Summer!

Okay the absence of leaves suggests it's still
spring but the warmth says summer.

Summer arrived! At least for now. It's hard to believe that even on Sunday we were still wrapped up against the chill winds of wintry-like weather. It was bright but we'd still had the odd snow shower during the past week. Anyway, that is now over, we've even had temperatures in the 20s. Of course the alpacas have now started suffering in the heat and Ian has to make sure they are topped up with water and have access to the shade. 

The red grapes are coming. These are the ones
we love to eat as they are so sweet. The blue ones
are taken by some friends to make wine.

Cowslip wine anyone? We have lots of cowslips
but they became quite rare in the UK as people
picked them too much.

Our ski hill is greening up.

At least the grass should now take off as it is well watered and the heat should help. Our well water is certainly dropping as the growing plants take up the water and drop the water table. In fact it is already starting to take off and Ian got the strimmer out - oh the first sounds of summer, the annoying whine of a strimmer. Still it was for my benefit as Ian was strimming the grass between my vegetable beds. I would like it to be kept under control this year, not sure how long that will last though.

My veg beds are beginning to fill with seeds
and plants.

Our first mushroom of the season. This
one is new to us, we've never noticed
them before on our land but Ian found
quite a clump of them. These are edible
morels. 

Spot the planes. Two fighters with a refuelling 
plane that circled around and around and around.

I was meant to be on holiday last week and we hoped to start on the shearing but it was so cold and wet that we abandoned that idea and with my bosses' permission I worked a few days last week so I can be freer this week to get the shearing done -well for other people anyway. Ian has been hanging on to shear ours as he needs to empty out the alpaca houses, but could not do that until the ground was hard enough and he'd finished using the back hoe to level off ground at our neighbours. Once that is complete (hopefully tomorrow) then he can take the back hoe off and then it's due to rain of course, so back to square one. Sigh! At least the alpacas will be happier with the cooler weather.

So wet after the rain there were 
puddles in front of the loo, err
I mean the office.

Snoozing as only cats know how to.

The streams on our land do not
run all year long. This is the
run off from our field that
floods.

One of the other issues we have is that we are due to shear in Estonia, but currently we are not supposed to travel there. Theoretically I can for work, if necessary but since it's not necessary.... oh the roundabout ways of this current pandemic. Ian has emailed the health authorities in Estonia to see what the situation is, but still no reply. We might have to get someone from Estonia to phone them and see what they say. The problem is that it is also edging closer to our girls giving birth and then we don't move from the farm except to shop in the village. 

Oooh! Girls! The girls do not seem particularly
interested about the boys though.

Our two youngest boys staring intently, but are 
they genuinely curious about the girls or just the
fact they are other alpacas? We won't find out
until next year at least.

This is the view I usually get. Refusing to look at
me, or prancing down to fend me off. I just 
ignore her when she does that and she backs off.

Aggie is still not my friend. We do three days of cream and three days off as she gets a bit stressy about it and that will not help her with the mite situation. This time we put diatomaceous earth on the bottom of her legs where the mites are most likely to be - we don't shear down there with the machine, we use the hand shears, so it won't ruin the shears in the process. She wasn't terribly happy about that but it could have been worse. It could have been Chanel who does not like anyone touching her legs at all and will dance about, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up and so on. Chanel needs her skin looking at but the best thing to do is to wait just a little longer and then we can make sure she gets a good covering of the powdery stuff after shearing. 

The girls have had a lot of fun exploring each
other's paddock. They still pretty much go into their
own place, except Mari fancied a change one night 
and took a lot of persuading to go back to her 
own place.

Mari can be a bit of a minx at times

A mixed group! Amanda, Ilvija and Valeria.

We took a trip into the big town. Normally we would have a list of things to do at the same time, but this time we just went in and got out again. We had to go and get a new ID card because those are the terms that the Latvian government have decided on for the British population living in their country. There mustn't be any other Brits who need new cards in the whole of the region as they hadn't got a clue about what to do at first. First of all they asked why we wanted a new card as it had not expired, until we pointed out we were British. Eventually the penny dropped and they started working on it, all five of them. They even phoned up to get more information.

