Home again!

This might not look the most exciting picture of the
year, but it is to us. It shows we have more grass than
last year and so potentially much more hay. We will
just need some dry weather after this next week and
we will be happy.

A varied week to be sure, this week. It started off with rainy day planning for our next Latvian Alpaca Adventure, then onto a conference and finished off with some weeding in the garden. Well that is the very abbreviated summary of the week. It was good to be able to have a few days to reflect on what we had done and what could be done better and what could stay the same. Overall we were quite happy with the way it had gone, especially since this was our first organised adventure. We feel confident enough to be able to offer something similar for next year about the same time of year. too Although there were things we felt could be run over two days instead of one, we decided to leave it as it is because we are so busy with other farm chores at that time of the year. The weeds took over during the week and some seeds I planted either did not come or got swamped by the weeds, all I do know is I couldn't find some of them. Mercifully that was not the case for all of them and some seemed to have made a bold attempt at holding off against the onslaught. If we had a worker or two, that wouldn't have been an issue, but we are not at that stage.

Still no babies and Aggie looking very tired

Alpaca lined nest that Ian found on the floor

There was a bit of adventure on the way to the airport to drop off Heather our felting tutor. They have been doing bridge repairs for a while now on the route we take and quite often at night the bridge has been closed. Unfortunately it was closed during the day this time. It was very confusing as there was also a detour on the road down to the crossing. Maybe I missed the notice of the closure somewhere, but I wasn't the only one. I realised that it was closed when the guy in front turned his car around to go back, not sure how the truck that was in front of him managed though. Maybe it is still there! Who knows! It did mean I had to take a new way back and I was quite surprised at the route. I went over another hydroelectric dam further south of the one we normally take and it was quite a stunning view in the sun. I'm glad I wasn't going the other way though, as they were doing roadworks on this one too and the queue going the other way was pretty bad. 

Buckwheat, beans and sunflowers growing in this plot

A model of the old castle in Kandava

The day after dropping Heather off at the airport, I had to go back into Riga on the bus, so an early start to take a trip to Kandava in West Latvia for the Third Latvian Rural Parliament. At the bus station in Riga I had a bizarre conversation with an old lady. Eventually through a bit of miming I realised she wanted me to look after her bags while she nipped to the loo. Strangely enough she was travelling to the village where I live and where I had set out from in the morning. She chatted along to me and patted me on the knee, not what I expect in Latvia, but she was just a very warm kind of lady and I don’t think it was too much alcohol either. Goodness only knows why she trusted me, maybe the grey hair 

Kandava had many decorated buildings

We had a field trip to a couple of farms.
This one is famous for being used for
filming shows about rural life. The buildings
were completely covered in old implements
that the lady's father had rescued from a
recycling place

I want one of these outdoor kitchens

I loved the face on the little chap in the middle at the front

I had anticipated some problems at the Rural Parliament due to the fact there was no translation this time. The last one was during the period when Latvia took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU and so there was an international flavour to the event. I needn't have worried though, there were about six ladies who stepped up when they realised I didn't understand everything. It was brilliant. I didn't really have to ask either, they just did it. I was a little disappointed though that despite one of the ladies from our local district council, there was no advertisement about our region, except a hurriedly put together poster and leaflets from me. Others had food and leaflets handy. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the other delegates and loved the concert that the local village were hosting at the end. I love the Latvian costumes and their dancing.

Some older children dancing

I love these costumes. So elegant!

Different costumes again

A slower more graceful dance this time

Roof all done

Ian and I had a fairly relaxed afternoon when I got back. We sat and chatted but not about anything in particular. I think we just needed a bit of a breather. In the evening we started putting the roof on the newest alpaca house. We can't sit around all day when there are things to do. Well we could but I had been sat on a bus for several hours and the evening was pleasant, so we took advantage to get something done. Next week's forecast is for showers, so the sooner this got done the better. 

