Home again

It's a hard life being an alpaca. It doesn't look like a
comfortable way to lie to me. 

It's a good job that I'm not a fan of routine. It sure would bore me silly. So last week consisted of a day in the Estonian office, a day of travelling back home to Latvia, a day out discussing alpacas and explaining my research, two days working from home, a day trying to think what I should do on a day off at home and a day off for an Estonian national holiday - Independence Day. So I make my own routine and get the job done.

Moving projections of flowers in Tartu

Relaxing in the local garden centre

The day in the office was as productive as it could be and so worth it to get the chance to go and meet up with everyone. Wednesday morning was the day off for the friend who I was staying with and so we pottered around a garden centre before I set off to go home. I haven't done that in ages. I bought some cacti to put in some decorative cups. They were a present but too small for me for my tea breaks but perfect for putting cacti in. I also got a weeding tool. Success! I'm not really a shopper but a garden centre or a craft shop works for me, especially if they have a restaurant to sit and chill with a tea or coffee and cake. I wasn't skiving either, I worked on the buses and trains using their Wifi.

I liked the ceiling patterns

Our alpacas relaxing in the sunshine. This was taken after a
bout of rising hormones brought on by the rather spring-like
weather. We won't go into details, bearing in mind these are
all male alpacas.

Next I was given a choice of whether to go to our friends with alpacas on Thursday or Friday and decided to take the Thursday off because the sun was supposed to shine that day. It did peek out but it wasn't stunning, better than the cold wintry squally showers later in the week though. It didn't really matter that much about the weather as we sat around chatting for most of the time. We chatted mainly about alpacas of course, but as I mentioned we also chatted about my research. It was interesting talking to someone who has studied rural tourism and moved back into the countryside, about the expectations of the younger generations who take similar decisions to start a rural business. I would love to do a study on the outcomes of those who make that move and see how they find it after five years, especially as children come along.

Mr. Tellus looks pleased with himself

Errr! Winter sunshine?

I have been doing so much on my thesis and work on projects that I have almost forgotten what to do when I take time off. I ended up doing some fairly random jobs as I saw what needed doing. I cleaned a windowsill that had got muck on it from some squashes that have been sat there since they were harvested last year. I brushed the floor. I made felt balls. I did some washing. I started on the leaflet for our felting course in August. Mainly though, I sat around wondering what I should really be doing. I definitely need a list of things I could be getting on with when I am not writing.

Brencis gazing out over the fields. Is that spit I see on the
back of your neck though, Brencis?

Will someone tell the honeysuckle that it is not spring, but
winter and it could be sorry for this burst of enthusiasm

It's still a weird winter here in Latvia, it is near the end of February and still no deep cold days below -20C, in fact it's been rare this season to even touch -10C and then only briefly. That did mean that after a morning of visiting friends I could still get in the garden and do some weeding today, even though the wind was a bit chilly when the sun sank behind the trees. The main thing is that the ground was not frozen, neither were the well rotted hay bales that needed the string taking off them. Instead of being impossible jobs with everything well and truly stuck to the ground or under a deep pile of snow, the very wet and soggy bales were fairly easy to move and the weeds easy to pull.

This has been acting as a reservoir for water rather than a
storage shed. Ian did a little sorting out so it doesn't keep
collecting water. 

Jakobs sporting his well brushed Elvis look

On my day off, when I didn't really know what to do, I watched a talk on Revolutionising Capitalism, by Dr. Michael Schluter, where he argued that the economy needs to move to a system that relies more on relationships. I agreed with much of what was being said, but found myself thinking about the problems too. The argument was that the government have taken over the role of families, which is true to a large extent but we have to look at the reasons for that. We have to acknowledge that when families work well, they are good, but when they don't they can be very destructive.

Here Jakobs looks like he needs a brush. Decidedly wind blown

Flowers? February? How can this be?

Families cannot be isolated as that can be a recipe for abuse and neglect. He argued that families should relate to others through local institutions, but I have also seen where local institutions are not helpful to the local community or the families within them. Families have to be seen as part of the wider society and not untouchable units. There is a need for structures that allow families to flourish. As Michael said, capitalism does not help this, new ways of doing markets are needed. We have to understand that capitalism is not the only way of that markets can operate and that it is not capitalism vs communism, there are other ways, as neither works well.

Jakobs makes me laugh. Did he paint that moustache?

