Getting ready

A lovely sunset

It is still that time of the year when it is tempting to get everything planted up and yet it might not be a good idea. There is still a long way to go before we can be certain (or as near as you can be) that there won't be any more frosts. We reckon on the end of May as our more certain time. Having said that, there is still a lot that can be planted, either indoors or a lot of work that still needs to be done to prepare for them.

Mr. Tellus looking happy with himself

So far the potatoes are in, mainly tucked into some alpaca manure beds or beds of old hay to save digging new beds. Last year's potato beds are a beautiful dark colour and now planted up with parsnips, carrots, turnips, beets and onion sets. There is just a little bit of space left in some beds for more onion sets and some are waiting for squash plants that I will start off this next week if all goes well. The strawberry bed that I remembered was too old has now been covered with a thick layer of hay and pockets of fresh soil from an old compost pile added for strawberry plants that I had dug up. We shall see if that gets over the issue of the bed being too old and full of disease with less work than digging it all over and moving it somewhere else. If it doesn't work then the hay will rot down and give me a fresh bed for something else next year.

Not sure about his rather wild hair do here though 

As well as sorting out beds for vegetables and still sorting out our old apartment we have been sorting out the EU subsidies for the land. This entailed going into the village to see the local contact lady and using google translate and gestures to sort it out. It was a bit of a slow process but it got done with enough goodwill and hopefully finished for now.  We should get just a little more than last year, which all helps to keep us going financially.

The clouds were building tonight at sunset and now it is
raining and we maybe in for some thunder

The weather has not been good all week and so there was an opportunity to go and visit friends. We went to our friends' goat farm nearby to do some catching up and then our friends further afield in Estonia to also catch up on what they are doing and collect six months worth of alpaca feed. I was rather jealous of their lovely new farm shop with all their alpaca products, coffee making facilities, some tables to sit at and lots of lovely space. I am sure it would make a great felting venue. They were busy prepping for their new season and so we didn't get to stay long.

Ian has been moving wood to start preparations for our
shelter for the caravan. It is getting a bit old now and
could do with an outer protective layer. It is certainly still
liveable in, but we are worried about being out in the sun
and rain over summer which will eventually end in a leak
somewhere. Moving it doesn't do it much good either these
days

I have also been doing some work on my paper but that is still going slowly. It didn't help that my supervisor was on a family holiday and so replies were not immediate - but then again maybe I shouldn't have been getting them at all really. At least it is still heading in a positive direction and not stalled completely. Hopefully I should get to hear soon about the other two papers that are already submitted.

George has been wowing the visitors with his cute face. I will
be glad to get him sheared though, so that he can see properly
again

The last two days have been very warm and this has brought out the visitors - well kind of. Yesterday we had a call that someone was planning to visit in the early evening. Technically we shut at 5pm, but we are not inundated with visitors and so quite happy for people to call in up until putting away time, which is getting quite late these days. We got everything prepared and set up and waited and waited and waited. I even went and got on with some work, as I got fed up with waiting. Eventually Ian texted to see where they were and apparently they ran out of time. It would have been nice to know. We can't leave everything out as our cats would sleep on it all, which is not good with dust and straw about. Oh for a nice purpose built shop!

The boys have gelled together quite nicely. We haven't had
any issues between them. Freddie was a sweetie today, as he
even took carrots from some visitors. 

Today we had three groups of visitors, although one group decided not to stay for an excursion around the property as they didn't speak English. They could have joined the group who had already turned up, as they were fluent and would have translated, but they decided not to. That is fine with us. If we know ahead of time that someone is coming who is not able to speak English, we try to make sure someone is around to help us, but that does require booking in advance and not everyone does that.

Despite Turbjørns elegant stance, he will not be in any
wedding photos - he is much too skittish for that

One of the reasons the first group came was to talk about a possible visit to take photos for a friends' wedding. This is something we have discussed ourselves but when you look at the wedding photos that people post, the alpacas are always in full fleece. Here in Latvia, it is not usually a good idea to have them in full fleece during wedding season, it is too hot. We also need to shear early enough to try and make sure they have enough fleece by the beginning of winter. It might look nice in the photos, but a hot and bothered animal is not a good idea. There is still a chance they might go ahead with it even though they might not be so fluffy, so who knows. Watch this space, either that or people need to organise their weddings for now, when ours are at their fluffiest.

