And other things

I got this look today when she turned to face me.
Fortunately she decided to do as she was told
and not spit at me in the process.

Not a plain sailing kind of week. Chanel had an eye infection, which meant putting eye cream in every night for about a week. I tried irrigating the eye at first, as that normally helps as it did with Freddie not so long ago, but after two days and no improvement we went to get a prescription from the vet. It was kind of tricky getting eye cream into Aggie recently but even worse with Chanel, who is our rather spitty alpaca. Chanel also sits down as soon as we try to do anything to her and she will often sit down near the door; so that meant straddling her to put the cream in and praying she didn't stand up in the meantime. Fortunately she decided to stay down on the floor. 

Sunrise! It really does exist

Personally if I was going to zone out on a 
frosty morning, I would choose a sunnier spot.

One night I noticed that Aggie was stamping her foot a lot and she seemed rather agitated. I thought she looked like the mites were bothering her again and so she has had oil sprayed onto her feet. It might also be the issue with her eye that is beginning to swell a little again. It's not an eye infection like Chanel's as Aggies' eye issues responded to steroid cream and not the antibiotic. It's most probably her overactive immune response to mites. The warmish (for November) weather is probably not helping. Those aren't the only alpacas we've had to deal with either. Mari has had a cough for a while, so she's on her second course of antibiotics. 

Mari seems to look fine but that cough has lingered.

The frost doesn't seem to bother them.

I wish I could say they were the only issues this week, oh no! I'd just had one of those hectic moments where I'd taken a phone call and then had a few minutes to put the chickens away before a staff meeting. I'd let the older ones out in the morning to roam around the greenhouse and eat the weeds that had been growing up. After lunchtime they are usually ready to settle down a bit so it is a good time to get them back in the ark ready for putting away for the night. Most of the chickens were already in and two of them jumped in after the grain I threw in, but of course there was one I ended up catching in the net to put her away. We had moved this last ark into the greenhouse as the weather has been awful and they were just creating mud patches on the grass where we moved them too each day. 

In more peaceful times

After that little performance I just sat down to listen to the staff meeting online and we were a few minutes in when Ian phoned. Ian knew I was in a staff meeting, so I guessed it was urgent. "The boys are out again!" Oh good grief! I tried to write something hurriedly but realised there wasn't time so slung on my boots and coat and ran out the door. "Get the poles," he yelled! So back in the greenhouse, grabbed the poles and headed up towards Ian, just as Mr. P went through the fence. "Drive them all down to the paddocks, we'll sort them out there," shouted Ian. 

I always get nervous when the little ones are
in the middle of the mayhem. 

Well that was easier said than done. There were alpacas going in all directions. Eventually I managed to separate off the little ones and two females and herded them into a paddock. Four more females were standing around wondering whether to go back to the boys. Nope! No way girls, even spitty Chanel took the hint that I was not messing around and they'd better move themselves. Eight down, three to go. I managed to get Silla up as she will sit down for the boys, although she was being harassed by Jakobs I managed to get her almost to the gate when she sat down again. She was not going to move this time, even when he sat on her head in the mud.  Ian was struggling with Brencis and a harness, so was not able to help me. 

It was rather cold that morning but so good to 
see the sunshine.

I managed to get Jakobs off but he was being too persistent and I was slipping and sliding around In the end I wrestled him to the fence (seem to have been here before). I held onto him tightly with him bucking and trying to free himself. Ian eventually came over with a couple of harnesses, one for Jakobs and one for George who had come over to join in the fun. Ian got Jakobs harnessed up and I took Jakobs back to the paddock. Ian had managed to get most of the other boys back in the meantime, while I'd been fending Jakobs off. Ian got hold of George and followed me. 

Silla looking a lot whiter here than she did 
by the end of the escapade.

Well that just left Freddie, Silla, Antonia and Vanessa. Freddie seems to be the initiator of much of the fighting with the boys, but I'm not sure he really knows what to do with the girls - fortunately in this case, because he's not breeding quality, with poor fibre and a slightly dodgy leg that is probably genetic. He showed no interest in Antonia and Vanessa and they were showing they were not taking any messing around from any males, especially a young whippersnapper like Freddie. Silla, who was by now black from sitting in the mud was wandering around. This would have been an ideal time for her to sit down as Freddie may have been easy to catch then, but no. Still we managed to get in between the two of them and headed Freddieoff back to the boys paddock. Next job was to herd the remaining three girls into their paddock. 