So many signs of life

The problem is that we have to be careful not to think of families within the nation as static things. Too many leaders are following the populist route and demanding that the traditional values be put first, which supposedly adheres to the Christian faith - not one that I recognise though. We have to be aware that static families fixed in some rigid view of traditional families can lead to parochialism and inbreeding. There needs to be fresh blood. As they say, travel broadens the mind, and I think it also helps to show us that we are all the same with the same needs but expressed differently and that is okay.

Hollyhocks coming through in the greenhouse. Some early
spring greens anyway

Chives starting to peek through

We still need the safety nets, the balances and checks that outside authorities can help with. We have to acknowledge that not all family relationships are healthy and be wise when to intervene. We also have to think of families as open units and not fixed, some will move and some will stay. They should not be forced one way or another. I for one need new challenges to keep my mind active, whereas some prefer routine. We need the life blood to flow to in our communities, in our families and local institutions, refreshing them and bringing oxygen and nutrients. New people coming in with new ideas that can also refresh tired old ideas.

Mr. P's teeth look much better since they were trimmed.

Mr. Turbjørn sat on his own as he seems to like to do

When I think of the Celtic Church, I think of it as a fluid community. There were those who stayed and tended the land, providing hospitality for those who moved through. They provided healing, teaching and then encouraged those who should to move on, to find their own place in the world. Traditional families have their value and they are under threat from rampant capitalism but we need to take care what we demand. It should not lead to the demand for an exclusive and elusive ideal that stifles innovation. Not that I think that is what Dr. Michael Schulter was suggesting but just some of the thoughts that sprang from what he said.

Llama whisperer

A splash of colour

Just for the record I have to say, I'm very proud of my husband - just call him the Llama whisperer from now on.

The boys feeding in the shade of the tree. However, they
don't seem to be eating the new tree seedlings that are
growing rapidly

Well maybe Freddie is having a go

These are American Cranberries.
It must be a good year for them,
despite the drough,t as I have
never seen them looking so large.
I suppose it helps they are grown
next to a pond but in a
raised bed 

Tuesday was an early start to shear alpacas about 2 hours away at a mini zoo. They gave us coffee and pancakes to start off with and the morning drifted on as we chatted. It was a good job they fed us early though as the shearing itself was a little challenging and took longer than we had planned. Ian was asked to shear the first alpaca to look like a dinosaur. In the end Ian just left sections that could be trimmed later with scissors as it wasn't the sort of shearing he is used to and proved difficult to do with shears. The next alpaca had sections left around the legs, which was a bit easier than the first request but meant we were running late as we had an appointment to see people at another mini zoo nearby. 

This rather large hole had a wasps nest that was dug out by
an animal of some sort. We were wondering what it was and
one of our visitors was a hunter from the local hunting
organisation, so we asked if he knew. The tracks are a bit
hard to see as it has been so dry, but in the end we agreed it
was probably a badger. Not something we have seen on the
land but makes sense with the type of hole that was dug. The
wasps have started to rebuild but it won't last long once
it rains, as the paper nest has no protection now.

My new waterlily is flowering

The next mini zoo had just opened and had bought their alpacas fairly recently. They had done a brilliant job of shearing, it was a very neat and tidy finish. However, they had given a home to a llama that no one wanted and it desperately needed its teeth cutting. It was rather unsettled due to the move and its teeth made eating difficult, so it was a bit grumpy. The first challenge was to catch him. The owner and I used a rope to trap him up against the fence but the llama whisper aka Ian was able to get the halter on with little issues. He even surprised himself. Fortunately it was not a large llama.

Echinacea 

The blue flowers are chicory and the yellow ones are
Jerusalem artichokes

We had to ask visitors at the zoo not to stand too close to watch what we were doing, as there was some spitting going on, but not as much as we expected. Ian then walked the llama to the place where we were going to cut his teeth, as we needed an electric supply and couldn't do it in the middle of a field. Plus we didn't really want visitors seeing what we were doing, as it can look a little drastic. Ian passed the llama to me as he got the teeth cutting equipment ready and I ended up getting showered in little bits of spit as the llama got more and more antsy. As soon as Ian got hold of him, however, he quietened right down. 

