Don't Panic!

A green and pleasant land

Last Monday we took a trip to the airport to collect some friends of ours who are going to be staying with us for two months. We decided to put them in our apartment, especially since we are not even there most of the time at the moment and then they have access to all the kitchen equipment, fridge and washing machine. It also means that our other apartment is still free for guests to come. Our friends have been willing helpers and proved a useful extra pair of hands at this busy time of the year. They have prepared herbs for the solar drier, shifted wood out of our barn, barrels out of our old alpaca house, strimmed grass and cooked meals.

The lambs are growing up fast

Half the ski hill cut, so about a hectare

The forecast was good for haymaking this last week but not quite long enough to do our whole ski hill and so we only cut half as we have for the last two years. Unfortunately the amount of grass was greatly reduced due to the lack of rain we have had up until now. Some people are waiting to cut around here to see if their grass will grow more, but we decided we couldn't wait because sometimes those windows of time can be few and far between, even if it has been a dry year so far and a lot of the plants we didn't want to take over were rapidly going to seed. At least we may get another cut later on in the year if we need to, especially now we have had some good rainfall over night and into this morning.

This one always looks like he has eye liner

Mr. B with his muddy knees after last night's rain

The last two years we have used our neighbours barn to store our hay and that has been such a blessing but this year she said we won't be able to. She has been increasing the number of cows she keeps and so needs the space. It was a bit tight last year too. Unfortunately we hadn't got around to checking earlier - it was something we kept meaning to do and she only told us last week when we went to collect some of the older hay. Now we are desperately trying to think how we can store it all. As I mentioned our friends helped to move out wood from our large barn and the barrels out of our alpaca house, that way we can store a certain amount in those places, but we really don't know how much yet until we stack it in there. For now they are in the tractor trailer under a tarp, in a horse box and under plastic outside while they cool off after baling. Tomorrow we will start stacking them and see how far we get..

We finally have a post knocker, for knocking in posts for
fencing. This was made by a friend of ours and he brought it
over because he doesn't need it right now and he will make
himself another one when he needs it. Now Ian can get on
with doing some fence repairs around the boys paddock

So here is the tractor trailer I was clambering over to fix the
tarp on. There are about 54 bales in these two and we only
needed to make one trip with these and another with the small
trailer. Normally for the hectare there are at least two runs
if not more

Ian was doing some baling and we were expecting rain so I had to put the tarp over the tractor trailer, which involved quite a bit of climbing. It amused me to be doing that at my age. I'm glad I'm still able to and I am pretty sure losing weight recently has helped. I certainly feel I can bound up the stairs a bit quicker these days and I definitely can bend over much easier to do all the weeding that needs doing. It makes me realise how much fat I was carrying internally around my middle. Today though I was back on the computer finishing off written work, which was fine as we finally got the saturating rain we so desperately needed.

We watched with a certain amount of bemusement as this
little lady stalked a stork. We wondered at what stage would
she realise that a stork is way beyond her capacity to catch?
It was also a bit worrying to think she might also go after our hens 

A close up of our oak tree. We measured it recently to see if
it would be classed as a protected tree, but it was about half
a metre short around its circumference at only 4.5m

We have been staying out in the caravan for quite a while and go back to have showers and do our washing during the week when we go to collect milk. The problem is that it has been so hot and with doing the baling it can be dusty work and so we really needed a good shower but didn't want to go home. We ended up having to use the pond water and watering can for a makeshift shower instead. All I can say is thank goodness it was too late in the day for visitors. We could do with a shower area but trying to work out a place for that will be more tricky than where to put the loo, aka the office, due to the problems of mosquitoes and horse flies. It would be good to find somewhere though that we can use the sun to heat the water up during the day. A challenge for another day, until then, the pond and the watering can will have to suffice.

Some swallows can't quite decide where to nest in the girl's
alpaca house

These three have certainly got the hang of this visiting lark.
As soon as anyone appears now they are ready for some food.
It is one of the reasons they usually get apples or carrots and
not grain. 

It was a holiday week for Latvians and many stayed up to celebrate their midsummer festival, Ligo. We didn't, we needed sleep to get the baling done. It has been so hot and difficult to sleep at times, which is unusual for Ligo, normally it is quite cool or even rains but this year was a great time to celebrate. The holiday week though has meant we have had quite a few visitors and we have found out that word has been going around our village about our alpacas and it has become known as a place to visit. Two groups mentioned that friends or people they know have told them about us. One group stayed for a very long time and were very interested in what we were doing generally and not just with the alpacas. One lady who visited was an Australian married to a Latvian and so language wasn't a problem there and all the rest of the groups had at least one person who could speak very good English, so we haven't had any issues communicating.

