Back to normality

The grapes are starting to change colour already. One day they
were green and next they nearly all started turning

Well I hope you weren't fooled by the title. Normality! What's that? It could be said, with a degree of certainty, that our life cannot be described as normal. However we did have about as normal a week as you can get around here, which means we didn't go far this week. I do of course exclude the flurry of activity one night in response to an urgent message.

Sofie asleep on the table. It's a hard life catching moles, mice
and birds

The swallows have hatched. I forgot to mention they had
returned and taken up residence in the nest that Ian rescued
from the beams that he replaced when he put up the new
roof on the alpaca house.

The evening began with the rather annoying bedtime routine of hunt the mosquito. Before anyone gets any ideas that means hunting those darned insects that invariably start buzzing around the minute the light goes out and start again just when you think you have conquered them all and close your eyes to finally fall asleep. This game had gone on rather late this particular night and finally we were able to relax and sleep when my son posted a message saying "urgent". So of course I had to message back to find out what was wrong.

Two of the chicken arks seen from the boys' paddock. The
light green patch in the background is the buckwheat growing
well and suppressing the weeds

He had mentioned earlier on in the day on Facebook that someone needed somewhere to stay in Oregon after crashing on a bike tour and I had messaged him to say I might know someone who was able to help. Typical that he is that busy he only got the message late on. So instead of going to sleep, I was on the computer to a friend and putting my son in contact - I left them to it and made sure my phone was on "do not disturb" so I wouldn't hear any of the replies. I was really pleased in the morning to find out that my friends were more than ready to help out, although as it turned out the guy was able to stay on after all where he was and didn't need the accommodation. It is nice to have friends ready to open their house and hearts to a stranger though.

Tellus doing a little alpaca yoga

Meanwhile while all this was going on Ian decided to check his emails. He shouldn't have done that, as there was a rather intriguing email from the breeder who sold us our first two groups of alpacas. He is finally, finally retiring. He has been winding down his herd for a couple of years now and still has a small herd left and he had emailed to ask if we would be interested in any of them at a good price. We did manage to get too sleep eventually, but the next day we were deep in conversation about the possibilities. We looked at the list that were left and looked at the challenges and changes we would have to make.

Veronica one of our original girls and the only one still around
not looking her usual elegant self, but still not bad for being
15 years old.

We have considered all sorts of schemes too. From offering space at our place for people who would love to own an alpaca but do not have space or time to do that, to taking the herd and working to sell on the animals or their offspring for the breeder, to taking just a couple of them ourselves and offering to take older ones as part of the deal. For the moment we have sent an email outlining our interest in two or three of the animals and offering to help re-home any should it be needed. At the very least it means that three sheep will be either going to new homes or our freezer as three sheep eat about the same amount of hay as 5 1/2 alpacas.

Brencis must have been rubbing against the salt block this
morning and the flies thought it made an excellent feast

As I have already mentioned in earlier blogs we sold an apartment this year and amalgamated our stuff into one smaller apartment. I have been doing this bit by bit, but it has been a bit of a challenge to say the least. Our felting tutor who stayed there in the smaller apartment had to cope with boxes of books and files in the living room. This week Ian got some shelves up so that we could make use of the only spare bit of wall in one very stuffed small room. This managed to take the majority of books and folders so that now there is only a couple of boxes to fit in and then that stage of the move will be complete. The files and books could still do with a sort out, but that can be a winter project and I'm happy that finally I can find my design files from an Embroidery course I did so I can refer to them again. It also means that the group who will be staying there later on this month have enough room to sleep in as the living room and bedroom will be accessible again.

Getting more and more organised

Those weren't the only shelves to go up this week. Ian has been busy assembling shelves down the side of his barn to take his stuff and things that were in the cellar at the old apartment. It is all beginning to look almost orderly. At least we now can get to stuff rather than clambering over things that are in the way. The only problem we have now is remembering where it all is. It does still look like a bit of a hoarder's paradise, although one I am determined to do something about eventually anyway,

I don't even have to climb over everything to get to the fridge
now either.

Aggie and her big bulge.