Storm brewing

We had everything out on the tables again for the first group as they had booked in advance and I said to Ian as we were packing it all away that maybe we should have left it up in case we had more visitors. I should have listened to my own voice of reason, as we were half way through a late lunch when the next lot turned up. We had to hurriedly stick our sandwiches in a drawer to stop the cats nabbing them while our backs are turned and then went to meet them. When I asked them if they spoke English (asked in Latvian of course) the lady turned to her young son and he immediately started translating. He looked about 12 or so but translated very well. He was also quite curious himself and so he also asked lots of questions and didn't just translate for his mother and grandmother. We could do with someone like him around.

Lady V, looking contemplative

So all in all, it is definitely the start of the busy season. We never know who will turn up and yet still have our farm chores to do on top of that. I also still have my academic work and that probably will continue so that I can try to finish my PhD before the end of the year. It's no wonder I am not appreciating our early alarm calls - we really do need to move the chickens further away soon. At least it is getting warm enough to do that.

Our boys were pronking around the paddock this week. We haven't seem them do this before, the girls we have, but not the boys. If you are not sure what pronking is, then you will need to see the video from our Facebook page. (Link here)

Donk! When life has just got too much for you! Actually it is
probably Aggie just having a good scratch around her ankles

You put your left leg in, your left leg out!

New life

From Kaziņas Bonijas siers which translated is
Bonijas Goats Cheese

We finally got to see our friends new goats this week and I forgot to take our camera. Fortunately she has a Facebook page, so you can hop over there and see some really cute videos of little goats jumping about (link here). Goat babies are exceptionally cute, but the climbing antics of one in particular did not make Ian feel like we ought to have any goats at all. One climbing alpaca and three nervy sheep that occasionally make some extraordinary leaps are enough for us to handle. Still it was fun to visit.

We've had some rather nice days. Today was not one of them.
Today the snow was melting and it was foggy. This picture
was taken yesterday (Sunday)

You did what? Argued! Well I never!

I told our friend we had had a humdinger of an argument last week and she was shocked, even more so when I explained that we had only had maybe around four such arguments in over 31 years of marriage. She couldn't believe we actually raised our voices to each other anyway. Like I said last week it isn't normally our style. We have been much better this week, we've still had our disagreements but not as bad. I even let Ian drive the car this week and be on his own out on the land. I will still go back and help with the hay shifting. He did tease me the other day and said he got the snowblower out, which he hadn't. He had got the tractor out though and used the spring tine tractor attachment to scratch the road as it was getting rather slick with ice. At least putting some grooves in before it set solid will help to prevent it acting like an ice rink for now. Why none of us had thought about that before, we don't know, although it is not the normal use for a ground preparing implement. That goes with other lessons learnt this winter of why we shouldn't put the hand brake on in the car when it gets down to the low minuses and why most people here leave the car in gear instead. Doh! We live and learn!

Kiss and make up! Hah!

Our boys have actually been arguing a bit this last week or so.
It is to do with the Spring. They are the same every year.
Don't feel too sorry for Peedo in the middle though, he is not
always on the end of it, sometimes he starts it. Nothing too
serious though.

We did joke that we wondered if our neighbours thought Ian might have lost his driver's licence when they saw me doing all the driving. You know how rumours can fly about. It is so rare that I drive the car these days and I have to say I was quite relieved to hand back the keys and get back to my own routine. I do enjoy being out on the land, but I also enjoy being able to set my own plan for the day at my own pace (I guess that has added to some of the friction over the past few weeks). Therefore today was spent writing messages, answering emails, reading for my studies and marking someone's homework for the Sociology course I tutor. I also downloaded some information for the Development Studies unit I will start to tutor in September. Not too bad for one day's work.