Surely a bit early for a bulging tummy Ilvija?

Amanda is still feeding Karla but she seems to
be starting the weaning process. Lolly is also 
taking less milk from her bottle feeds. We've
managed to drop the late night and early morning
feeds. 

Wheezing away I headed back to my staff meeting. I wrote a note in the chat box apologising for my absence with a short explanation. Not sure if the other staff who were meeting face to face saw it but I noticed smiles on the faces of those online. At one point I had some comments to make and had to wheeze through what I wanted to say. My colleagues laughed. I'm glad it's something they can understand and not frown upon. I was meant to be chairing this week's meeting but my internet has been so bad that I asked if someone else could do it fortunately.

Chanel at the front. You can see she still has skin
issues but she is so difficult to treat. She gets all 
stressed that will only make things worse. Still we
try to do what we can.

It wasn't the only event recently. The excitement in the caravan was palpable, when Ian laughed and said, "Only two more sleeps till bakery day!" We've had to manage without our usual pastries and bakery bread for over three weeks and last Friday was the first time the bakery reopened. Do you know how difficult that is for Ian? Yes I can bake but it's more of a faff at this time of the year and I'm kind of busy with work until it's dark. Not easy with a kitchen in the greenhouse that gets cold. Ian could bake his own cakes too, he's done it before, but... well the bakery is nice and of course we are supporting a local business. 

Morning on the land

Mari

I haven't followed all of COP26 but been aware of the issues. I know there will be a lot of background deals and nothing will really be done until the last moment, which is why I haven't been following it so much. I haven't been filled with a lot of hope either despite the rhetoric. I'm having trouble believing that Johnson can be serious about his proclamations. My concerns though are for the future generations. I've heard that mention of climate change is just "Project fear" and we shouldn't scare the children! But why should the children not be scared when it seems that the adults are ignoring the tsunami of change that awaits if efforts to address climate change and biodiversity loss are not taken. The children seem to understand the consequences and just want the adults in the room to actually do something instead of ignoring the data or even ridiculing it. They want the adults in the room to lead the children up the hill basically. In a tsunami, as many of us now know, the sea first retreats and uncovers all sorts of interesting things on the beach, the changes are amazing, but we need to read the signs that all is not well and retreat up the mountain. 

Blue sky! The lack of it just lately means that Ian
hasn't been out with his camera so much.

Aggie's eye is starting to look a bit swollen 
again. It will be time to get more cream I think.

So what does retreating up the mountain look like in this scenario? First reduce consumption. Buy only what you need to and make sure it is fairly made, ecologically sound and what you need - yes I did repeat that twice. In planning there is something called the mitigation hierarchy that means we should first try to avoid damage to biodiversity, if we cannot do that we should mitigate the effects (ensure they are not as bad as they could be) by restoration or rehabilitation to give it a new lease of life after the disturbance and finally offset by compensating for biodiversity loss through creating an alternative elsewhere. We can use that principle in life, by first avoiding buying something new. But if we have to buy something new and cannot reuse what we already have, then do as little damage as possible and make amends afterwards - buy locally, buy fairly traded items, buy long lasting items. Or lastly we compensate by tapping into the ecological restoration projects.

Silla

Next is to deal with our surroundings, like skimming pebbles in the lake where the ripples reach out further and further. Make our gardens productive, not primarily low maintenance. Plant useful plants, plants that feed you and the wildlife, plants that add tastes to our foods like herbs, plants that do not need to be re-seeded each year, bushes with berries, trees with fruit. Get involved in rehabilitation projects near you or find out how to start one. Let's show the kids we are doing something. 

Enjoying the sun. There has been precious little
of it just lately.

Now that will get us so far, but not far enough. There are bigger polluters of our environment and we have to remember they are stealing resources from children and grandchildren. Why do you think the kids are angry too, as well as afraid? They see their future slipping away. Do we want to pass on a dying planet or a living, breathing planet? Simple! We have enough resources to be able to rehabilitate this planet, we have the knowledge, but it is going to take an extraordinary effort to get us there. Not business as usual with greenwashing as I said in a recent meeting. Let's stop ignoring the issues that trashing our planet has done and start to restore and rehabilitate, while we still can . We need to insist that our politicians are onboard, by objecting to the companies that steal our futures and the futures of our kids and those are just for starters. Come on! We can do it! We have to do it! Acknowledge the kids are right, but we are going to have to work hard to give them a better future and not a dying one. 