Our two pregnant females are now at the imminent stage. Aggie is doing the "I hate pregnancy" slouch as she did last year although we were worried that maybe she was starting with another tooth infection at one point. Hard to know when she is also heavily pregnant. Mari though is just plodding on looking rounder and rounder. Chanel who did not get pregnant last year has been mated with Mr. P again and we think she maybe pregnant. She was rather willing at first but on the last visit she was adamant that he was not coming anywhere near by spitting and kicking, which in alpaca speak could mean she is pregnant. Ian will take up Mr. P. in about a week to check.

Mari looking a little grubby after the drizzle

How she manages this at near term pregnancy is beyond me

Mr. P.

It is odd but the first time Chanel was mated, she got pregnant almost straight away. Last year she didn't take at all, so we are hoping that this time is like her first year when she got pregnant with Freddie. It could be that since she was still feeding Freddie last year that it was too much for her and that explains why she didn't take. It is very odd though that her mother and sister who are still in Estonia also didn't get pregnant last year. Anyway at least Freddie is growing into a very pleasant and inquisitive little chap. Ian has even managed to take him for a long walk and he coped very well with it all. His best mate George, however, is a law unto himself. He frequently just walks through the un-electrified wire fence, which we can't electrify until we get a new battery or new charger. He also is not quite so friendly and inquisitive. He does have the advantage though of the softest of fleeces.

At least Chanel is tucking into the grass and still putting
weight on. Her fleece has continued to improve too.

Ian taking Freddie for a walk

Best of friends. Freddie and George. Inseparable except when
George decides to just nip through the fence

Herk out on the field

Some of the other animals have been causing a little consternation this week. They seem to be taking it in turns. Chanel has been off her food - morning sickness maybe? Or just her usual faddyness? Tellus has had a swollen eye again. I used a home-made antiseptic on it in the evening and then before turning in for the night went foraging for various herbs to make an eye wash for the morning. It seems to have sorted the problem. but we think it is the flies that are causing the repeating problem. Ian also noticed that there was something red on Herk's leg and so I used the wash to clean what appears to be a very unusual swelling or growth. Unfortunately that didn't seem to do the trick nor is the magic cream that I often use and so we are going to have to call the vet out tomorrow.

The rather worrying lump is at the top of his front right leg 

A welcome drizzle this morning

The weather is still causing us consternation too. At least the cool nights are watering most of the plants with dew, but some like the squashes quickly flop in any warm summer winds we have been having. We had a morning of drizzle today but that was the sum total for the week. Not good when it has been so dry the rest of the summer. The only good points are that it is fairly easy to keep on top of the weeding since they are either not germinating, growing slowly or they are some of the few things edible that are growing well. Neither is the grass getting mowed so often as it is not growing fast enough to warrant it and if it is cut it shrivels up in the heat, so best just to let it grow slowly - at least that way it stays green.

The new leaves look startlingly red 

We've had visitors again this week. We had a return visit from a long-term friend of ours who regularly translates for us and he brought back the young lass who helped us out on the farm last year and her older brother. This year it is the turn of the older brother to come and help us to improve his English. He certainly proved useful today in putting books on the shelves, as he didn't need the steps like I did. Let's just say he is somewhat taller than I am, which doesn't take much really. We also had a couple visit with their son and niece. They were looking for activities to keep the children entertained whilst the niece's parents were at the song and dance festival, as were much of Latvia. They promise to return with his mother at a later date.

The dehumidifier is in the car, but that hasn't really sorted the
smell unfortunately. I added a deodoriser the other day, Ian
added bicarb today and the next line of attach is a carpet
shampoo. Milk spills are not ideal in a car.

So apart from delivering cement mixers and moving kitchen furniture for a friend, spilling two litres of milk in our car (fortunately not the borrowed car that I have been using) and getting on with some academic work again for an end of the month deadline, nothing much else has been happening. So a relatively normal week really!

