Spring is creeping in.

Antonia sporting this years ruff look. Not sure
how she managed to end up with a ruff, but
she wasn't sheared to look like that.

Sometimes spring bursts onto the scene with a wild abandon and sometimes it almost imperceptibly creeps in by the backdoor. The signs are there but we have to look hard for them. There is a gradual greening of the landscape as the grass pokes through the dry, dead thatch. There is also plenty of other greenery poking through and not all are welcome. The docks are some of the first. It wouldn't be so bad if they were tasty, but they are not, they are quite bitter and full of oxalic acid. Not something to eat in quantity and not as tasty as spinach that is also quite high in oxalic acid. Sometimes you can read on the internet that docks are tasty, lemony even. Well kind of, what they are often referring to in these articles are sorrel, not the harsh docks of a field. Then again, I've just read an interesting article on it, so I'm tempted to give them another try. 

Dock leaves poking through

Ian collecting docks

Finished for the day. The heap on the left is the
pile of roots he's dug up.

On my way back from collecting the milk.

Other signs of spring are arguing boy alpacas. Generally they are quite good, but every now and again, they get into a right ding dong of a fight as Ian calls them. The most serious ones are between Brencis and his dad Tellus for some reason. Most of the time they are peaceful though. Well kind of! Ian has been digging docks in their field or just outside of their paddock area. He had to listen to continuous moaning the whole time because they spotted him with plastic, electric poles that he usually uses for creating fences for them. This time, though, he was using them to mark out an area to inspect or where docks were for digging up - depending on how extensive they were. They were obviously disgruntled because they thought he was setting out a fence so they could get out onto the grass. Not yet boys! Bide your time! They are clever animals though as they haven't forgotten what the poles are for, even though they've been confined to their paddocks since early December last year. 

All sorts of wildlife is starting to wake up 
too. According to my iNaturalist app this
is a Poecilus beetle.

Some sleepy looking alpacas

Aggie looking tired and huge. Two months or
more to go.

The storks have returned to both the apartment nesting site and outside our neighbour's house and they are now sitting on eggs. I walked up to our neighbour's to collect the milk on Sunday because it was a lovely frosty morning and so had time to do that -not much point in gardening before the frost has cleared - and it was lovely to see a stork just sitting there on top of the tall pole. Once I got back we had a leisurely coffee before we got on with the chores for the day.  

These bright mushrooms pop up 
everywhere and provide quite a splash
of colour on a dreary spring day

Starting on the left, one spare bed, two onion
beds and one bed of garlic.

It was nice to get outside into the garden. The weeds haven't really got started yet and so it was a chance to get some vegetable beds prepared. There isn't a lot to do to them as we don't need to dig them over. They have either been under mulch or or had alpaca manure deposited on them over winter. The sides get a bit untidy though and so I've got one bed sorted and edged neatly, others are raked over. It is nice to see the rich, dark soil that we have due to using the alpaca manure - much nicer than the hard sandy, clay soil underneath.  Two beds have been planted with onions, one white and the other red ones that Ian managed to get at a store last week. I ran out of onions this winter and so I got extra this year. I keep meaning to start some off and I always forget. Maybe this year I will get around to starting my own for sets next year, rather than buying them. Then again, maybe not! 

The garlic is looking happy poking
through the mulch

Turnips and tiny carrots that 
survived the winter betwen
bales of hay, two layers of 
fleece and a blanket of snow. 
They also survived the shrew
that Rocket Ron eventually 
caught

Okay not quite spring on that particular day (6th
April). Every time I looked out of the greenhouse
it seemed like a different season.

Sunshine, hail, stormy looking clouds, all in one day

The only only white we've seen this week is from some frosts or hail, there have definitely been one or two chilly nights, but still the buds are forming on most of the bushes and perennial plants starting to poke through. It has been a bit breezy at times, but there has also been some very pleasant days. A perfect time of the year for visitors really, but we haven't had any this week. I said last week that now we are officially open people wouldn't turn up. Funny how it works that way. Anyway we are expecting some next week if the weather holds. Not that it really matters. My income is more than enough to keep us going and there are plenty of things to do, even when we are not showing visitors around.  