So pretty and just growing in our woodland

Wood stacked. More needed though

Today though we made up for it for our afternoon off. In the morning I went to pick up a young lad who has helped us before. What he lacks in dexterity due to cerebral palsy he makes up for in sheer determination and hard work. While I helped Ian finish off the roof, he got on and weeded my potato beds. It didn't start off well, as I am not sure if he has ever done it before and pulled up a few potatoes. However he got the hang of it and it was made easier by the fact that our beds have wide paths and are designed not to be walked on. As it was dry, it was easier for him to kneel next to the beds and pull the weeds out that way. In Latvia, they tend to use very neat rows, often done by ridging with ploughs on tractors. Not easy if you are not steady on your feet and not enough room to kneel down. In the afternoon he went and helped Ian collect wood and pile it up. He travelled in the trailer to help and he beamed every time he went past as I was doing some more complicated weeding - like trying to find the onion sets. 

Potatoes weeded! I was so pleased to see these just about
finished by the time I had finished helping Ian.

Welcomed back with the first strawberries of the year from
our greenhouse

Well I shall finish with the news that we heard our seventh grandchild will be another grandson, so we look forward to seeing him later on in the year. 

Nine years down the line

The snow is still on the ground, but it is currently supposed
to be a balmy 1C. Certainly a lot warmer than a couple of
weeks ago

My first blog was on the 18th January 2008, as I started the blog before setting off from sunny Colorado on our latest adventure. So nine years down the line and our situation is very different to then. It is hard to believe all the changes, some rather scary political changes and some very amazing personal ones. I would never have thought I would be studying towards a PhD and hopefully should finish that this year sometime. We would never have thought we would have a farm and attracting visitors, even in the middle of winter. We most certainly have never of thought of alpacas and I am not sure we would have even had more than a vague sense of what an alpaca is, pretty much like most of our visitors really. Neither would we have thought we would be running felting courses for international visitors. But here we are!

We've had ice rain

Which of course coated everything

So let's start off with Aggie. After the pretty devastating news last week that she could have osteosarcoma or bone cancer, we have been thrown a lifeline by the top camelid vet in the UK who says it looks like an infection after all. Ian sent her the x-rays after contacting the alpaca farm where he went on a shearing course and they suggested sending them to her. The vet also sent us some articles to look at (along with the recommendation for her alpaca health course) and we compared the pictures and there were distinct similarities. So it looks like we will be going down the antibiotic route, but hopefully the one she suggests which is given as an intramuscular injection every other day, if we can get that particular one here in Latvia that is.

Including the trees. Some branches have come down with
the weight of the ice, but not many

Aggie looking quite perky considering

Aggie doesn't like me again after the performance of trying irrigate her mouth the week before and she only took my offerings of the medicine on some feed very grudgingly this morning while Ian was on an errand, so she is going to really hate me after this, as I will have to go and help Ian by holding her. Up until now, giving her her medicine has actually been quite easy for Ian anyway, mainly because it has come on slices of apples and then on a few pellets of feed. Ian thinks she has actually been happier this week and not in as much pain, but her lump keeps growing, so we will see what happens next week.

But that worrying lump is still growing on her cheek

The ice rain has meant a hard, crisp, shiny layer on the ice

The errand Ian was on this morning was to sort out forestry forms that have to be filled in each year and the renewal of the certificate that allows him to legally cut down trees over 12cm in diameter. He doesn't cut down many of them because he is just gradually thinning out the forest to make it healthier and so we have wood for firewood, but the law's the law and we need the certificate. The certificate has to be renewed every three years. He was planning on going to get the form and then get some help from friends to fill in, before returning it. Instead the lady at the office helped him by filling in the forms and so he doesn't have to return and she even leant him a pair of glasses so he could fill in some of the details. At least that is a journey saved.

Mr.P modelling the latest fashion once again, his food!

