It's that time of the year again

No we haven't really been burying bodies in the greenhouse.
Just our sense of humour I guess. Actually Ian had just dug out
some soil from the other bed so that the chickens can build up
some fresh soil. This mound was then shifted to the outer edge
that needed building up.

So much of my blog turns with the seasons. That is what happens when we live and work in the countryside. What we do is dictated by the weather and of course by the more artificial deadlines of academic years that I work to as well. I was due to go away again and there was forecast for snow while I was away. It wasn't likely to be much or long lasting but after a cold, dry spell it could mean a period of wet and muddy weather. It was obviously time to put the caravan into its winter home in the greenhouse, while we still could. To do this we had to put the chickens in first. We also had to finish tidying up the greenhouse by removing the remaining tomato plant skeletons and putting logs down for the arks to sit on. The aim is to raise the beds more and stop the chickens digging their way out in the process.

The arks on the left and the caravan on the right in their
winter quarters in the greenhouse

The swans flew south last week and someone told us that
the snow would come three days later according to the
folklore and sure enough it did - well sort of. Fortunately
nothing lying on the ground yet, but those swans were right
to set off

We had been moving the chickens closer and closer to the greenhouse so that we didn't have to move them too far in the end and that was helpful. We have a bogey as Ian calls it, which is basically a wheeled contraption to put the arks on to help us move them, but it was somewhere at the back of the barn. It was just easier to move the arks by hand instead. As we are low in hay this year we decided to use leaves as bedding for the chickens and it freaked them out at first - well the older ones anyway, as it was a lot noisier than having hay on the floor. The younger ones though were thoroughly enjoying scratching through the leaves. Eventually they all discovered the dry soil underneath the leaves and were in heaven as they had their dust baths. If you have never seen a chicken having a dust bath, it is always good to be warned about it before you watch - they look more like they are having a fit as they cover themselves in the soil. It is hard to believe that they are actually in some sort of delirious state as they kick the soil about.

Chanel looks like she is having a really good chat

The girls blending in well with the autumnal colours

As I mentioned we got a good proportion of our apples picked and stored in our cellar, however, I forgot to mention we had some help in doing that from someone with a few spare hours. This was much appreciated, especially as they were much taller than either me or Ian and could therefore reach higher without a step ladder. I managed to get a pot load of apples boiled down for the freezer the following day and in jars, along with some reduced grape juice. I am going to have to work on some recipes over the winter to use our hemp and amaranth seed along with all this fruit we have this year. Maybe some sort of seed bar I guess.

Hercules with his happy face on

More preparation for the coming wet weather, a fresh layer
of chippings on the road way. This time there is also some
clay drains from the pond that were dug up earlier on this
year when it had dried up a lot. Now being put to better use
where we really could do with it drying up

I also managed to finally get an outline done for a third paper I am writing. Of course it took me a lot less time than I imagined it would once I got around to it. The problem I had was trying to get straight in my head what I actually wanted to say in some coherent form. It is far from finished of course but at least it is a start for my supervisor and I to work on to get it towards a publishable state. We have some very strict deadlines on this and the end of this month is the first one for the deadline.

All puffed up against the cold. They haven't left
us yet. They may head into the village though later

I have also got a trip to Sweden organised for the end of the year. It has been a long time in the planning stage and one of the biggest issues has been the financing of it. It still has to be agreed by the grant awarding body, but at least that is now functioning again after a year when there was no funding. I haven't had a problem before and so I hope there won't be one this time as there is little time to rearrange it if necessary. It will be a good opportunity to talk about the type of work I am doing to a different group of people and maybe work towards some sort of collaborative project in the meantime. That is what I definitely need to keep on doing research, otherwise I need to start looking towards some other way of deriving an income.