Silla is a bit unsure about this unfamiliar 
water trough.

A gorgeous sunny view.

Just how is that comfy?

Getting the photo done was good fun. I had to angle my glasses, presumably so they sat better on my face for the sake of the photo. Ian was told to make his eyes more smiley, which made me giggle. Not like the British passport photos where you are expressly told not to smile. We also had to have our fingerprints done but I think the time in the garden has made mine a bit difficult to pick up on the machine as they are worn almost smooth. The lady had to press my fingers down so it would work. We were supposed to go back in 10 days but I have a conference to attend, even if it is online and I'm presenting in it, so we had to arrange for the Monday of the following week. 

Ginger Tom or GT for short is so cute. Also he 
seems to think that coffee time is affection time.
The rest of the time, he's back to his shy self and
runs off. 

The currant bushes flowering

Ian has been chopping wood this week ready 
for the next heating season.

So this week we got the first shearing done. It was a very pleasant day to do an outside shearing between two apple trees and with plenty of shade from lots of spruce trees. We did wonder if it might be a bit windy but they also provided a nice shelter belt. The spacing between the apple trees was absolutely perfect, as if they had been planted specifically for that very purpose. Ian also got a very good finish on their coats and so they look very neat and tidy. A good start to the shearing season.

He hasn't finished by a long way yet, although this
hopefully is for the following heating season as 
this wood is fresher.

The lawnmowers are in.

Next job. They made short work of the grass 
around the car and trailers. Now they are keeping
the grass down between the trees.

Plenty to go at? Well maybe, but there is also a lot
of ground elder, which they will eat in spring but
not that keen on.

Freddie has obviously found a leaf of grass anyway

And Brencis has found the dandelion leaves.

Tellus the wise old man now.

Mari sat in the shade of her own house.

Blue sky and a swallow - yes they are back and 
fighting over the alpaca houses. I'm sure there is
enough insects for all of them and plenty of room
to nest.

Has it finished yet?

"Has it finished yet?" says Brencis

Well the madness and the circus continues. I think the EU have got the right idea, get your house in order and do it quickly and by the way you have three weeks max to do it in. I guess that should concentrate minds this week. Just in case you are from a planet far away and wondering what on earth I am on about, yes I am referring to Brexit. There will be some who think the EU are being unduly bombastic, but those in the EU are as tired of the whole thing as the British public, they have an organisation to run that has been snarled up in negotiations they had no wish for for the last two years with no clear route out. I guess they are as prepared for the consequences of it as they can be and now is the time to say, "Enough! This can't carry on!"

It is nice to see the girls outside enjoying the sunshine. Josefs
and Lady V are eating up the last of the snow

The boys field is just about clear of snow now

Josefs wearing his food. He is going to be a nightmare to
shear as he likes to feed from underneath the feeder.
That means he has hay all down his neck.

Personally I have still been ploughing through academic literature for work this week and that has kind of absorbed my time. I had to attend a Skype conference call on my own again, as both my colleagues were tied up in other meetings. After two hours my head was throbbing and I had to then gather my thoughts together to update my colleagues. Fortunately for me, flexible hours meant that on a sunny Friday I could head to our land and take advantage of some fresh air. I had to keep an eye on my emails since it was still a work day for others, but other than that, I got the necessary space to clear my head. One of the issues to clarify was who was going to get my tax, the Latvian or the Estonian authorities. I think that is now nearly sorted thanks to my wonderful bookkeeper who filled in the relevant forms for me. I also found out that my Estonian ID allows me to electronically sign Latvian forms too - that saves some issues.

Josefs is still feeding from his mum, but very soon it will be
time to move them to their new alpaca house with the other
boys. Ian has been training them on the harness, which will
make the transfer easier.

Even the snow in the forest is clearing

Chanel is our only pregnant alpaca this
year. Her skin situation seems to be
stabilised and her coat generally is
looking good, so we hope she is over
the worst and will thrive once she is
out on the fresh grass. It just needs to
grow a bit first.