Herkules, not to be outdone 

I've been pretty much tied up with my studies. I just about got the first draft of a paper together now and just need to go through this again to tidy it up before it goes through to my supervisor to look at. I also got an abstract off to a conference, which starts me on the track of putting my studies into context. I have been studying development in rural areas but there was still the nagging feeling of "that's nice, but what does it matter in resource scarce days?" After all, the numbers in rural communities are dwindling and this puts an increasing strain on resources for fewer and fewer people. I finally feel I have an answer to that and it is because without healthy rural communities, food production could suffer as young families stay away and do not return to farming. And this is indeed happening. Countries cannot rely on distant markets for their food all the time, it makes them vulnerable, they need a mix of near and some further away in case of local catastrophes, such as abnormal weather events. Well that is it in a nutshell anyway. There are of course other reasons but I hope it is a compelling one.

Herkules over a year ago was causing us
some worry about his skin and he needed
regular treatment to calm his skin down
and stop it crusting. Although not perfect
at least his fleece has grown back in most
places and no where near as crusty as it
was.

Tellus demonstrating his winsome smile

I mentioned at the beginning that we never thought we would have a farm that attracted visitors and we had more visitors this weekend. For Ian it was a milestone as he sort of understood what was said even though the conversation was in Latvian. There was a bit of a mix up on time, he thought she said she would arrive about 2pm, but it turned out it was about two hours after she phoned. Still they were very happy and did lots of posing with the very well behaved and cooperative alpacas (if only they were like that every time, but animals are animals).

Enjoying the sunshine

Mari 

So that's about it this week. Making sure Aggie gets her medication, kind of curtails much activity and I've been at home for a change and not gallivanting off. We did manage to get up to see our friends again and we were chatting about animals. They lost one recently who was a favourite and had a prolapsed uterus and so they were commiserating with Ian, who is obviously finding it harder as he is the one dealing with the animals.

Chanel just loves to roll in the snow. Here she is tapping the
ground

Down she goes on the ground

Starting to roll

Onto her back

Over she goes

Done!

You have to laugh

The Aurora Borealis from our land. It is clearer in the photo
than in real life. It was just an eerie greenish glow. It almost
looked like city lights, but we live in a sparsely populated
area and when you get out to our land there is very little
light pollution really. You can tell by the stars! Amazing
to see. We can stand and watch them for ages, even on
cold winter nights.

A friend of ours has just celebrated 25 years of marriage and made the comment that laughter was so necessary for his marriage. It is so necessary for ours too. We laugh more now than we ever used to and that's saying something, as I married Ian for his sense of humour. Admittedly there were times when the laughter was rare and times were tough, but we have weathered many a storm together over the 31 years we have been married. There have been a couple of times this week when a potentially argumentative situation ended in laughter and a joke that carried on for a few days; rather than the sulk like we used to, which also used to carry on for a few days.

Looks a cozy place to be, but that is just the light on in
the caravan, which is in its winter residence in the
greenhouse

Ghostly shapes! Ian was using me to act as something to
focus on, only I didn't move fast enough in this photo and
I left a trail of torch light

I'm just cute :)

One example was over cutting trees. There is a section of forest on our land that is throwing a lot of shadow over a growing area. Normally Ian doesn't like cutting too many trees down, but this time he was all for cutting the forest right back at this particular point. The problem is that it is designated as forest on our land plans and therefore a certain number of trees need to be left in place; although part of the problem is the accuracy of the plans due to pre-satellite maps which do not necessarily correspond exactly with the picture on the ground. For instance the edge of the forest could be right through our barn, but really the old ditch that probably marked the edge and the pile of stones where they put the stones that come up after winter would indicate the edge is about 4 metres away at least and the forest has been slowly encroaching on the field area. Admittedly there is a need to clear out some diseased trees and leave space for other trees to grow stronger but how many to cut?