The landscape completely changes again when we start cutting.
We got a reasonable amount of hay from here because it is
wetter than on the ski hill so that at least increases the amount we
have collected but we have a long way to go yet.

Veronica usually looks very regal and so we call her Lady V,
but here she is looking rather cute

It's been quite a week for many of us. So many of my friends seem to be in a state of shock. Some are happy with the result from the UK referendum, but since I know many outside the country there is a sense of vulnerability and concern over what comes next. It isn't just a feeling of what comes next personally, although that is a worry in itself, there is also the sense of what next? What chain of events could this precipitate? Will it really have positive effects on the UK economy? I rather doubt that but who knows. Will it have a contagion outside of the country across Europe?

Mari always looks cute though. We found out that she has some
of the finest fleece of our herd, apart from Brencis who is
younger anyway. 

Agnese in deep thought about Brexit. Will we have to find
new homes for us all.

If the arguments for Brexit were just about the unwieldily and bureaucratic EU and the changes that need to happen, I would have totally understood, because that is in some ways what I am working for in my research. So often though it was about taking sovereignty back, which to be honest I don't understand in this global world. It was about immigration, which is not affected that much by the EU. Yes there is freedom of movement and that is why I'm in Latvia, so it works both ways. What was even more bewildering was seeing the look of shock on the supposed victors' faces, the leaders of the Brexit campaign, as if they had no idea what was going to happen next. It would appear that no one wants the poisoned chalice of enacting Article 50, the mechanism for countries to exit the EU. Such shocking disarray.

At least our apple trees in our orchard on the land are finally
starting to produce. We haven't had much more than about
two apples

I was given these scented stocks last year by a friend and they
remind me of my Grandad's allotment from childhood

These past few weeks have seemed like one thing after another and so it was hard not to be down at times and sometimes it is the smallest of things that annoy us. One of the first things our friends from America needed to do was get some cash out of the cash machine. We pulled up to the spot in our village and one of them got out, but when he got back in the car he said the cash machine is not there. We were rather stunned, as we had only used it the week before, so of course I got out to see if he had missed it or something, as if he was likely to miss a cash machine he had used before - daft really, but sure enough there was just a blank wall. It was already plastered up and painted as if there had never been a cash machine there before. Apparently we weren't the only ones to stare in disbelief at the wall and one of our friends spent an amusing time watching the confused look on people's faces. Fortunately they haven't completely removed our cash machine services to the village, but what they have done is put it in a shop that is not open 24/7, so we have to remember to have cash outside shop hours - something I will definitely have to remember if I ever catch the early bus.

I think the rain was too late for some of our blackberry bushes

The new pond is gradually filling up

The buckwheat seems to be recovering a bit but very weedy

And as for my vegetable plot! We have a nice crop of
self-seeded hemp 

Variety the spice of life!

The snow started to melt and then it snowed again

It has been a varied week as per usual. One day out on the farm, other days sat working on the computer and another doing ordinary jobs like cleaning - only they don't seem that ordinary to me at the moment, but something slipped into the schedule out of sheer necessity. Don't expect a spotless house if you visit. This week I also taught at a workshop and I actually got paid for it, which was lovely.

But you have to admit, it does look pretty

A weird build up of ice on the car

The workshop was such a joy. It was actually quite simple in many ways, but it connected with the people in a way that sparked some amazing interactions. I didn't have a huge amount of teaching time, so they were more discussion starters to get people thinking. I first had a game to show how the local economy could work better, showing people how money can flow when we think creatively. We then looked at wider networks and where people had connections to other places.

My glass sculpture from a glass workshop after my presentation.
It will be fired and given a frosty look

Working on an activity, artists and workshop attendees

My last exercise was my favourite and linked artists with others to tell their stories. It was interpreted in some quite different ways, which was brilliant. It showed how interactions with artists can initiate new ideas and how artists could also convey the information in visual forms that communicated well with others and were great for conversation starters. I was also sent a sweet letter afterwards, that thoroughly blessed me, thanking me for taking the workshop. It felt like we, the leader of the organisation and I, had both appreciated the work each other had been doing.

Other pieces created in the glass workshop

Mr. B. seems to have settled in well now. Here he is eating
snow alongside Turbjørn. All the alpacas have been eating
snow again this week. They have got fresh water, honest!

As I said I also spent sometime out on the land. The mite problem is kicking in, as it seems to do every year as soon as there is a hint of spring. Hopefully we are now much more aware of the issues and know how to deal with it, but it is worrying that it keeps coming recurring. It won't be enough to keep using the same treatments over and over again and so we will have to keep an eye out for alternative treatments too. At least it only seems to be a problem for the girls at the moment, the boys seem fine, even Herk who usually seems to get the problems first. That was a relief as our youngster Mr. B. (or Brencis for his full name) has only just been moved from the girls place and thus was a likely carrier of mites.

