Swimming anyone?

The sheets cover 1.8m (6ft) deep holes

 We had a lovely week, can't remember if it rained at all but we managed to get  a lot done in the gardens and on the land, until the weekend that is. Wouldn't you know it, it started to rain as they were boring holes for the foundations of our barn on Saturday. Not impressed! It started off okay but as they dug the rain started and by the time they finished it was pelting it down. We were left with a request to dig a trench to drain the water away from the barn site and that meant that Ian had to put the back hoe onto the tractor, in the rain. That didn't go very well, he was tinkering about for ages but I wasn't leaving the polytunnel to find out what the problem was as I only had a lightweight rain mac and Ian had the full set of waterproofs.

Swimming pool perhaps?

Eventually Ian got the back hoe on and working and the next stage was to dig a drainage channel, which was easier said than done as there were now several very deep holes in the area to be avoided. Another problem was that he couldn't really see how deep he needed to go, he needed a water level in it and that meant I had to dig ditches (sound familiar?) from the pools of water to drain into the trench. Eventually we managed to get a working drainage channel with some feeder ditches but I was soaked through - my anorak was clearly not up to keeping the rain off that was falling (it is quite old though). While Ian sorted out the tractor I had to try and dry off as best I could in the polytunnel and walk up and down to keep warm while drinking a cup of tea (of course!). I was so cold by the time we got home Ian had to light the woodstove for me. It certainly made an appealing case for getting a woodstove into the polytunnel as soon as possible.

We now have aubergines (the second from the right) and
outdoor tomatoes (right) as I think it is proving too cold
to put them out.

Scaling up is an interesting exercise, it certainly shows up the problems of multi-site work such as the tools are never in the right place, except Ian's which now live in the truck; mulching is a great time saver and so all the hay that we stacked earlier on in the year is coming in very handy. The mulching serves two functions, one to keep the weeds down but also to keep the ground moist around the plants - very useful in the polytunnel. It also shows the use of the hay cocks that the Latvians set up in the field which usefully dry the grass while it is stacked. Our hay stack is quite wet in the middle, which is fine for us as it will compost eventually but not for bedding for animals or for mulching around plants. Having the hay stacked up in fields drying and only taking what you need when you need it, makes a lot more sense now. It does mean also that you do not need perfect weather to cut the hay although that would be better, as it can be stacked there and left in the field. We do have some of the wooden pole structures to make the hay cocks but not enough for the area we will cover, a job for Ian I guess. Scaling up could also mean a change of practice. I prefer to make wide beds that we can walk around and weed from but on a larger scale it might be better to plant long rows which will be easier to hoe between, unless of course the mulching will be effective enough on a large scale. Trial and error, I think!

The pond is very full now, and we were worried that it
might dry up on us not long ago so Ian extended it

We quite enjoy looking at what the Latvians use in the garden and we have learnt quite a bit just lately. A lot of the gardens have got bottles on lightweight sticks and we weren't quite sure what they were for until we stood next to a patch one day when a slight breeze was blowing and we realised they were making a clacking sound, bird scarers obviously! We have used that idea in our orchard to keep off the deer, not sure if it is effective or the deer just aren't bothered about our orchard at the moment but at least they haven't been back. One garden has just constructed a support for his broad beans out of thin wood poles which looks a useful idea to copy, and many of the Latvians pile up their weeds in an area of the garden and then grow their pumpkins or courgettes (zucchini) in them, the wide leaves smother any re-growth.

So full we now have a water feature

Well I hope that all makes sense as I am not quite with it today, as I had a tooth removed this morning. I lost the filling that was put in about two weeks ago and there was no point in a having a crown made for it as I managed to lose two of those in quick succession when my tooth first started causing problems many years ago. I decided, therefore, the best thing to do was to remove it. About half way through I was wondering if it was ever going to get pulled, or whether the young slip of a lass was going to have to call in reinforcements. She kept shaking her wrist and it took rather a long time with the assistant holding onto my jaw. The poor dentist looked exhausted by the time she finished and I am not quite sure who will ache the most tomorrow, me or her!

A butterfly that was trapped in our polytunnel

Quagmires and puddles

Drainage down the side of the polytunnel

The ditch down to the pond

After a week of dry weather and no significant rainfall for even longer we eventually had a long lovely overnight drenching downpour, the sort that waters everything beautifully giving our newly planted trees and bushes a much needed boost - saved me a job anyway! I was not looking forward to watering over a 50 bushes and trees. Unfortunately the rain also leaked into the polytunnel under the floor. It looks like we have a spot that turns to swamp even with a fairly light shower. This meant that Ian had to start digging a trench to drain the water away from the polytunnel with his tractor, he dug about 2m of the trench then realised this was not a good idea as ideally he needs a ditching bucket which will make a narrower ditch. He can then put in a pipe with lots of holes and covered in fleece in to the narrower ditch to drain the water away from the foundations. If he carried on with the wider trench he wouldn't be able to put in the narrower trench later without risking the tractor falling into the polytunnel - not a good idea. In the end he sloped the soil away from the polytunnel to see what that would do. Well we found out, big time as we had a terrific thunderstorm with so much lightening that it lit the whole area, as if someone was switching a gigantic light, on and off rapidly. The rain came down in sheets and was so bad at times I could barely see up the hill and the wind was tearing at the trees and our rhubarb (had to mention that as it is looking fairly sad at the minute). The next morning we set off to our land with trepidation, there were trees on the road which didn't bode well but to our relief the polytunnel was still standing, even the doors were still closed.