That hail was rather large. Pea sized!

An alpaca footprint for comparison

Spring again! I think!

Turbjørn does suit his red coat.

Now the weather is warmer, Ian has taken Turbjørn's coat off - it keeps riding up his back now anyway. One of the problems has been that we can't use the strap at the back that goes under his tail and helps to keep the jacket in place because the strap cuts into his bum. I think we'll have to work out something for next winter to sort that out, as he's pretty thin, poor guy. Hopefully once he gets out onto the grass he might put some weight on. 

Errrrr! Hello there!

How does an alpaca get that mucky?

The caravan has undergone a few modifications since last week. Last year I bought some shelving that has been quite useful but sometimes getting to them has been a pain and the position of them meant we weren't really able to open the window or even the curtains. That in turn meant working in the caravan has been like working in a cave. Ian removed the cushions and opened up the space under one of the seats. The boots and shoes can now go under there. The old table makes another wide shelf like before but now one we can get to and we can use more of the space. He also cut into the wood on one of the benches so that the seat can be lifted up. The table rests on part of it, but at least we can now access some of the space under there. We just have to try and remember that's where spare bags for groceries have been put. Always a problem when things get stored somewhere.

Next year's strawberry beds in
the making. Alpaca manure
being laid out to rot down over
summer.

The old strawberry beds. The cleaning fairy has
been working hard. Even working in the garden 
now. The strawberry beds have had a raking to 
clear off the old leaves and so we can see where
the plants are.

The autumn raspberry bed has been cut down too
and the strands of electric wire to discourage
deer has been removed. It didn't quite work
this year, but only when the snow was so deep
that the deer walked over the top of the wire.

We used the spare cushions on top of of the ones we were using for our bed. Those ones have got a bit crushed over time as we've been regularly spending the summer months in our caravan for the last 6-7 years (gosh! that long - good job we have a blog to look back on). The good news is that the extra layer means it is warmer for me. The bad news is that it's a bit tricky sitting down in the caravan as there are two layers of cushions that are a bit bouncy for scrambling on to get seated and a bit high for me to easily get onto as well. If I sit at the end I feel like a kid on a bus seat with my legs dangling. No surprise to anyone who has met me, as you will realise how short I am. I'm sure we'll either get used to it or figure something out. 

A wispy look in the sky tonight

A closer look at those wispy clouds

Putting away time.

A couple of months ago I had written an academic paper that a colleague then submitted to a journal. The peer review process is a bit on the slow side for this journal but one we need to use for this kind of publication. Last week we got the paper back and so I've just spent a day sorting through the long list of comments. Most are quite useful comments, but some are mistakes due to a misunderstanding of aspects of the English language. Some are my grammatical mistakes - very embarrassing, but grammar is not my strong point. It is not often you get such a detailed response but when you do it can be quite helpful. It helps to know where others do not understand what you've written. I and my colleagues understand it, but then we've been working with the material for about 18 months or more. Hopefully tomorrow I should make significant progress through it and then upload it for my colleagues to look at and contribute to.

Don't forget about us!

We think this is the bark of a silver
birch tree but we'll have to wait
until the leaves come through to
be sure. 

A common frog. Seems a shame to
call such a glorious creature a common
frog.

According to iNaturalist this is an 
early cellophane bee. It certainly is 
early in the year and the wings
do look like cellophane. It's tiny.

Sunshine and snow showers!

