alpacas to be calm and sensible all the time.

George and Freddie, sill best buddies

You could even call them drinking buddies

The last group were an interesting group. They had come from the north of Latgale (East Latvia) and so north east of where we are. They have lots of animals, ostriches, emus, horses, goats and so on. They are another mini-zoo and had bought three alpacas last year from Lithuania. They had a good tour around and fortunately organised for a young woman to come and translate for them, so they could find out a lot of information. They also went away with some of the special alpaca food, lots of advice and we also got another booking for shearing. In addition to all that going on we got our first enquiry online for the felting course we will be having in August. All in all it definitely feels like we are heading into summer.

Turbjørn

Tellus looking like a wise old sage

What are you guys looking at?

Oh so that's who you've seen. Some female red deer

They stayed around long enough for Ian to run back to
get me and then back again to get his camera with the
long lens on. Not the best photos but as you can see from
the photo of the boys' the sun was going down. It's sights
like these that makes putting up with the cramped and
sometimes cold conditions of living in a caravan all
worth while.

Indian Spice

My friend from India

A while ago I went to Peyresq, France for a summer school in connection with my PhD studies, as you do! It was a wonderful time up in the Alps (blog post here) with other PhD students, who were about the same age as my children. They were lovely and didn't make me feel old at all. We kept in touch but contact dwindled over time, although I did get to meet one of them when I went to Berlin. The offer was open though, if anyone wanted to visit they would be more than welcome. One of them did get in touch with me fairly recently, he was from India and had since married and moved to Germany for a year. He fancied a trip to see Latvia and Estonia with his wife and they would love to call in and see us and spend some time on the farm. The timing was perfect as our other guests had left the week before.

The nights may have been cool but the talk around the table
was warm

It wasn't raining all the time but still plenty of talking and
eating 

The weather was not great, but in many ways perfect. We badly needed the rain and it also meant there was not much to do but sit around the table and talk. As anyone knows who follows this blog, we love to sit around a table to talk and eat. So we not only enjoyed the delicious vegetables from the garden and greenhouse but also some genuine Indian food made by our visitors. It is a good job that Ian installed a light in our greenhouse earlier on in the year, as the chat lingered late on into the evenings even though some of them were a little on the cool side.

I had to go and drag them away from the alpacas as Ian
was on a roll. Maybe it was a bad idea to say they had time
to see the alpacas before we ate

Love this picture of the two little ones. It looks like they have
had a falling out. 

Of course we talked about our studies, but we also talked about farming. It was quite an education for city dwellers, especially city dwellers coming from a city the size of Dehli at over 20 million. I can't even begin to imagine a city that size. Riga is only around 800,000 and the population of Latvia is less than 2 million now. They would love to move away and get some land and they were exploring the options. We took them to see our goat farming friends and they commented on the contrasts between our conversations which included beavers and beaver dams, wolves and bears (no we don't have many, but there are some) and cheese recipes from Latvia and India, with the kinds of conversations they would normally have with their friends about cars and taxes, car parking spots (not easy in Dehli apparently) and traffic, things to buy and holidays to go on. So quite a contrast. Still it has been a great time with lots of ideas for them and we all have plenty to think about. I loved it when discussing changes that needed to happen in city management and my friend turned to his wife and said that maybe they were the ones to influence the change. I do hope so!

We went for walks too. We were on a mushroom hunt, which
is the best sort of hunt for vegetarian meals. The mushrooms
are just starting to appear now that the mornings are damp,
even if we are still not getting a huge amount of rain

Trying out the tractor

Ian has been doing quite a bit of preparation for our new arrivals next month. We need to build a new alpaca house, which will give us the room for expansion to our maximum capacity of around 20 alpacas - not that we are getting that many alpacas but we need to be prepared for that number when they have babies. This meant first relocating the old chicken house. That will be seeing a new use as a root cellar, but that will be a tale for another blog. First it had to be removed from the paddock area. Ian accomplished this by first taking off the roof then fixing some planks on the bottom to make it into a giant sled, which could be pulled by the tractor. He also moved a concrete beam from one of the old electric poles into the paddock for part of the base of the new alpaca house.

Ready to eat in the greenhouse. Thanks to our friends for
these photos. We didn't get the chance to take many, but the
ones below are by Ian

Rain clouds building, but still not much rain

We also finally got around to cutting the boys toe nails, since Ian's back had improved enough to be able to tackle the job. Well all of them except Brencis, as he needs to have fighting teeth removed too and that means pinning him down on the floor. There have been a few groups of visitors to see the alpacas this week too. One of the groups took three of our boys for a walk. The boys were very well behaved, even Freddie who was being taken for his first trip out with paying guests. We just had time for a sit down before the next group arrived. One of the groups of visitors this week arrived just as we were about to sit down and eat lunch, so Ian ate cold soup, while I sat and chatted with our Indian friends.

Rain to the north of us

A rainbow anyway

Summer is racing away and the land is beginning to take on the hues of autumn. I'm getting back into academic mode and so may or may not blog next week as I am away, leaving Ian home alone again.

We had some extra visitors one misty morning. Yes it is that
time of the year when cows are escaping

While we waited for our neighbour to turn up, this young bull
decided to go and see the alpacas. He stood for ages just looking

These mushrooms appeared in our field

Apparently not good for eating

Shame as they are huge