What is it all for?

So another week gone by, and now I am getting into more assignments for my course. I love the topics, producing reports on "Stemming the tide of migration of rural young people" and "Foodsheds and their relevance to sustainable communities" (well those are the abbreviated titles) but the deadline I set myself of one assignment finished this week and then the next one the following week makes me feel tired before I start. Hunting for information, putting it together and hoping I am answering the question I find exhausting but I will get there and then I actually have some time off to look forward too. Yippeee! Not like my poor unfortunate youngest who was given work for over the Christmas holidays from his Uni course. The beauty of my course is that it consists of distinct units, so I complete the first two units on December 18th and don't start the next two until sometime in January. Mind you I have a book list a mile high and a stack of interesting papers to read over Christmas which may or may not be useful in the future, plus planning for next years tasks on the land to do but I guess that is what comes of learning for my own purpose and not just for a course.

I really felt like I was doing what God asked me to in taking up the studies for my course but I have sometimes wondered "what it is all for?", "what is the point?" and "where am I going with it all?" but this week I feel a little clearer on why I am doing it. A quote on a blog from Jeremiah 6:16 “Stand at the Crossroads and look.....and find the Ancient ways....and walk in the good ways”" started me thinking. The point of the quote was that we should stop to consider the way ahead at the crossroads, instead of charging off in one direction. I feel what I am doing is almost like sitting down at the crossroads and studying in detail the destination of each direction and the places along the route. Not just reading the signs but getting the map out and studying the terrain thoroughly. Hopefully by doing this we will be able to plot our route more thoroughly and not take too many detours along the way.

While I am studying Ian, as I mentioned before, is busy clearing the woods, I even went and helped him over the weekend, just to get out of the house. As we stood drinking a cup of tea and looking around I commented that it now feels like a friendly wood, and Ian agreed as it was now one you could have a gentle stroll around, instead of hacking through the undergrowth being attacked by stray branches with a whip like intensity. There is one big problem though with all the clearing that Ian does, for some reason he comes back smelling like a fishmonger, it is quite revolting. Not quite sure why he smells like a fishmonger really because on analysis it is the smell that you get off wet logs but as he comes through the door there is definitely a smell that wafts in ahead of him like day old fish, not nice.

Despite the early snow and cold we had, the rest of November has been dark and grey, it is so bad that this year nearly all the plants that we brought in to protect them from a harsh winter, gave up the ghost and died. It is incredible how quickly they seem to give up too, one minute they look okay and then over a couple of days they start to droop as if they haven't been watered even though they have (no not too much either) and then they completely shrivel. I think our chance of some early peppers are gone now, unless we get some snow to brighten up the days as we only have about two plants left and I think they are on the verge of abandoning all hope.


We have finally had some progress with the front loader for the tractor. Ian was all geared up for a showdown, 'we get the front loader soon or we want our money back' type little discussion when they got in first and rang to say the parts had finally arrived and could they come and collect the tractor? So Friday Ian waved goodbye to our little tractor once again, as it set off back to the workshop for the third time. Hopefully this time we get it back this week complete with front loader!!!!!!!!!!!!! (For the full saga link 1, link 2, link 3). It should have been fitted by the 12th October so it is rather on the late side and we have no idea of who fouled up in ordering the front loader parts for a tractor with a cab; the one they tried to fit originally was for one without a cab and had we used it would have smashed into the cab - not recommended really.

Climate change is obviously back on the agenda, think it is due to a little conference in one of the places we used to live in errr now let me see, oh yes Copenhagen. That oh so green country!!!!! Not really! Having lived in Copenhagen we appreciated the fact we didn't need a car to get around, the bike facilities and public transport meant we were well catered for and they do recycle a lot  but that is because they need to, you should see the amount of junk mail that comes through every week, no wonder there was a paper bank for recycling paper on every corner. As I mentioned last week many don't believe that the climate is changing and think it is just a chance for Governments to tax us heavily and companies to make a lot of money. Perhaps they do not realise how much money a lot of big companies, particularly oil companies, are ploughing into trying to dismiss the claims because if we take climate change seriously and reduce what we consume then they will lose their big fat profits big time. I also said last week that to be honest I don't really know if the climate will change catastrophically, I do know there is a God in Heaven who cares for us and I am sure he will take care of his creation but I also believe we have our part to play which was put very eloquently by a lady called Pat Meadows. Basically Pat will continue living simply and frugally, reconnecting with her food and community for no other reason than it is the right thing to do anyway, the "anyway principle". She does this because she believes we have a mandate from God to repair and heal this world we live in and we can't do that by our hectic, consumerist lifestyle. 


