Gone! At last!

They may have got a little damp in the rain.
They look like they are on a mission though.

There are somethings I wish could be said had gone at last, but I can't and I'm sure you will guess to what I'm referring - namely a horrendous situation in another former Soviet country. What I can say though is that the snow has finally gone. There was still a bit in the forest and bits in the fields that face north until a few days ago, but now it has melted in the rain for sure. It feels really weird seeing the land re-emerge from under its white blanket after so long. Even after so many years of watching the snow come in the winter and leave in spring it still feels like rediscovering old friends... and foes! The land has many areas covered with molehills and vole and mouse runs who have obviously been having riotous parties under the snow cover during the winter. The voles and the mice have been making their runs between the snow and the soil and so there are many tracks running across the fields, along my herb beds, along the paths of my vegetable garden and probably along the vegetable beds. 

15th April

17th April. So close! Nearly gone!

 

25th April. Gone! And now it's wet.

Weird lighting effects from the setting sun

With all the open runs it is no wonder that Ginger Tom has been out and about and getting rather rounded in the process. Obviously he's well fed on mice. Rocket Ron, however, is all skin and bone. Ian took him to the vets last week as he just seemed to keep losing weight. Not sure yet what the problem was, but with another round of different worming treatment, probiotics and vitamins, he seems to be turning around and filling out. Perhaps it was all the Jerusalem Artichokes he was eating! He kept helping himself to the bag that was meant for the chickens through the winter. Or maybe just too lazy to go and get mice in the snow. He seems to have rectified that though now and also been tucking in. He very proudly showed a mouse off to me last week. Not quite the vegetarian cat we were beginning to think he was.

More weird effects. They look like ghostly trees

I think this is the handicraft output from a potter
wasp. Aptly named if it is. Pity the pots are so
small.

The other aspect about spring that is a bit annoying is that the animals all go daft, especially the boys. In the last couple of weeks we've had to separate the young cockerels after they were harassing the females too much (and some people think that they could all live together as one happy family!!!!) and the most dominant cockerel started knocking seven skittles out of the other two, going for their combs and jumping on the back of one as if to mate with it but more aggressively than with the females. The two less dominant ones are now in a bachelor pad waiting for an appointment with the freezer and the atmosphere in the arks is more peaceful. The alpaca boys are not so easy to deal with, the young ones have started fighting again. Freddie is the worst offender, the gentle, timid one! Unfortunately for him, his fleece isn't so good and so he's got an appointment with the vet this week. Hopefully the small operation will calm his hormones down and we will have the sweet Freddie back.

Sweet little Freddie. His squealing isn't so sweet
though

The storks haven't been to our fields much but
we've had our annual visit from a pair of ducks.
They never stop long as the pond is too small to 
support a nesting pair - they would be easy 
prey for a fox.

The fence posts

We've had rain, for much of Sunday, but that's okay as after the snow went, the ground started to get quite hard and the usual worries started about a drought. It is often dry at about this time of the year and makes putting in seeds a nightmare. I try not to water, but sometimes needs must. I prefer it if nature does the job for me. The ground was at least just about hard enough for Ian to get a delivery of fence posts in preparation for creating a fence for the girls. We hope that will stop the boys from getting in and having a repeat of last years escapades. We also want to extend where the girls can graze. We daren't let them out over the hill where we can't see them unless it is fenced in. It desperately needs grazing over there to keep the diversity of the plants. Sometimes we don't get the chance to cut that side and so to have them graze it instead will help. 

Last year's wasps' nest. Ian took it
off the side of the barn so that we
don't have any more wasps nesting
in it.

My birthday cake

Ian also got a welder and has been teaching himself to weld using YouTube videos. In fact he got more presents than I did on my birthday. I did get a cake though, that my daughter ordered. It's great that she can order at our local bakery even if she is half way around the world and very nice it is too. We are still wading our way through it. 

Our summer cabin will be where the sticks are. 
Those sticks had snow about 3/4 of the way up them.
That was a lot of snow.

Scruffy kid!

Unusually my birthday was a very sunny day and so I took the opportunity of flexible working to take the day off and plant potatoes. It was nice to be outside and the work isn't too hard with the manured raised beds that Ian creates over winter. Saturday was nice too until it started to cloud over in the evening and so I also cleared out one of the chicken arks, threw some parsnips, beetroot and marigold seeds in and started the process of clearing the winter debris off my flower and herb beds. I wasn't confident any of the seeds are viable so just decided to mix them in and rake the ground over before giving it a thin covering of hay to keep the moisture in and stop the seedlings when they germinate from getting bashed about. 

Obviously a trend

17th April and still some snow in the forest.

One of the nice things about gardening is having time to think and I've been mulling over the responses of the European heads of government to the war in Ukraine. I don't envy them on the one hand, but I know there are some of them who have got to swallow their fear of economic impacts and ditch the oil and gas. It will harm the economy but so will the continued addiction to oil and gas. Globally we have waited too long and now we need a rapid change away from oil and gas for the sake of Ukraine, for the sake of our children and the planet on which we live. Will that harm the economy? Probably! But how it is done affects the long-term effects. We can pull together, we can cooperate and support each other, we can grow food wherever we can - if we can do it in a war, we can do it in peacetime (whatever that is). In many ways it is part of a war effort, a war against greed, a war against authoritarian governments and a war against the harm to our children's future. So let's get digging for victory - victory of peace.

Ian gets his second hand t-shirts from his son, not
quite sure what the World's Strongest 'Oys are but
it makes us giggle. I have cropped the picture as
Ian shut his eyes when the flash went off and he 
looked rather dopey in the process. Nothing personal
really!