Snowdrop has been causing us some concern. She has been
sitting down a lot, but that probably conserves heat. She is
also still on the thin side and so Ian has been giving her extra
feed in the mornings

There is a certain amount of frustration for both of us over the lack of Latvian language, which means we can't just go and easily check online for the rules and regulations, but I still felt it was not right to cut all of the big trees down and just leave tiny saplings. Frustration boiled over into an uncomfortable silence as we walked back to our caravan, until Ian turned to me and said with a grin on his face, "I know! I've had a really good idea. I think we should cut down SOME of the trees at that end of the land." To which I replied, "That's a VERY good idea!" We laughed! And several times since, as Ian reiterates his good idea, accompanied by that grin.

Ian missed the window to get these ruts levelled out. They
are quite deep but it had been too wet to deal with. Now
they are too hard to deal with and set like concrete in the
frozen temperatures we have had this week. We had a low
of -23C this morning

Winterised shovel. Ian uses this to clear
the poop from the alpaca houses and
the metal handle has been too cold for
him, so a bit of pipe insulation has been
added

Tree cutting is one of the winter jobs for Ian, as long as the snow is not too deep. Although we have more snow and the ground is frozen hard it is still possible to cut trees. That makes it sound like Ian cuts lots of trees down, but it is a work in progress to trim out the forest to leave trees stronger rather than over-crowded as they are now and dominated by willow. It is also a long slow process, to cut the trees and then process them into logs for either firewood or construction purposes and brush for chipping. The work is also to comply with some of the national rules that state how we are supposed to look after forested areas. The authorities prefer to have managed woodlands rather than natural grown, which is fine for us as we can utilise the wood and we aim to harvest it in a sustainable way - without clear felling in the future. What we can't use are stacked either in the forest (or will be, sometimes it doesn't happen so fast) or used to make hugelkulturs or raised beds with wood, which are useful in the damp low lying areas. One of our aims is also to grow some woodland plants for harvesting, although we will have to think how we keep the wild boar out of those areas.

Snowflakes on Chanel's nose

Looking gorgeous

One of my winter jobs is sorting the seeds out. We have some that are left over from last year's purchases and some from our own plants. Once we know what we have, then we can start to plan what we want to grow for next year and topping up with the seeds we still need. For those who like these kinds of lists, here are the seeds we have. The ones in red are ones that we have some of our own seed.

5 flavour berry	Coriander	Parsnip
Amaranth	Courgette	Peas various
Amelanchier Lamarckii (Juneberry)	Cucamelon	Pepper
Apple	Cucumber	Peppermint
Ash	False Indigo	Poppy seeds
Basil –various	Hemp	Quinoa
Beans - Borlotti, french, runner	Hollyhock - black
Short beans of different hues	Kale - Siberian	Radish
Broad beans	Lavender	Rosemary
Beetroot	Leeks	Sage
Beets - fodder	Lovage	Shallots - banana
Chinese Cabbage - Chinese	Marigold - African	Spinach
Cabbage	Marigold - Pot	Spring Onion
Calabrese	Melon	Squash - various
Caraway	Mizuna	Sunflower
Carrot	Mustard leaf Green in snow	Swede
Catmint (Nepeta cataria)	Nastursiums	Sweetcorn
Cauliflower	Nigella	Tokyo Bekana
Celtuce	Oats - hulless oats	Tomatoes -lots
Chard - Bright Lights	Onion	Turnip
Chickory	Pak Choi Canton Dwarf	Wheat
Chilli	Parsley - curled	Willow herb
Choy Sum Hon Tsai-Tai Purple	Parsley - Extra tripled curled

We've been good, honest!

Carrot seeds

Have I got everything we grow? Nope! Some of the seeds are a bit old and some we have lots of but I buy more to ensure that our crops have a good genetic make up. You can get lots of seeds from just a few carrots, but the genetic variation will be low and so we buy in a few more packets to help this. We have lots of squash seeds too (after all it only takes one squash to get lots of seeds), but this year we had a lot of difficulty with the growing conditions and some of the types we like to grow did not do very well and so I am not happy with the seeds we have. You might also wonder why we have seeds for things like willow herb? Well that is because it makes quite a nice tea and we grow it for its medicinal properties. Plus why fight against the things that will grow quite naturally on our land when we can make use of them?