Photos this week
Photos 1, 2 & 5 are actually hair-like structures made from ice. How the ice forms these shapes we have absolutely no idea but they are fascinating to see. How do they curl like that?


Photos 3 & 4 are of the silver birch that Ian tapped early on in the year for the birch juice. It is the same tree on the left hand side in both pictures that you can see but maybe what isn't so clear is that all the criss-crossed branches have been removed just leaving the nice straight trees with hopefully room to grow.


Photo 6 - the woodland floor with just a dusting of snow.

Further quiet times and musings

This week continued to be a pretty quiet week without Ian, I only had the radio on once while he was away. Some people might find that scary, I have often heard people remark that they cannot live without the sound of voices somewhere. I personally don't have a problem with silence, it gives me space to think and ponder and I guess I have had time to do that this week. I would have had more time to ponder if I wasn't catching up with coursework though. Still I got a lot of studying done too. There were no startling revelations this week in my studies but I did find out the Common Fisheries Policy is a mess, which I guess we all knew anyway. Still I will leave others to delve more deeply into that as I concentrate on more land base issues. Nice to find one area that I didn't really want to pursue amongst all the others that have come up. I have found so many areas to explore within the course that it can be quite overwhelming at times.


I did get out onto the land a couple of times since Ian wasn't around to keep an eye on things and to carry on digging ditches (oh the fun you can have playing in mud). There was one scary moment as my welly (rubber boot) became stuck and I suddenly thought "What do I do? I am out in the middle of nowhere and my phone does not often get a signal in that spot" I remembered that if I got really stuck I would have to throw myself flat on the floor in the mud and crawl out, I would then have to get back to the apartment and walk up three flights of stairs caked in mud, not a happy prospect. Fortunately at that point of visualising myself skulking into the building trying not to be seen, there was a deep squelching noise as my boot came free and I scampered out of the muddy mire.

A visit to our joiner friend revealed that shortly after I had been out on the land we had had visitors, they were finally getting on with constructing the poly tunnel frame. Since Ian was not around I asked our Swedish builder/plumber come general handyman to come out with me and check it out. I was a little worried about how they were going to manage when the area was so muddy. I had no idea how they were going to erect the ribs of the tunnel, they couldn't use ladders that was for sure, would we get there and find some half buried young men? As we came over the brow of the hill we saw the half constructed tunnel, it was so peculiar to see this upturned ark like structure stuck in the middle of a field, somehow they had indeed managed to put up the ribs. An inspection of the site revealed how they had cobbled together a prop for the ribs from some of the branches that Ian has been cutting down, very ingenious. Good news is that my trenches had made a difference and the land was beginning to drain a little too so we didn't have to dig anyone out.

Paid a visit to Jekabpils this week, the nearest large town to us, to try and find some fabric to make a traditional Latvian costume as some presents for littlies. Now I have been to Jekabpils quite a few times, it is quite a pretty town with lots of little wooden buildings and a few modern ones. We have walked around it many a time but I had never seen any fabric shops but, as usual here in Latvia, you have to know where things are to find them. Some shops are obvious with little window displays but many are not and you have to go inside to find out what is there, for someone used to the UK or America with commercial areas, shop windows and distinct districts, it can be a bit frustrating at times but also a bit like a treasure hunt. It is amazing where the Latvians can tuck a little business, and even some bigger businesses and it is definitely a case of not what you know but who you know in order to find them.