A bee on a cabbage thistle. I'm glad the bees are making use
of it as it is spreading and the animals don't seem fond of it

The buckwheat is turning

The next step was to get the llama pinned to the floor. Some handles were fixed to a doorpost near the ground that acted as places to slide ropes through that were attached to the llama's halter. Whilst that got its head down the llama was not happy about going on the floor itself. Fortunately the lady was used to large horses and so between us both we managed to pin him down. There was a point where I was hanging over this llama praying he wouldn't try to stand up and thinking "I'm 54 years old, what am I doing here?" but this was more out of a sense of amusement than panic. Ian cut his teeth with his ferocious sounding gadget and then the fighting teeth with a wire. It doesn't sound or look good but it is a job that is made far easier and quicker with the right equipment and therefore better for the animal in the long run. Afterwards Ian took the llama back to the paddock and fed him by hand. This time he was able to take the feed better. Later the llama seemed to be interacting with the alpacas more - which he wasn't doing before. Obviously he was feeling much better and the reports from the zoo suggest he continues to improve.

A winking Freddie. I think we have to get a fly mask made for
him

A sure sign the year is turning. Winter squashes are ripening.
The storks also seem to have left us, without even a wave
goodbye. Often we see them congregating before flying off.
Whilst we did see the first ones leaving at the end of July,
we didn't see the last ones go. One day they were walking
in the field, the next nothing!

We went back to the other mini zoo to finish off the shearing as we had left one alpaca still to do. Before we got started we were offered coffee, which we gratefully accepted as we had missed out on lunch. but was then presented with a very welcome meal of potatoes, tomato sauce, meat, bread, dessert and coffee. Suitably fortified we got on with the shearing of the last alpaca, which was given a regular haircut as it was getting late. It turned out to be a good plan as it showed up the markings on the back of the head rather well and looked really good. Admittedly not all alpacas look great after shearing, but the fleece grows back in the end and so not a problem.

The bottom pond is drying up rapidly. Fortunately there is
still a deep section that has not disappeared. We haven't seen
the fish in this one recently though. They may have buried
themselves or the heron may have got them

It is a good job we moved the fish from this pond, there is
nothing left now, except a wet patch

A view from our Oak hill

We finished shearing in the dim light and so were back a bit late for putting our own animals away. They had been looked after by some friends during the day but we said it was better we put them away at night as the routine is a bit more tricky with more animals, especially with the young ones, who tend to race around a bit before going in. Fortunately even our awkward animal, Turbjørn went in without a problem. He's often been left out in the past because he sometimes refuses to go in when it gets dim. 

Turbjørn, our curious but shy alpaca. A bit highly strung and
often grumpy. He will never go to anyone, not even Ian to
take food from his hand, If the food is in a tray, maybe -
well you never know if those hands have been washed do you?

Josefs being still - a rare moment

On the way back home we were listening to an old CD and one of the songs on it was "God will save the day" by Delrious? (the question mark is part of the band's name, just in case my grammar minded friends are wondering). 

God is bigger thanThe air I breatheThe world we'll leaveGod will save the dayAnd all will sayMy Glorious

Snuggling up or fighting over a piece of grass?

A dreamy picture of Mari

It was a long time since I have heard this song and I felt it lift my spirits. Things might look bad but I do believe that God will save the day. However I don't believe he is going to be like a helicopter parent who swoops in to make it all right. He expects us to help in tidying up our own mess. Together we can change the world, with God above doing what we cannot.

Aggie has a bandage on her leg to cover a sore, but she seems
to have started with another one on the other side. That might
be trickier to cover so I have put clay over the sore to stop the
flies attacking it and hoping that calms it all down.

Herkules is now sporting two bandages to cover sores. The
front leg is healing nicely but the back one has been a real
pain to try and cover so now we have resorted to an old pair
of my leggings. At least the flies can't get to it

As you can see he is not exactly thrilled with his fashionable
apparel

George has to take the high ground

Wednesday was a bit of a rest day but also a writing day with papers, emails and Facebook posts to write. I had hoped to submit my paper this week but it just needs a few final touches. So close, but not close enough. Thursday meant more alpaca wrestling, only this time our own. Our alpacas need their toe nails cutting and Chanel was not in the mood to cooperate at all. We think it means she is almost certainly pregnant, which is good news, but not for toe nail cutting. We ended up wrestling her to the floor to get the job done. Mari, however, was relatively well behaved but somehow Ian managed to rick his back doing her nails. Consequently the boys are having to wait to have their's done, even though they really need doing because Ian has been hobbling around since then. He is improving but slowly.