Peedo, finally has a nickname and from now on, will be known
as Mr. P. Here he is looking a little frosted after stopping out
in the snow. He could have gone inside

No signs of concussion now

Ian got a little worried about one of our cockerel's this week. He found him flaked out and being stood on by the other chickens. He got hold of him quite easily and laid him on the floor by the side of the ark and he didn't move much. He then realised that it was not a good idea to leave him there in case he recovered and wasn't able to catch him, so he put him in our usual recovery place, the cat box. He put water and food in there and almost immediately he started picking at the food. Not much later he seemed to have made a miraculous recovery. The only thing we can think of is that he must of slipped off somewhere and concussed himself.

Chanel enjoying the spruce tree

Mr. P. investigating what Ian is doing

He's been fine ever since. So fine in fact that he actually started crowing just before I was due to set off for the workshop on the Friday. I had literally just got to the door when we heard the cockle-doodle-doo. Even our new cockerel hadn't made that sound so far since we got him and so we were shocked. We headed back to see who was responsible and saw the shocked look on the previously concussed cockerel and thought it must have been him. Then the new one started so we changed our mind, but next a competition started between the two of them. It was almost like a fanfare to send me off on my new adventure. It hasn't lasted though, none of them have crowed since. The new cockerel though, has finally gone in to the hutch part at night. He just didn't seem to understand or bother to investigate why the girls all disappeared every night.

The signs of an unwelcome visitor, dog footprints around the
alpaca enclosure. The dog had raced around too. Herkules
sounded his warning cry but Ian didn't get to see the culprit,
just the evidence.

A frosted forest of grass

We have taken on one of our friends to help us with the farm. It is much easier for her to write emails and get price lists and so hopefully we will get things running more smoothly. She will help us with the alpacas too and be available for visiting groups too. It is a bit of a step of faith that having someone available to help over summer will help us to get things moving in the right direction to be able to support our lives here.

This oak tree has grown around some barbed wire that must
have been nailed to it in the past. How long ago
did that happen?

Not time to plant anything yet!

It is unlikely that the farm will be our only source of income but it needs to be getting us there. At least we do get most of our food from off the land, although it is going to be close this year. Our freezer stocks are getting low. We have loads of frozen berries and tomatoes and not much else, we also have stores of potatoes, beetroot, carrots, onions and squashes but most of those are low too. At least I do know what we can eat in terms of leaves that are going to start to appear soon so there will be fresh onion leaves, dandelions, nettles and a whole host of other greens that are good in Spring. Of course it is not the end of the world if we run out, there are still the shops, but if we can avoid it, we will.

Frosted sheep too. You can tell their coats are keeping them
well insulated as the snow doesn't really melt in the cold

Signs of spring in the greenhouse. When the sun comes out
the temperatures actually get quite high in the greenhouse

I often hear moans about the youth of today, but let's be honest, when was there ever a time they weren't moaned about? I'm sure folks used to moan about my generation too. I think we need to give these kids space to re-think their future, not one constrained by the greed and selfish of our generation.

Different generations getting along

The storks are not back on their nest yet. 

I get heartily sick of folks knocking these generations for being self-absorbed, but has anyone asked them? Selfish? That's rich coming from the generations that have over- used resources to such an extent that some of them, if not many of them, will either run out or be badly polluted. A same generation that moans has saddled the next ones with debt to furnish their comfy lifestyle whilst they might not live to reap the storm of the future trajectory that we have set this planet on. Selfish? Let's give the younger generations a break and help them to put right what we started and to re-imagine a new day. I think this Guardian article sets out the problems they face quite well

Ian has been looking at my Kitchen Aid mixer, which is showing
signs of wear. The delight though is it is easy to take apart and
the parts to repair it with relatively easy to obtain

Signs of Spring at our other apartment too

I have been digging out a few poems I wrote a while ago and this one was originally written in 2009, but I think it still has echoes for today, as the chill snowy wind blew around this week.

When the wind of history blew

When the wind of history blew

The banking system shivered

Drew its coat around itself

and carried on

Tree felling before Spring to give space for more growth

When the wind of history blew

Governments trembled

Threw some money into the banking system’s begging hats

then carried on

When the wind of history blew

The people paused and

For a moment considered a future different

To one they had relied on

When all seemed to be restored

Once again they carried on

Not as much snow here, but a cold, cold day

But a few saw the cracks

Opened up by the wind

Growing, creaking its way into the system

Space is being created

Space into which a new Kingdom will come

Quietly without much fanfare

But sweeping across the nations

Blowing through

Sculpting a new tomorrow