You can see the damp patch on the left but the tomatoes on
the right seem quite happy.

Swimming anyone? The place our barn will go!

Sloping the soil away from the polytunnel did work and the water inside the polytunnel was not as bad as it had been, just means we haven't had to water that side of the polytunnel all weekend though. There was still a lot of water and so we decided to dig a small trench by hand and direct it towards our pond. It was great fun, I do love digging ditches in the mud and watching the water drain away, the problem is that there was so much water that we were now worried that it was going to overflow our pond. If that was to happen then it would wash over the side eating away at the bank leading to a devastating


collapse of our pond. Not what we wanted! I remembered that in the forest were some clay drainage pipes lying about and amazingly Ian was able to locate them amongst the new undergrowth. Wonders will never cease! These were installed high up the side of the pond and would hopefully lead the water away without eating into the bank if necessary. As it was the water didn't quite reach the level of the clay pipes but it was close. I had so much fun digging the ditches by the greenhouse that I went and did the same for the levelled area that will eventually be the barn. Why is it though that we just get an area level for building and then it rains?

Ragged Robin

The thunderstorm also left us without electricity for a while and early the next morning, power was on but at a much reduced ie 70V not the normal 230V. The problem is that at this low voltage the new-fangled energy saving lightbulbs wouldn't power up, the halogen ones in the shower room and toilet worked but it was like having a wash by candlelight as these rooms don't have windows. We weren't even sure if the freezer would work at this voltage and waiting for my cup of tea took ages! The water did boil - eventually! At least when we got back from the land in the evening the electricity was up to full strength.

Ox-eye daisy

I was sent a book, How to make a Forest Garden by Patrick Whitefield, from a lovely lady I met through the cottage smallholder forum (such a friendly bunch!) and it has made me think how we could utilise the forest we already have and some of the new growth that will be a forest if we don't do something with it soon. I hate digging up trees anyway and so being able to incorporate something and make it productive is a challenge. Last week I was wondering "if God commanded man to fill the earth and tend it, what would that look like?" and one section in the book really caught my eye

Even the humble clover is beautiful. This was such a vivid
colour, it was incredible!

"A forest garden does not need a lot of work, but it does need attention. Though it can stand the odd spell of neglect, if it only gets attended to in occasional bursts of energy a few vigorous plants will take over the lower layers and much of the food will go unharvested. It needs someone to wander through it regularly to see how it is getting on, to cut back a rampant plant here, add a little mulch there, pick those tender little leaves or juicy berries before they go past their best. In short it needs someone to inhabit it"

Greater butterfly orchid

Isn't that how God designed the earth? We are not meant to hack away everything and exploit it but to wander through the land and inhabit it. Live with it! Look after it! Care for it! Inhabit it! I love that phrase, it really seems to resonate with how God intended man to live on this planet and what we feel is part of our purpose here in Latvia. Well I won't be converting the whole lot to a forest garden, as that would mean the open meadowland would be lost too and with that would be lost the corncrake but also some amazing orchids which we found in our wanderings this week. There are loads of them! We tried retracing our steps so that we could locate the orchid we found last week as it should now be flowering, but we had some difficulty remembering where we saw it but as we wandered about we realised there were lots of purple orchids and then we found a whole glade of the butterfly orchids which we had only seen in bud last week but only the odd one dotted around, it is such a treasure!

Marsh orchid - not sure which one yet
in the process of finding out from my
friendly experts 

So how do we get the message across that it is a sheer delight to inhabit our piece of the world, to wander in it and see how it is getting on? Or rather it should be a delight! The problem is that so often we only hear the frightening version of events "unless we change we will be frazzled in sweltering heat or be battered to death or drowned by freak weather. One thing that has often struck me on my course is that environmentalists are giving out the wrong message for all the right reasons. They are right that there is a danger that we will damage the earth beyond repair, I don't happen to believe God will actually let us do that and he is the healer of the land too, but that does not absolve us of our responsibilities to look after it. An article "Can hotel towels save the world?" on Forum for the future suggested that instead of harping on at people how wrong their lifestyles are they start to tell people that other people are doing the right things and so imply that it is socially acceptable to reuse your bath towels, in fact if you tell them that the previous occupiers of the room they are in, reused their bath towels then the reuse rate went up even more.  Interesting! What other messages should be changed to help people make right choices? Will it change the world?

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.