Went to pick Ian up on Saturday from the airport and I saw the sun for the first time, all five minutes of it. Although Ian didn't really get much chance to get out and about he did at least see the sun but he was still glad to get home. We'll see what he thinks after a few days rain though, the weather forecast doesn't look good. The trip went well and he managed to sort out some technical issues while he was there, as well as support and encourage his work colleague. He also met up with our youngest son's girlfriend's parents who are Greek Cypriot and in Cyprus at the same time, even though they now live in London. Ian got to meet more of the family and see where the father was born and grew up; he also heard some of the stories and exploits arising out of the more recent Cypriot troubled history of the 1970's. We are not sure if he will get the chance to go out again as his work colleague retires next year but we will just have to wait and see if anything else develops or not.

A friend of ours suddenly had a free day and decided to visit us before the snow came and so we had the pleasure of showing him around. It is great to be able to show him all the places we know now, and to pass on all the snippets of information we have found out in the last year. We took him out to the Everglades and we tramped through the wet fields, painting a picture of what could be, let him have a drive in the tractor and talked about the history of the place with all the evidence of the battle that had been fought in the forested areas. So much we have found out, and yet there is so much more to discover about the complicated history of this land. So much more to learn about the culture of the people and so much more to learn about what will grow in this land and more importantly what should we grow in the land. Is there a difference you might ask, and there is. Too often we can plant something that will grow well in an area, in fact too well. We do not want to cause problems by planting what will be come invasive weeds, whether they be spiritual, cultural or physical.

I said I had been pondering a lot as well and one of my ponderings has been about climate change. Someone posted a video on the discussion board of my course labelled "The most terrifying video you will ever see"..... well actually it is not but I think it does ask some good questions. I am a little tired of people saying we can't be sure that climate change is happening etc etc which is true, but..... if it is then we ought to be doing something about it, even if it is only remotely true we still should be doing something. Whether climate change is true or not, we are polluting our world and ought to do something about it. In Victorian times the rich lived in the towns but upwind from the factories and away from the overcrowded, polluted, disease ridden houses of the poor, now we live in different countries entirely. Our factories are still producing goods for our consumption just like in Victorian times but instead of it being a few miles away they are thousands of miles away. There is never any need to go down and see what providing us with our comforts actually does to those who make them, or those displaced so we can have the raw materials to have them. We are as guilty as those indifferent mill owners and the upper classes of the Victorian era, if we do not care how the poor are living, or open our eyes to see the damage being done. How can we stand by and say "Well it will hurt the economy if we start making changes", the damage to the economy has already been done, now let's start making a difference to our environment instead of fouling up what God gave us to look after, whether that is in our own backyard or in far flung places. We can stop being greedy and wasteful for a start and that is something positive we can do, we will then not have to work just to provide us with new things and maybe we will actually enjoy life more.


Another biggie to think about "Democracy" is it good for us? This was a comment by one guy on the BBC site on the appointment of the new President of the EU.
"The best top level appointments are necessarily based on the proven, and potential, ability to make and maintain relationships that will serve the best interests of the organization and all of its members. What support the chosen individuals have, and the quality of their staff and advisors, is a factor in any such decision. It appears that the EU Council had those factors in mind when the selections were made. Certainly a better system than popular public election where charismatic dictators and demagogues, party platforms, and the inept and unproven can sell themselves to a naive public, gaining power that they should not ever have. The roles in question are not starter jobs, with long learning curves, as is the case in some similar situations in some countries, but instead senior leadership roles that require experience.
Bob, Hamilton, Canada


So is democracy good for us? If so was the election of the EU president democratic, after all the decision was made by elected heads of governments, or was it undemocratic because we personally didn't get to vote? Does it matter? Well I think it does, we have to think about what shape of society we want. I personally wouldn't want an elected president with all the razzmatazz that goes with it, I am quite happy for our elected representatives to do that but I do want to be able to influence decision making in one way or another. I think my take on it was put rather well by Monbiot


"Our power comes from acting as citizens - demanding political change - not acting as consumers."

When we purely think of ourselves as consumers we are still wedded to the idea that the market can solve everything, our money can change things. When we start thinking like activists, no matter how small then we can start to act independently of our money and the market and start demanding a change to the system as well. Sounds like something I need to mull over some more.


Photographs
Photo 1: Can you spot the blue bit in the sky?
Photo 2: The eerie structure in the distance
Photo 3: The poly tunnel ribs close up plus mud
Photo 4: Ian giving instructions on tractor driving
Photo 5: Our friend complete with the remains of an exploded bomb and Ian taking his picture.