Our three wise men

Big Bird defrosting on the radiator
with Sofie looking on and wondering
what that chicken was doing in her
usual place.

Another winter job we did this year, that we haven't done before is to bring in the free range hens. One of our hens we call Big Bird was really struggling, we had had to defrost  her twice because her feet had frozen solid, in the low temperatures we have had this week. Another problem was that most of the free range ones are getting on a bit now and there were only four in the largish chicken house and so not enough to keep warm in that large space. We were surprised that Big Bird has survived this long though. Firstly she is a broiler chicken and they have a tendency to overeat and put on weight and so rarely last more than 18 months, so for her to get to over 3 years old is quite an amazing feat. They usually die from broken legs when they put on too much weight or heart attacks. She has also barely survived several fox attacks, partly because she was usually the last one out of the forest when the fox struck.

No longer free range, but warmer and safer from foxes

We had a spare chicken box that would fit in the greenhouse and we had some netting to keep them confined, so we brought them in and Big Bird was put in overnight with her usual companions after spending the afternoon on top of the radiator to thaw out. The next morning she stumbled out of the box, but she was still eating. However after Ian had finished his morning chores he found her dead body in the coop. It is kind of sad, but in some ways we are grateful that she had a good innings, she has passed on her genes and given us bigger - if daft - chickens and in her final few months actually looked a lot healthier than she had all summer. She had been toddling around getting into trouble for being where she shouldn't be by wandering far from home. Ian had been dreading having to cull her if she didn't improve, as she is from the first batch of chickens we hatched out. All the others had been males and so ended up on the plate.

Estelle has caused me injury before, but this time she was
as good as gold. She is definitely looking pregnant now

I forgot to mention the pre-Christmas treat our alpacas got - toe nail clipping! Not that they thought it was a treat though. I asked our neighbour, who finds our alpacas help her relax, to help us with the task. We are so pleased we did because the task went so well. Ian did all the clipping, but either I or our friend held the alpaca around the neck and the other held onto the fleece on the back of the alpaca. I think the extra calm presence of someone who they had met before worked a treat. We managed all eleven of them within a short period of time and no distressed animals or people - there is usually one or two who cause us a problem and either we end up hurt or the animal gets away without all the toe nails clipped. We have even harnessed one of them before now to get the job done.

I love winter mornings

It is customary at this time of the year to reflect back on the past or to ponder the year ahead. Just before the last New Year I wrote this :-

Well New Year is nearly upon us. What will this New Year bring? People are certainly filled with uncertainty and are worried what it will bring. It is hard to hold onto hope at times, but I cannot and will not let go of it. I still have my dreams, I still have my faith. I still believe that God is into renewing this planet that he made and I will work to the best of my ability alongside him.

A sugar coated alpaca or more likely someone has been
rolling in the snow.

It certainly turned out to be a difficult year, but one in which I did hold onto my faith, even if it did wobble at times. We went to visit some friend's of ours during the week and on the way back I got to musing over the following year. I felt a sense of turning of something momentous brewing, something as momentous as the Berlin Wall coming down. 2015 felt like a year to endure, not especially bad for us, but a long hard slog of uncertainty, just as I had felt it would be at the beginning of the year. I feel the same for the beginning of 2016 but a new shape of things to come around the corner when the storks return. I came home to an email in my inbox that started off "Onward to a new era" that felt like the whisper of confirmation to me. So hang on in there for the first few months of 2016, but hold onto hope and look for changing times ahead, or even better, take part in them and make them happen.

A couple of final things that I forgot about earlier - our horse box passed its technical now it has new winter tyres and I got new glasses today. I don't like these as much as the last ones and the photo is not good - winter hat hair into the bargain  , so I started messing around with photos and the second one is much better but still reminds me of Joe 90