A workshop I organised on networks. We had good fun
throwing balls of wool at each other to show our connections

As I mentioned I have been away over the weekend at another conference. This was rather different to the academic conferences I have been too. There was academic input, which is why I went, but there was also a large input from people living in eco-communities. These are often called intentional communities and are effectively communities who live together with the specific intent of living more carefully in balance with nature. It was a bit weird to hear the kind of language used that I used to hear from evangelical Christian circles, especially in the preach, errrr I mean lecture I heard this Sunday morning. The young guy was relating the values of McDonalds and what could be learnt from them in terms of outreach and people centred approaches to customer service. I felt I had heard this before in some form or other in church sermons.

A nice cup of tea in Vilnius Old Town

Outside the cafe looking down the street. I was
surprised with Vilnius, it is a bit like Riga or
Tartu meets Italy and maybe the Catholic
influence. It is not as tidy as Riga and seems a
little more chaotic, but that was only a brief
impression. It felt like there was a lot to
discover though with some interesting looking
shops 

I found there was such a diversity of people and many with quite strong opinions. I wonder how this will work in the future. If there is consideration for the opinions of others then it may be fine and although the opinions were intense there did seem to be a commitment to listen to others  with respect over the weekend. If that lasts then the evangelicals would do well to learn from them I think. Some groups were quite traditional in their approach to the role of men and women in society, some were very free in their interpretation of those roles. Some were very spiritual communities and some less so. Some were based on more Catholic spirituality, some even based on a book I had heard about that encouraged people to live closer to a Garden of Eden style of life (at least the author's view of that) and some were based on a more Eastern spirituality. So there was a very diverse range of opinions on how to live the simple life that to outsiders would just generally view as some very hippy lifestyles.

Not quite sure what this random egg on a pedastal was for

There was a bit of a mix up in the end in the conference organisation but it did lead to an interesting evening. During the conference some of us stayed at the site of a potential eco-community. There was a kindergarten and school but the community did not live on-site as in other communities. One older, devout lady was the inspiration for the community and adored the fact that she could look out of her window and see the children enjoying the natural environment as they learnt and played together. Some people on the conference stayed in the kindergarten house and I and a few others stayed in the old lady's farmhouse. On the last afternoon there was a trip back to Vilnius where most of the conference itself had been held, but we found out that they were not returning back to the place where we were staying. I had only just arranged that somehow I would be given a lift back to Vilnius in the morning in time to get my bus and the same with a young lass from Georgia. Although we had been told we could stay over, they hadn't explained that we would not be able to go on the trip, which in some ways was why we stayed over.

Ooooerrr! What's that white stuff falling from the sky?

The young lass was a bit upset at missing out and we had contemplated joining the group and then staying over in Vilnius instead, but it was too late to make a decision without first finding out if that was possible or would not upset our host. In the end I and the Georgian lass were on our own. There had been a meeting of local eco-communities in Lithuania and they had finished with lunch at the kindergarten house and so they accepted us in their midst and then left us with enough food to eat for the evening. It gave the two of us a good opportunity to just talk about life and our different viewpoints on it. We also got to hear a little about life in Lithuania from our host, who had been an economics professor at the university at one stage. I got confused as to how many children she really had, but it was evident that many considered her their mother, which was a testament to her caring nature. She came to me in the morning with a cup of tea and a piece of cake for breakfast and sent me away with an apple and oranges to eat on the journey. The young lass left in the early hours as her plane was at 7pm.

A photo from a previous trip to Riga

So here I am on a wet Monday writing this blog while heading back to Riga by bus for a meeting with someone who I have only Skyped with before. Then I shall be heading home on the evening bus back to our land and our caravan in the greenhouse.

A side view of the Freedom monument in Riga

By way of a P.S. The meeting went really well and we both went away really inspired and with some questions we felt needed answering that would help both of us in our research. Always good to clarify the questions that need answers.

Home alone

The dahlias have been wonderful this year. I only have red
ones unfortunately, but they are a very nice one to have
survived two years in our cellar

I was going to do wonders this last week while Ian was away, but it was not to be. The cold I had at the beginning of the week hung around for most of it, it wasn't much, but enough to make me feel muddle headed as I mentioned last week. I did manage to get the dratted paper resent after a very kind friend of mine had proofread it for me. So at least that was one thing out of the way. I would have been better to call it quits and go outside into the garden but I tried to get more work done on paper two instead and so didn't accomplish much.