Volunteer tomatoes in my rockery. The dry year means that
even those tomatoes outside are doing well

Another volunteer plant - Amaranth growing on a heap of
soil near the barn

Again we have had visitors to the farm. One family were returnees and finished off with asking when they should come again? We were a bit stumped at this, as we weren't sure what to say, but then we remembered we are probably getting more alpacas in September and so that would be something new to see. The children go to a small school nearby and so the Mum talked about arranging a school visit too. Other visitors have been similarly encouraging and one shared our Facebook page and said it was like visiting a bit of paradise. Today's visitors consisted of someone we have known since we first came to Latvia and some friends of his. He asked us to re-tell our journey over the last 18 years of how we came to Latvia and how we came to be doing what we are doing now for a recording. That was a bit of a surprise, but it was good to tell the story of how our faith has guided our travels and the decisions we made. Sometimes it is good to look back and see how far you have come to then move forward.

The crosses Ian made to hang the shawls and scarves on

Lots and lots of sweet grapes

Even the usually tart wine grapes are
sweet this year

A variegated sweet corn growing
in the greenhouse

Lots of tomatoes ripening

Cry freedom!

Oh yes! Raspberry glut begins

Sorry once again for being late, but yesterday we only finished eating rather late after baling hay since early afternoon. Ian finished at 8:30pm but I finished earlier to go to a house meeting. So all in all, there wasn’t enough hours or energy in the day to write a blog. Anyway onto the events of the week. 

Feeding the alpacas

I enjoyed having a helper this week, who was up for any job I could throw at her. As I mentioned before she picked and sorted strawberries, which meant I got quite a few frozen and bottled up. She helped me pick peas, put sawdust down to create new paths, picked weeds, strawed up potatoes that I had weeded and plenty of other jobs too. She just made jobs go twice as fast, but there was still plenty for us both to do. She also got to live a few crazy ideas, such as swimming in a river and hanging out with the alpacas looking very Peruvian in her Peruvian poncho. Obviously we had a blast and had numerous crazy and serious chats whilst working. 

Caption competition here! Any offers? No prizes, just some fun

Haymaking art

Once our helper left we got on with haymaking. Ian actually started cutting with the two wheeled tractor the afternoon before, which didn’t take him quite as long as it usually takes me. He then cut the rest with the bigger tractor. He is definitely getting faster, but it still took him about 7 hours. We had a panic though as it rained quite heavily while he was cutting. The weather forecasters had been promising rain all week on Friday and so we had decided we were going to cut this week, then they changed their minds on the Thursday and forecast rain midweek. We decided to start earlier rather than risk the rain, except they changed their minds back again sometime on the Friday. We either have to get better at forecasting our own weather or we just resign ourselves to the weathermen getting it wrong from time to time. The problem is that the one thing that is crucial is the hay, that will feed not just our three alpacas this year, but another four female alpacas, two of who will be pregnant and possibly some sheep. Fortunately the weather has been that dry that it didn't seem to be too disastrous and the hay dried well. 

No hay bale photos yet! We've only just finished. Instead
a hay field flower, Scabious. I always wanted to grow these
in a flower bed, but obviously it prefers the freedom of the
open field and they grow quite happily there

Our activities are more or less governed by the weather, but we still try to have at least a day a week where we take things very easy, only it is not always Sunday. This week it was Saturday, as the hay needed time to dry and so it was cut on Friday and due to the rain turned on Sunday. In fact we took Saturday so easy we slept for two hours in the afternoon. Now in the summer it is not unusual for us to have a kip midday, as we can start early and finish late, but the heat of the afternoon can be unbearable, but that is usually for an hour, not two. I guess we needed it though as we both slept well again that night. It's nice though to have the freedom to choose when to do things, well weather permitting. At least the weather has held up till now and all the hay is baled. It would be good if it didn't rain until we collect them in, but we have left them out for the time being to cure a little, in case they are slightly damp. They cannot stop out long though, unlike the big bales as they can get wet. That's a job for tomorrow.

Finishing off the hutch

It is not just us enjoying the freedom of the countryside, so are our chickens - the older ones that is. As we will need the arks for our new chicks we decided to re-home our older ones in a new hutch set in the alpaca paddock. Last week's photos showed the half finished hutch, but Ian got it finished just in time before haymaking time and we both transferred the chickens one evening to their new abode, except for poor Charlie. He was earmarked for the pot, because he wouldn't go in at night and didn't seem to look after his ladies terribly well, unlike James. However, he has got a reprieve as he is not an aggressive chicken, he has the chance at a new home to replace another chicken who is turning aggressive, we are just waiting for him to be collected. Our James has also been getting a bit aggressive, but hopefully we have put him in his place and is getting the idea that humans are higher up the pecking order than chickens. He seems to place alpacas at the top and us at the bottom - or tried to.