The snow has nearly all gone even though we had a smattering fall overnight about midweek. It has been muddy of course and the ponds were full. We also had our temporary lake back. All signs that spring is finally getting the upper hand and banishing winter for the time being. Although as Ian said in a parody of a northern British saying, "N'er cast a shovel till May is out!" I had suggested that three snow shovels in the greenhouse was a bit excessive and perhaps they could be put back in the barn to reside until next winter. The actual saying is, "N'er cast a clout till May is out!" Which basically means don't pack your winter clothes away until May is over as you never know when winter might make a surprise visit. With a touch of snow forecast that is still a possibility but I still don't think it is going to be that bad that we need the shovels in the greenhouse. Anyway, I put them away so that now guarantees it will snow.

Jakobs chewing some bark

It has been a bit breezy this week and it makes Jakobs very
fine fibres fly about.

The seeds in the black boxes soaking up the sunshine.

I decided to risk setting some seeds away both in the greenhouse and outside. I had a bit of a brainwave of putting the seed pots in a black box to absorb the heat during the day and protect them overnight. We'll see how that works. They are all hardy type plants anyway and nothing precious, so should be fine. Even if it doesn't work, I can try again in a few weeks time. The ones outside have gone under fleece. The soil outside is nice and dark, so it should also absorb the sun. The soil has really changed over time and it was nice to see it had some worms already starting to work. I also found some parsnips that I had missed when I dug them up late last year. That made a nice change to squash.

Someone else soaking up the sunshine in the greenhouse.
Behind Eyre are the chicken arks. They are coming into
production properly now and we are even getting blue
eggs from one of the chickens. One group are heading
for the pot though as they are definitely egg eaters. We
have to watch them carefully to see if they are laying
and then wait for them to finish and whisk it away quick
before they get to it. We put a cockerel in there with them
so we will get some eggs for hatching from them and then
cull them. 

Someone else soaking up the sunshine.

It is still cool in the shade. This is ice that has formed in the
barn

This particular plot where I sowed the seeds had sheep in it over two winters a few years back, some alpaca manure and plenty of hay mulch. The soil in that area tends to have a high clay content and therefore not usually workable so soon after the snow. The addition of the compostable material has made sure that it dries out quick enough to work, but not so much that nothing grows in it. We work on a bed system with permanent paths, so that is another reason why I can get to work on the ground so soon after the snow has gone. I do not damage the soil structure by walking on it that way.  The beds are all narrow enough for me to be able to reach to the centre to sow seeds or to weed them.

A crocus. Ian was surprised to find this as we thought the
wild boar had dug up and eaten all our crocuses and
daffodils around this spot.

A snowdrop plant that I transplanted last year and one small
leaf of a self seeded Good King Henry plant - a spinach
substitute that withstands the heat and is perrenial

George guarding the door and Mr. P and Brencis soaking up
the sunshine

It feels very weird at this time of the year. It is so close to winter, the reappearing ground showing the effects of months under snow cover and yet the longer days means Ian is coming home later and later. This means we are close to the time where we need to switch to our summer abode, aka the caravan. The caravan and the greenhouse need cleaning and sorting first though. We also have to prepare the kitchen equipment we need to take out there and the clothes that we will need. I'm ready for the change and I'm not ready for it. I like my morning read in bed with a cup of tea before I get up. This isn't possible in a caravan when we have to pack the bed away each day. I do like though the opportunity to just walk out the door and be there in the middle of a field. I'm not sure why it seems so much easier than in our apartment when there is plenty of space to walk just across the road, but it is.

George always looks like a smiley alpaca.
He was popular with the girls today when
Ian took him for a walk to see them.

Onions starting to sprout. I always have a bed of old onions
to sprout the next year. They usually come through, just as
my old store onions finish

A lizard catching the sun

Our apple trees got a hammering this year from the deer.
They had only just started to really get established too. So
frustrating

Self seeded pansies

Ian has had to pump out the root cellar.
We obviously need to sort out the
drainage. Mostly it is underneath the
cellar but one day it rose quite high and
flooded the actual cellar. Not good!