Deliveries

Four baby swallows in the alpaca house

It has been a week of deliveries, but unfortunately one of our alpacas is still hanging on in there and probably waiting for the holiday period of Ligo/Jani to get fully underway. We have been spending some of our nights out in the caravan so we could take advantage of good weather to get things done. We have made slow progress on the weeds, but in some places we are getting there, or at least we were until it rained a lovely drenching rain for three hours yesterday. Weeds appeared overnight then. In one crazy moment this week we were dreaming up ideas for a drone to do the weeding in our field. Surely in this day and age something small enough, but powerful enough could be invented? It probably has, but more expensive than a good old fashioned hoe and no quicker.

This was taken at 10:23pm on Saturday night. It shows how
light it is until quite late. 

Thursday was one particular delivery day. We were sitting in our caravan awaiting a phone call for delivery of shears. We had ordered a new pair for two reasons. The first reason is that they are supposed to be better for the finer fleeces that we are expecting off our heavy fleece producer, Veronica, who will be sheared very soon and for next year when the babies are sheared for the first time. Our current pair managed with Agnese but it did struggle a little. Secondly it is also good to have a reserve pair for when we have more animals, or if Ian does any shearing for anyone else. Mid-morning there was a phone call and we realised that the instructions for delivering out on the land was not going to work, or at least that was what we deduced from the phone call, however it was not the shears, it was Ian's passport. At least I managed to understand that the guy was going to be at our house in twenty minutes and we agreed that Ian would be at home to collect the delivery. After that Ian then went onto deliver some poo to a laboratory in Madona, the big town nearby, for internal parasite tests for the alpacas. While he was in Madona he was also able to take in his passport to the immigration office to update their files, so good timing!

We have had our first strawberries for
breakfast this week, all two of them.
These are our greenhouse ones, the
ones outside are still green

The results came back clear for the parasite tests so no need to give them worming injections. We had been routinely giving them injections, but I was beginning to wonder if this was just as bad as giving routine antibiotics and so was not happy with that. It doesn't help that the injections are also getting expensive. Mind you, so is screening them, but we figured that one aggregated sample was enough to decide whether we had the presence of parasites or not on the property when we only have seven animals. If one was infected, they would all need injections anyway.

Comfrey, a wonderful healing herb

While Ian was away, a couple turned up. At first I thought it was our delivery, but it turned out not to be the case. It was a couple that had seen the sign and decided to come and see the alpacas. They didn't speak English and so tested my Latvian to the utmost again for the second time that day. I must learn some key words to describe alpacas, such as soft and try and learn some spinning terms. If I understood correctly they were just driving past and were willing to pay, but since we are not set up for that yet, I declined. Also without Ian it was a short tour, as I didn't really want to freak out our heavily pregnant ladies. I think I also understood that they knew that alpacas are sometimes used to protect sheep, although our particular male alpacas are rather soft for that particular job we think. Still they seemed happy enough to see our boys at a distance. For some reason they wouldn't feed them, I think they may have been afraid they might spit - but that was another reason for not visiting the girls as one of them does from time to time.

The onion, lettuce, poppy and hemp bed

Plantain (no not the banana type fruit but Plantago major)
I only wish I had discovered this plants amazing
anti-histamine properties earlier. Whenever I get a bite, I
chew one of these and then rub the leaf on the bite. Works
a treat and easy to find, we have a huge area "infested"
with them

A friend of ours turned up next to borrow our trailer again and still no delivery. We were just beginning to think they would not arrive when there was a phone call from our village to enquire the way. So the detailed instructions did not make any difference after all. I managed to communicate that I would phone a friend and she would phone him and tell him where to deliver the shears. At least that worked and the deliveries for that day were complete. Still no babies though.

One uncomfortable looking mother

Minutes old

Finally on the Saturday Veronica gave birth and I was actually there to see my first alpaca birth, due to a change of plan on the morning. She started first of all by moaning a lot and then rolling about, which fortunately we know to expect. It does look a little alarming seeing an animal who we suspected was in labour to be doing so much rolling around, but apparently it is to get the baby in position for birth. Not sure how thrilled she was with the attention, we even got chairs out to sit and watch her. At one point she went outside the alpaca house and we were worried she was going to deliver outside, but eventually she went in and  the babies legs appeared. There was a huge sigh of relief when the head appeared too and Ian broke the sac, since that was still in tact and it looked like the alpaca baby was trying to breathe. He then gently pulled on the body to help it out. We weren't taking any chances with this one, as she lost her baby last year. The chord ruptured close to the body again, but not as close as the baby she delivered last year.