Yup! Ian's boots. This was an accident with my
phone camera but I thought it was funny how the
cats were sat there looking out as if they couldn't
quite believe the snow had gone too. They've been
going daft as well and running around fighting.

A doctored image of me holding a mushroom. We 
used it on a promotional picture as a background
for a seminar. 

What a difference a week makes!

Hurry up and open that gate. Let us out on the
grass! Not yet boys, bide your time. You have
to give the grass time to grow first. 

Spring is here, although having just said that, it might now decide to go into retreat. For now we welcome the sunshine. I'm not so keen of the cold wind that we've had on a few of the days, but at least we've had a night without putting the heater on. I was quite pleased to be able to get a good weekend of work in the garden and now all the potatoes are planted up and snuggled under a good bed of alpaca manure that has been seasoning over the winter. Next week, I plan to get the cold hardy seeds in the ground and hopefully starting off the not so cold hardy plants in the greenhouse ready for the end of May. If I don't get the tender plants started off next week, it will keep for another week. 

It has been a bit breezy at times, but at least it 
wasn't too damaged and we could stand it up
again.

Ooooh! Life is so good when you can have a 
good roll in the dirt. Sigh! That fleece will want
washing soon.

Aggie with baby bump!

I like gardening at this time of the year, because the weeds are only just getting going and so they are easy to spot and uproot. Later on in the year it can get a bit overwhelming, especially if the lawn also looks like it's about to take over and smother my flowers and veg. It is just so much easier at this time of the year to remove all the dead stuff that needs removing, cut back what needs cutting and then uproot the few weeds that are there with the results that the beds look nice, neat and tidy with relatively little effort. 

Mari is not as far on in her pregnancy as Aggie

Somebody has been earning their keep.

One of our regular summer visitors

The spring-like weather has also been coaxing out the visitors and we had more again this weekend. They've all wanted to take our alpacas for a walk too. It's been a bit of a juggle for Ian to work out who he can take out each time. Some alpacas will just accept going out for a walk, some are more hesitant at first and some will easily get bored. Later on the decisions will get harder and we will probably have to restrict who goes for a walk when we start the mating season. It is not much fun taking out a male who thinks he's going to see the girls. Last year there weren't as many who wanted to go on walks, they just wanted to visit the alpacas and take pictures mainly.

Ian's had a harrowing week, chain harrowing that 
is! Now all the molehills are flattened and the
dead grass raked up. The main issue was the 
molehills that mess with haymaking later if left
but the grass always looks nice after a good harrow. 

The grass is growing and a green blush creeps
across the landscape.

Turbjørn looking quite perky
here, but I think that he thinks
Ian has some food for him.

This week I've applied to join an expert working group. It feels really strange and makes me want to laugh. It's not that I don't think I can do it, it is just the surprise that others think it's worth me applying. It still feels weird to think I'm an expert in anything when I spent so many years at home with my kids, a job that some will tell you qualifies you for nothing - what do they know? It's all valuable experience and I wouldn't trade that experience for the world, even if I felt tempted at the time when things weren't going so well. But that's life! 

There's nothing like a good scratch... for making
alpacas pull some amazingly funny faces.

All together now! Roll!

Online seminars in the greenhouse

I even amazed myself the other day when I was working with a student online and she didn't know which direction to take her work. I spotted somethings about the area from the pattern of the fields that makes it unique to that place and I knew from reviewing a paper that the ownership pattern can cause stewardship issues. Also from the work I've been doing with the database on blue spaces over the last year, I could also see some potential areas for development. It took about 15 minutes to set her on her way and I was just left marvelling at how much I'd managed to cram into my head over the last few years that actually had some relevance somewhere. It's better than planning my way into senility. 

Bouffant hair style anyone?

Someone trying to see if there is still some milk.
I think the answer is no and stop doing that! 
Ilvija you shouldn't mess with Chanel, it 
doesn't go well! Chanel's lovely really but can
be spitty when she's not happy.

Freddie looking very elegant.

I don't say all this to boast, but to encourage others that you can learn new things even when you are older. Don't let it stop you. The world is amazing and wonderful and we can make so many changes if we don't let fear stop us. We all have the capacity to change, although I do know in that many respects I'm privileged to have the space to make the changes. That doesn't stop us all from having the capacity though. For many the Covid 19 pandemic has brought lots of issues that restricts what people can do, but also for many there has been a chance to rethink what they really want to do in life. How has it felt when your work is not considered essential work? What could you do differently? Is now the time to change? It's certainly time to change society to get it on a more sustainable footing. We cannot shop and holiday our way out of this pandemic and it won't make us feel any better at the end of it if we did. 

Valeria, not looking so elegant but enjoying some
sunbathing. She can't blame a baby bump though.

The willow is springing into life. Plenty of pollen
for all those early bees.

Willowbuds close up

Cowslips starting.

Wood anemones carpet the forest
again. There was no sign of them
last week. 

Such a pretty flower. I always look forward to 
seeing them.

Another sign of spring. Coffee breaks outside, 
albeit shaded from the wind on the sunny side 
of a shed.

Peonies coming through. Such a bright colour.
I can't even remember what colour they are 
supposed to be as they didn't flower last year -
too young.

Siberian squill. Not as flashy as bluebells but at 
least the blue flowers are pretty and will carpet the
area in spring sometime.

Whoops, did I miss some parsnips?

Only four rows of potatoes this year. I think that
will be enough.

The turnips lasted amazingly well
over winter. The carrots though 
look a bit sad. They were protected
by hay bales, fleece and a good
layer of snow through the coldest months.

Dripping grapes - another sign of spring.

So which of you lot laid an egg? Two of you did!

Well it wasn't me, but cock-a-doodle-doo anyway.

Hmmph! I have competition then do I.