The freedom of the open field

Our chickens have certainly taken to their freedom, they strut around with tails up and wander far too far. We hope they are not going to become a meal for Mr. Fox, as they were supposed to stay in close proximity to the alpacas, but they have other ideas. They do go into the alpaca house on a daily basis to have a good old rummage around - hopefully finding lots of juicy fly larvae in the process, they like a bunch of cleaners marching in, quite funny to watch. The alpacas don't seem unduly concerned about this and after the initial curiosity they now seem to ignore them totally. One of the problems with their wanderings is that they now are wandering around my new cranberry bed. So far the cranberries seem safe, but that is probably because they are green. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to protect them from the chickens though, they were looking ever so nice too. Oh well, back to the planning board on that one.

Poor Charlie, he lost his women and he's now waiting for
his new home

I mentioned earlier that we had a house meeting. From time to time all the folks who live in the apartment block are invited to a house meeting, where we decide on what is going to happen about the heating, what is going to happen with the house in general, the heating, what needs repairing, the heating, and any other problems. Yes I know I've mentioned the heating more than once, it comes up every single time and we still haven't resolved the issue. Some folks are just willing to continue to pay stupid sums of money for inadequate heating, rather than tackle the issue together or get a new form of heating. We have another meeting later on in the week to try and resolve that one, yet again. The other issue that gets recycled is the issue of non-payment. Some people were refusing to pay because of - well lots of reasons. It is not a great deal of money each month and it goes towards paying electric bills and various other costs, but it is not enough to do major work, because not everyone is paying and because it is not getting done they won't pay and so it goes on and on. It looks like it is heading towards being sorted though, with the worse culprits being given ultimatums, pay up by a certain time or agree a payment plan or court. Drastic, but possibly necessary.

These little fellas look quite odd as they are still waiting for
the feathers on their heads. These are our first batch of
chicks this year waiting to be moved up to the bigger ark soon

In an effort not to waste anything, I have been getting more experimental and trying different foods. We cooked bulrushes tonight with our tea. From three bulrushes when we first dug the pond, we are now getting lots of them popping up all over and they are in danger of taking over our pond. I read somewhere though that a lot of the bulrush plant is edible and so we gave the base of the stems a try today. Apparently bulrushes can pick up all sorts of nasty chemicals and that's why they are good for cleaning water, but since our ponds are not contaminated they should be fine. We found out that it is only really the inner core that is properly edible, or the very young shoots, the rest is a bit fibrous, but they do taste good. At least when we clear the ponds out, we have no need to throw away all the plants. Just going to see what to do with the roots and I know baskets can be made from the leaves but I will leave that for another time.

Our water situation is okay, but that brown ring shows how
much water has been lost. We think there must be a spring
because even though the water table is dropping, this still
fills, but slowly

The other challenge we had was lots of small fish we were given. They taste good but the bones are a nightmare. I was determined to find a way to cook them that would have the same effect on the bones as tinned fish and I have found it - the pressure cooker. I marinated the little bream in oil, vinegar, onion and herbs and then pressure cooked them for about half an hour. Result! The bones are a bit like the bones in tinned salmon, a bit brittle but edible and the meat of the fish was fine. I would now like to see if I can do a batch job in jars and then we can eat them out in the caravan for a quick meal.

Black hollyhocks. Well that is what they are
supposed to be, but in reality they are a very
deep maroon colour

We had a surprise visitor tonight, just as we were about to leave, a black and tan dog turned up. It was the friendliest of creatures, didn't go silly with the cats, seemed quite affectionate without being overly fussy, didn't jump up and most certainly did not look like a stray. I managed to get hold of one of our neighbours, as I remembered that she said she might get a new dog sometime as their old guard dog was getting very, very old. Sure enough it turned out to be theirs. It had been a stray and when their dog died they gave it a home. Glad my hunch turned out to be right. Their dog was very happy to hang around while we waited for them to turn up to collect it though. Ian is not a dog lover, but that one was okay in his books.

I will try and upload a couple of videos of the chickens and the alpacas, as soon as I have worked it out that is. I will not be winning any awards for my filming but they are fun.