A little help to start the feeding process. Normally Veronica
will not let any of us get this close if she can help it.

All a bit much for him after a wee run around. At least
Mum is feeding well

A bit wobbly on his pins

That grass is tantalisingly close but he's more likely to land
on his face

A little uncoordinated there

Legs akimbo 

Meet Eyre. She has an eye infection unfortunately but we
were given the cream for it when we picked her up. She is
three months old

We did have a bit of a conundrum on the Saturday. We suspected that Veronica was in labour, but we had also organised to pick up a kitten from one of the neighbours. We had put out a request through our vet for another cat, since it is better to have two out on our land to keep the small furry population in check and although our cat is a good mouser it is a large area for one cat to cover. I don't really like loosing lots of vegetables to furry critters and one seems to have taken up residence under my orchard plot at the moment. Not good! The only problem was it was someone who can be difficult to get away from, lovely though she is. Lack of language is not always enough to plan a good escape. I did get away lightly and with a few extra tomato plants too. Our little kitten already had a name Eyre, as in Jane Eyre, but pronounced Air-er, which sound a lot like Euro in Latvian. She has three colours grey, yellow and white and so is considered lucky in Latvia especially in terms of money. Maybe with a golden alpaca and a lucky cat we are in for a windfall or the house sale of Ian's late mother will all come through anyway, since I am not of the particularly superstitious kind.

She is a feisty little madam, but has learnt that we don't like
her crawling across the table already and knows the sound
of cat biscuits in the bowl. Unfortunately she also gave a scare
to Sofie our older cat, when she hissed at her We will have to
work on that relationship I think. 

That head is a bit heavy on such a long neck

To our surprise the baby was a deep golden colour. A quick look on the internet and as we suspected, the baby must have passed some meconium sometime in the delivery process, which is not good. However, the baby, a boy, appears to be fine and up on his wobbly legs and feeding from Mum, with help at first. He was a good 8kg in weight. I half wanted to call him Dzintars - amber in Latvian, but that would have messed with our naming system where we are working through the alphabet, so it had to begin with B, so we finally settled on Brencis. If I am correct it sounds like Bran-ts-is, but Ian has already nicknamed him Big Bren. This is our first alpaca that was conceived on our land and the second to be born here, so his official name will be Griezītes Brencis.

Food is in there somewhere

Close

A little nudge from mother in the right direction

Getting whiter now and a little less
wobbly, but his legs look like they
maybe knock-kneed like his Mum

We were thrilled this week to have another group of visitors, someone who has translated for us for official documents and also who invited us into school to teach his English class. He brought a little sum of money for travelling expenses, which was very welcome and he brought his family with him to see us. We had a great time. Since he was an English teacher I made scones but we drank green tea using herbs from my garden and not typical English tea. Fresh marjoram makes a really nice refreshing drink. He had seen our presentation in the classroom and got a glimpse of some of the things we have been doing out on our land, but he obviously hadn't really got the full flavour of it and was amazed and inspired by the things we have done. It has now encouraged him to make more use of his own land and see what he can do there, which I find really exciting. If more people can be encouraged to make better use of the land they already own, I will feel that our work has been worthwhile. Making the land work for them more helps to bring satisfaction and a reason to stay in rural Latvia. It is just a part of the jigsaw puzzle of making life in the rural regions more worthwhile. I know it is not as simple as do this and do that and you will have a successful enterprise, if it was, we would be better off ourselves. But by making the land work for us, has meant our money has gone a long way.

Holding his head up now when he's resting

Curiosity

Not everyone is pleased to see him. Snowdrop is not
impressed and pushes him away. Hopefully she will have
her own to sort out soon.

Getting the hang of this feeding lark now. We weren't so
impressed with Veronica's mothering skills on Sunday
though. We fell asleep as the rain started and after a rather
longer sleep than we anticipated, we realised all the alpacas
were still outside and drenched. Ian put them all away early
and dried Brencis off with a towel. Fortunately we think he
 is none the worse for wear, as you can see.