A full basket of green tomatoes, some
 of whichwill go towards green tomato
chutney, as my stocks are low. A small
bowl for the chickens, a tray of
cucamelon tubers which will be
replanted next year. One third
of a basket of nearly ripe or ripe
tomatoes. 

I did have spurts of getting things done and so an asparagus bed was prepped, and some sawdust laid down on a path. Some pathetic parsnips were dug up, I cut down some mustard and cress that had gone to seed, put tomatoes and cucamelons in the freezer and picked the rest of the short beans. Today I pulled up the tomatoes, another of those markers in our year. It means that the greenhouse can be prepared for the chickens to come in and then the caravan moved in too. It is perhaps a good job as I noticed the geese are flying south now, well south-ish and that is usually a sign the weather will turn soon.

Starting to look empty now. The "weeds"
to the left are sheep sorrel and so are
never got rid of totally. They are some
times some of the first green shoots of the
year and are nice and tasty.

Geese heading south

First frost of the season

We also had the first frost of the year. It is a good job I felt it turning cold and covered peppers and autumn raspberries. The forecast was not for frosts, but being a little higher than the nearest large town for which the forecast is given, it is normal for our temperatures to be at least a degree or two lower, so I was prepared. One night in the caravan the temperature was 3C, a tad chilly, but at least the heater can quickly warm the place through, without even having to get out from under the nice warm duvet. Hot flushes also have their uses sometimes.

The spaghetti squash succumbed to the frost. At least we
actually did get some squashes of these two plants, even
though it didn't look like we would have any sometimes
due to our cool nights over summer

A little mouldy heart on a bean pod

I actually stayed out every night in the caravan, as it was easier to nip back to our village and pick up the milk that is delivered twice a week and then do jobs like the washing and picking beans at our allotment plot, before heading back to the land to put animals away. I haven't even been to the shop all week, as I don't get through as much bread as Ian does and I baked a couple of small batches of buns, which was enough for me.

Much of the week it has been lovely
weather and our grapes have been
ripening nicely

The only day it rained, of course, was on the day I was home
and wanted to do the washing. In the end I put some of it up
in the greenhouse

It was a good job I spent much of the time out in the caravan, as our neighbour has a problem with water leaking into his house every time we are there. We know he had a problem earlier this year, but it was decided that actually it was water from the roof. This week he turned up with his son, who spoke very good English and I showed him our pipes. He could see that there is no way the water was actually leaking from our pipes, we would be the first to know, as it would come into our home before leaking through the floor. Even the sewage pipe area is dry. The fact is though, that every time I went home, to have a shower, do the washing and wash up - he got a leak. Finally it was decided that the leak was in the main stack pipe between our place and his and so not our problem exactly. Hope he finds the source of it soon, I feel guilty now if we go and use the water.

Brencis behaved for me though

Although the alpacas started out being well behaved, it didn't last. Aggie escaped twice and I had to resort to putting the electric on for the fence. Normally they don't need it, but an occasional reminder is necessary. In fact the boys also had to have a reminder too, well Mr. Herk who likes to eat over the fence needed a reminder. The girls have been fairly well behaved about going in, only Veronica, who really does not like me (as I usually mean something nasty is about to happen like injections or treatment of some kind) was a little reluctant one particular night to go away, but she soon made her way into the alpaca house when she realised that I was going to move her out of the field. The boys, however....... they got worse and worse at coming in. The first time they misbehaved, it was just a matter of moving them into the paddock area and then they went in, the next night took two attempts and on the night I had to go and collect Ian, Mr. Tellus was nearly locked out all night. I decided to make one more attempt, because I had heard dogs in the forest earlier on in the day and so I knew he had to go away. The little tinkers though, have been as good as gold for Ian since he got back.