Melting snow, yet again! But it does look pretty

We've had another of those weeks with a dusting of snow, then melting and just when we thought we had seen the back of it, it snowed again. Saturday was a lovely day, not sunny, but warm enough to get in the garden and dig over a bed. It was lovely to work the soil, as it was noticeable that the edges that had not had much treatment were sandier and not as rich looking as the middle of the bed. It shows the straw bedding, the wood mulch and alpaca poo are all working wonders to make lovely rich vegetable beds. Since the beds are not frozen and the forecast was only for rain over the coming week, I thought I would plant our onions. The rain would help them swell and they wouldn't come to much harm in the cool nights. It was nice enough to take my coat and hat off as I worked. I got the onions in and went to see Ian to see if he was ready for a cuppa. As we sat and chatted in the caravan I noticed what looked like big fluffy flakes of snow falling. Sure enough the ground was white again. Seems like I was just in time then.

Planting onions

This old lady is still a good egg layer. She was born in
June 2012 and still produces eggs most days

Just take a close look at that fleece! Agnese has been rolling
around in the hay again. She is absolutely covered.
Goodness only knows how we are going to get that out

While I was working on preparing the onion bed Ian had some visitors and he was stood chatting to them for about half an hour. Of course Miss Observant me, never saw them, although he could see me. He didn't want to shout, because he would have scared Agnese who he had on a lead and besides the chances of me not hearing him were high. He would have phoned, but of course I forgot my phone that day too. The people had been walking down the road and saw the alpacas and had stopped to look. Our alpacas noticed the people and so Ian who was walking Agnese at the time went to have a look to see what the alpacas were so interested in. He invited them over to meet the alpacas and stood chatting to them, since there were younger members of the group who spoke reasonable English. If there is one thing that Ian loves to do, is to share his enthusiasm with other people and that was something the group definitely picked up on. He thinks they were some more of our neighbours, it seems the alpacas are proving quite a draw.

If you look closely, you will see the evidence of a certain
alpaca and her tendency to stick her head through the
fence and eat the grass on the other side. That is despite
the small holes in the fence, specifically to stop them doing
that

Whistle! Whistle! Goes Lady V as we often call her, as
she sneaks away. At least that is what it sort of looks like

Who me? Innocent me?

I said it was wet! We have our temporary lake back again

The rest of the week has been a bit wet and so Ian has had to get yet another new pair of wellies. The wellies don't seem to be lasting very long at all no matter how much he spends on them. It is a near constant moan in our house when shoes or wellies go and he has to get a new pair. He just got a cheap pair from the local shop for the time being and they are not the steel-capped ones he usually gets. In fact they seem a bit soft, but maybe that's a good thing, who knows. The wet weather also means he has been doing some of the early season wet weather jobs like servicing the two-wheel tractor and the chipper. In between the showers he has been removing stones from the fields in readiness for a new rotavator he has ordered for the two-wheel tractor. The other one only really needs a new belt, but finding them has been impossible. It also cuts out on a slope if it is facing the wrong way, which is not useful on our hills. At least it means just taking one machine when we go to work our apartment allotment and not two. It should also be more robust than the other one and adjustable. Ian has also been taking lots of photos, since there is more time in the day to get things done and not enough jobs because it is still too early to get much done.

Did I tell you it had been wet? The road
is now like tram tracks

The evidence of the tractor using our land for a short cut

Ian's alpaca visitors weren't the only neighbours that he hadn't met before that he had some interaction with this week, only the next encounter was not quite so pleasant. We have noticed that one of our neighbours has been going up and down our ski hill in their tractor from time to time. This is not something we wish to encourage, because it will damage the hay and we do not want ruts running up the middle of our best hay field. Ian noticed fresh tracks on the road and went back to get his camera, he took some photos and then went back to work on a frame for our grapes. As he worked he heard a tractor, so ran to the top of the hill to see the tractor coming down the hill with a trailer, so Ian ran to get the car keys and the camera and drove quickly to block his access at the bottom of the road. He got out of the car and asked if the driver if spoke English and he said "No!" So Ian beckoned him out of the tractor and showed him the tracks and said "Nē, labi" (not good) and then showed him where he would let him come on and off our land. A compromise anyway. He didn't seem particularly upset and they even shook hands on it. Hopefully he understands and hopefully he stops using our land as an access point.