He was very interested in my camera

The one that got away. She can sure fly far when she needs
to. This chicken is a bit of a loner, she always has been. She
is also an intelligent bird, which is not always a good thing,
as that means she can be difficult to catch by us. She is the
last remaining chicken from the ark she lives in,
occasionally she will join the others in the chicken house
but more often than not, she prefers her own space and
walking with the alpaca girls.

Sergeant Wilson, our cockerel had another go at me during the week, but since then I haven't had a problem. It might have been partly down to the fact that I saved the chickens from another fox attack. I heard the commotion and ran down to find out what the matter was. I saw flying chickens and the chicken we call, Big bird, running; behind her was what looked like a youngish fox. Fortunately the fox turned tail and ran off. I counted all the chickens and none were missing so I then put them away or at least tried to. Most of them went away no problem, but the younger brown chicken was not going anywhere near the forest, which is where their accommodation is. I ended up catching her in a fishing net and then hurling her into the chicken house (that actually sounds worse than it was, but I had to be quick so the others did not get out and she flew down to the floor with the others).

Ripe carrot seed

Autumnal blackberry leaves

Granda and Granddaughter enjoying a meal out

Ian had a lovely time in the UK with the grandchildren. They are both happy, smiley children, especially for Granda. He also helped to plasterboard the new house that my son-in-law and daughter are renovating. He did come back with a wish list though of a laser level and an electric, compound mitre saw. He was enthusing about how much easier the jobs are with them. Just hope they come in useful for building our house and not just the new alpaca houses though.

Our youngest grandchild. Such a happy smiley little chap
and looks like Ian when he was a baby apparently

Our little granddaughter in pensive mood

Don't go Granda!

Some of Ian's shopping

Ian also had a trip up to Northumberland to see his brothers and their families. The brothers actually had a chance to have a really good chat together on their own. Not sure when that last happened. They had seen each other when Ian travelled up to see his mother, but rarely did he see them together and even rarer to be on their own. Another day trip was to see some alpacas and the timing couldn't have been better, because they are having an auction of some of their stock in about eight weeks time and so quite happy to sell us some at a lower price than normal. They are converting to a mini-zoo and so need room for other animals. Of course there are details that are needed to be sorted and a new alpaca house to build.

The sheep needed moving when Ian got back, but at least
they stayed inside the fence while he was away. The only
incident we had was when we tried to pen them in before
moving. One of them stuck its head through the poultry
netting and got itself stuck, not just once but twice. 

Ghostly apparitions in the greenhouse. Grapes, peppers,
chillies and basil all wrapped up against the coming cold
night.

The news this week has been far from cheery. It does not fill me with a lot of enthusiasm to hear that Latvia has been declared one of the least welcoming for the Syrian refugees and it is quite worrying if that turned into something more about foreigners in general. It is so easy to feel despondent with it all, but then I read an article about someone who took a bike ride around what used to be the Berlin wall, something that didn't seem possible just 25 years ago.

The paved path sliced through the dense forest with an unseasonably cool summer wind bringing goose bumps to our skin. “Hard to believe this was once one of the most militarised borders in the world, right?” Möllering asked.
He was right. I couldn’t imagine pedalling the Pakistan-India border where they take pride in their militarisation with daily rituals between the two armies; nor could I fathom going for a two-wheeled jaunt through the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It all seems like a complete impossibility – just as it would have to any Berliner if you suggested cycling the Berlin Wall 25 years ago.

The impossible is now possible and that gives me hope. What can seem like an impossible situation of war and mayhem, can seemingly overnight be over. People can rise up and show care and compassion as if from nowhere.  Dictatorships can fall. I very much pray that there will be a revolution, but a peaceful one. I very much hope that people can join hands together against seemingly impossible odds and overcome the oppressor, much like in the Baltic Way 26 years ago.

15 minutes of fame

Tommy tomato

We had our first signing session this week, we were all highly amused. Ian and I went to get some chicken food from the agricultural merchants and the ladies at the till pulled out the newspaper with the article about us. Ian jokingly pretended to sign it and they handed him a pen for him to do it for real and then I had to too. We were giggling about it for much of the day afterwards. We boringly only signed our names but we should have put some greeting on it I suppose. Didn't think about that until afterwards.

A red rainbow

One of our neighbours has been visiting regularly and this week when she came she mentioned it was her son's birthday that day. She explained he doesn't like big flashy presents or a big birthday party, even though he is only 8 years old. He likes time with his family and to make a birthday cake with his Mum. He was thrilled to get a walk with Agnese as a treat and a bunch of grapes. It is lovely when a youngster is so appreciative of the little things in life. Mind you, those grapes are good.

A moody view from the greenhouse during
coffee time

20m3 of wood, cut and stacked ready to start on the new
alpaca house. I am only there for height comparison and only shifted a few planks. Ian did the most of it, along with a little help from the guys cutting.

We had a bit of confusion over a school visit this week, and so on a day we were expecting a visit from the school that didn't materialise we took a visit to Depot - a diy place in Jekabpils and spent mucho money. We needed screws and metal brackets so Ian can get on with the alpaca houses. We also bought a leaf blower, not for blowing leaves you understand or even to vacuum them up, but to blow the alpaca fleece when it is in the tumbler that Ian made earlier on in the year. This will help clean the fleece of dirt and small fibres. We also bought some big bags for sawdust and a kneeling stool for gardening.

Agnese posing for the camera for the
smiling alpaca selfie

Eventually the mix up was sorted about the school visit and four very enthusiastic girls and their teacher turned up for an extra-curricular English lesson on alpacas. Ian talked about alpacas and their care and then we all went for a walk with Agnese. She did very well, as of course the girls wanted to keep close to her and stroke her. In fact she was so good she produced the most amazing smiling alpaca selfie. Funnily enough we got a booking today from another school for a school visit. I will be away and so Ian will have entertain them, but since he did  pretty much all the talking the last time, I don't think that will be a problem. It would be more of a problem if it was me, because I don't think Agnese would cooperate to go on a walk with so many children, in fact she might even be quite hesitant to come near as I am the big bad veterinary substitute - in other words they see me more often when one of them needs treating for something. Ian also knows much more about the alpacas' daily habits because he looks after them all the time.

A picture by a very talented friend of ours

We have had rain on and off this week, a definite indication that the seasons are changing. It is great we can sit in our greenhouse when we have visitors if it is a bit damp, as we did one morning, sitting under the grapevines eating grapes and drinking coffee - perfect! It was a very early visit by someone who has been going to visit for quite a while and not quite made it yet. We were beginning to wonder if the guy who was cutting the wood thought we just had a never ending stream of visitors as we have had so many while he was working. I suppose we have had this year. Quite a surprise for us really.

I forgot to take a picture of the potatoes, but I did manage
to remember to take a photo of the carrots I harvested.
Although there weren't many, due to using old seed and
the rather slow germination rate, there were still more than
in the picture, honest. You can see also see one of the three
or four wheelbarrows full of weeds I removed.

During one dry spell we got our potatoes harvested. We were a bit worried about how many potatoes we would get this year because we only planted a smaller area and it has been a cooler year, warm, dry and not always sunny days but cold nights. Despite all of that we got as much as last year and a far better size. Many of them are chipping size (not that we make regular chips any more and Ian has to make do with oven chips, but it gives you an indication of size) and quite a few were even baking size or even extra large baking size at that. Ian decided that since it had rained the area would be too wet and so difficult to use the two wheel tractor for lifting the potatoes, so it was decided to dig them by hand. We weren't looking forward to it, but when we got there and removed the soggy straw off the top, the ground was actually bone dry. If anything we would have had difficulty due to the ground being a little hard in places. On the whole though it was fairly easy work.