The new grape arbour

I love the contrast of the bright green against the logs

We are a bit worried about some other neighbours too. We have some new neighbours at our other apartment and I had noticed they have a husky which the young woman took out for walks. Yesterday I saw the husky on the loose with another dog I haven't seen before and they spent the whole time digging in someone's compost heap. It seemed to be also encouraging other dogs to join in, as there was a little dog that I often see and it was black from digging, something I have never seen it do before. I somehow think that explains the big holes that have recently appeared in the flower bed outside our apartment. I am quite annoyed because I had only just got Ian to bring some wood chip mulch for it to keep the weeds down and it was looking neat and tidy. If dogs are just going to dig big holes in it, I am not going to put the effort in to put some more plants in that I intended to do this year. It also does not fill me with hope for later on in the year with the allotment. The reason for keeping that on is because we have the wild boar digging up our land and don't want to risk all of our produce being eaten by them. Somehow I will have to convey my concerns to the house manager, that will be fun! Not!

A nice moody shot of our comparatively highly strung alpaca.
This is Turbjørn. He is lovely really, just rather nervous.
He is also very curious, just not curious enough to come
right up. He still only eats out of a bowl, even for Ian. He
certainly won't eat out of your hand. He also has a way of letting
Ian know when he wants something like a drink. He will come
up close to Ian with a look on his face as if he wants to
tell hims something. He is also the alpaca we deal with first
if we need to give injections, because otherwise he gets too
panicky to handle. 

The gooseberry bushes are sprouting

Had a little excitement this week on top of meeting neighbours. Oh we live the high life. I thought we were going to get our new bin. I mentioned previously that I thought we had organised a new collection for out on our land and cancelled the one at the apartment. I wasn't 100% sure, but all the signs were good. I didn't receive a bill for the next three months for collection at the apartment, so that must mean they got the cancellation and understood it. The next good sign was getting a contract, that was signed and sent off. The only thing is I had a nagging feeling I should have put a friend's phone number down for contact details or at least mention it was only if someone could speak English and sure enough this week, I had a phone call from the company and the guy did not speak English. At least I understood who it was who was speaking. I got my friend to ring him back, but they decided that we were too far out of Ergli for that particular run and they decided that they will deliver the bin next week instead. Nearly there then!

More signs of spring

I said it had been wet! This is the drainage pool from the barn

The start of a hedge. These are maples
that we transplanted a couple of years
ago. We are also going to put in hazel.
The hedge will be to deter the wild boar
from digging around our blueberries

Much of the rest of the week has been the usual current routine for me of writing a second paper. I have written about the writing process before by using a quote from Winston Churchill, that talks of the process turning from a lover to a monster. I am not sure that I could say that I start off that enthusiastically, but this current piece is worse. I think it is because I have only just finished one paper and this one has to be completed fairly rapidly that it feels more like a monster already, with each sentence being wrenched from my brain. In the process of writing the idea of trying to get the egg residue removed from a frying pan with glued on egg becomes a source of intense interest  - not that I enjoy cleaning glued on egg remains but anything becomes more interesting than sitting at the computer trying to conjure up the perfect sentence. And yet in a macabre sort of way, the process has its points of elation when a sentence or paragraph finally comes together and makes sense. I have also noticed that after the slow dragging out of each sentence there comes a point where desperation leads me to almost throw in various quotes and random sentences, hoping that something will stick and somehow come together in some coherent form and amazingly this is the most productive point of the process. Then comes the long and slow editing. From what I understand, I am not unique in this process.

The newts are appearing again too

Babbling pond overflows

Let me out! I'm sure I see green grass

New silver birch seedlings. At least I think that's what they are