Many of the carrots were also a decent
size, despite having fought valiantly
amongst the weeds (maybe that's their
secret)

There is still a bed to harvest. Spot the
carrots

As we weren't looking forward to it and Ian seemed in a bad mood, I asked him if there was going to be any swearing. His answer was "there might be." He was very good though and he didn't swear once, I on the other hand did. Nothing that bad and for many it wouldn't even be considered swearing really, but if you know me you would realise that swearing isn't something I do. The first occasion was after picking up what I thought was a potato and thinking it felt a bit weird, as if it was hollow; it turned out to be the most enormous earth coloured toad. I am not sure who got the bigger fright. Fortunately I hadn't speared it with the fork or anything and so it made its escape, although I do confess it flew a little way. The next time wasn't so drastic and was because I was standing on something that I had been trying to avoid standing on (can't even remember what it was now). Not having kids around is obviously not good for me. I will have to behave from now on.

A weird sunset after the rain and before the day of showers
today

Waste wood! Well not quite waste, but all the odds and
ends that now need sorting into wood for burning, for
chipping for the road way and so on.

After potato harvesting we had just finished lunch at home when we got a call from our neighbour to ask where we were. She was out on our land with her husband's brother and they wanted to see the alpacas. It wasn't a problem and we were on our way shortly after the call. They had a teenager with them and unlike the four girls that came earlier in the week, she was not going to see the alpacas and stayed in the car. Funny how different people can be. The little girl of the family enjoyed seeing them though and fed Agnese and our neighbour did really well telling the family many of the details of their care. That could be because she does look after them for us from time to time.

Some of the sawdust we can now use for our composting
toilet. Should last us a while

Just in case we run out, here is some more. We also use it to
store carrots and beetroot and there are plenty of those

One of the regular parts of the day is we have porridge for breakfast every morning. I know many people will go yuck! but we make up a big batch and have it cold, it is just easier and cheaper for breakfasts that way. Ian likes to eat as soon as he gets up and therefore hot porridge in the morning will not work. We have also been eating our porridge with berries pretty much since July. First we had the strawberries and just as they finished we had blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries, albeit with a little gap in between. Just after those the raspberries ripened followed by the grapes. Now we are eating blackberries along with the grapes that are still going strong. We have just a few more of the red grapes and then the green grapes seem to be ripening along with the autumn raspberries. Perfect!  Even better, our neighbour gave us some strawberries that ripen later on in the year and so hopefully in years to come we won't have so much of a gap between the strawberries and currants ripening. For winter we also have a few of the berries that I managed to bottle in syrup and some grapes dried to make raisins. After that it will have to be fruit from the freezer.

Our kitten says thank you for building her a very large
playground

One of the weirdest things to happen this week is I have a gorgeous bruise on my chin as if someone has socked me one. I can't even really remember hitting my chin hard on anything, I sort of vaguely remember catching myself one day, but for the life of me I can't really think of what exactly happened and certainly nothing to end up with the bruise I have. The only thing we can think of is that maybe I hit myself in the area where I had a filling earlier this week and perhaps it was something to do with the area where I had an injection, because the filling was nothing major (unlike my previous visits). I don't usually bruise easily either and so that is not the reason. I just have to be careful not to be seen around town with the bruise and end up giving Ian an undeserved bad name.

After all that playing around it is time to sleep. She looks
all cute and cuddly there, but I am not so sure that is a
good idea now. I found fleas on her today and one of the
fleas escaped. Hmmm!

I will have to do some changing plans this week. I was hoping to go to Sweden for at least a couple of weeks to work with a university there, but it is looking like this is not possible now due to a lack of funding. Estonia have had a good programme of funding for higher education that funds two trips a year. My Aberdeen trip was funded by it. The funding period ran out at the end of May or June and they were supposed to have a new funding period in place by the end of May, which didn't happen and it is still not in place for the beginning of the academic year that always starts 1st September (unless it falls on a Sunday, not sure about Saturdays these days). It is now really too late to apply for funding to have it in place for the beginning of October and so it looks like I will have to cancel the trip. There is no funding from the Swedish side either, there would be if I was Estonian or Latvian, but not for British citizens. I could find funding for a 3 month stay but that is not really something I would be happy to do and Ian certainly wouldn't be happy with that. Rather frustrating, as I only wanted to spend two or three weeks there.