Looking artistocratic

Soaking up the sunshine. It's nice to see them outside for a
change

It was amusing to read some of the sections of the book for the new course. In one of the case studies I fundamentally disagree with their assessment of the outcomes from the development project. From my previous studies I know that hydroelectric projects are rarely good development projects for people or conservation and are often mired in controversy, so to say it had achieved certain millennium development goals (the standard set for development projects by the UN, that actually finished last year, but the new ones are still under development) seemed rather trite at best and downright untrue at worst. It will be interesting encouraging students' critical analysis of development projects and I would hope by the end they will be able to see that even if the World Bank is behind the project, it does not guarantee a good project. I am quite relishing the challenge.

Ian has been working with Chanel and halter training. She is
quite jumpy - literally. 

Slowly but surely and little by little, the former laboratorytechnician is helping her to become calmer and starting to
walk on command - but only in the alpaca house at the moment

It is now 13 years since we left the UK this last week and eight years since we arrived in Latvia. A lot has happened in that time. Three children have left home, we have gained a son-in-law and daughters-in and out of law and five grandchildren. We also mustn't forget the 10 alpacas, four sheep, upteen chickens, two cats and 13 hectares (33 acres) of land. A bit of a change for a stay at home Mum and a laboratory technician. Also in that time I have got a Masters degree and nearly finished a PhD. Ian has learnt to shear alpacas, cut their toe nails, trim teeth, learnt to card and spin the wool, learnt how to plough, dig ponds and a myriad of other land related tasks. It has been fun and amazing that we have been able to do so much.

While I was trying to take photos of Ian halter training
Chanel, Aggie was nuzzling my neck. She wouldn't talk to Ian
at first after his absence but she has now more often than not
switched allegiances back. I think here she was just being plain nosy

Someone else enjoying the sun

We have become so very comfortable in our lifestyle out here that we could not really ever envisage going back to live in the UK. The very thought of getting stuck in some traffic jam on the over busy roads sends shudders down our spines. Being determined not to go back was one of the reasons I decided not to ever vote in an election in the UK. How could I vote for something that did not affect me personally? Why should I make a decision that would affect someone else and that they would have to live with and I wouldn't? However, I registered to vote this last week and got the confirmation of registration today.

We couldn't work out why Veronica had straw on her back

We wondered if it was to encourage Brencis to be weaned.
I'm sure it isn't really, but he will be by the end of the week
or at least we hope to move him up to the boys place soon.

Plotting something? Or just having a natter? 

I will be voting in the EU referendum, because it could affect me personally and not only those back in the UK will have to live with the consequences, but so will I. Not just me but our neighbours too. The integrity of Europe is under threat from so many sources and the peace and stability of the last few decades is wavering (this article from by the Guardian is an interesting article and reflects our thoughts too). I feel that now more than ever there is a need to draw strength from each other in unity, but not the sort of artificial unity, but one that debates and grapples with the future issues in a meaningful and respectful way. Anyway, in short I shall be voting.

The first signs of Spring in our greenhouse.

This rather stylish looking carder is called the Ekelund and
designed by a former Volvo engineer. One day we may
get one.

I mentioned that Ian has learnt to spin and he cards the wool by hand at the moment. We realised this wouldn't be a long term solution and so we decided we needed to get a drum carder. There is a wonderful electric version, but a tad expensive for us at the moment at £2100 + vat - if anyone feels like investing in one for us, then we will gladly accept donations

In the absence of an emoticon, here is Aggie's thoughts on us
getting donations

A wide carder by Classic Carders

For the time being, we decided to opt for a hand carder. Not as fast but this wide drum carder means we can card the fleece for felting, spinning and to make fluffy linings for clothing at a reasonable speed and certainly faster than using hand carders. It also means that even if we were to go for an electric one at a later date, we can still use the hand carder for demonstration purposes and felting classes.

Our new cockerel from our friend at the goat farm. We didn't
think we should breed for egg layers from our cockerel that
has frost bitten feet, so we needed a new one. The comb on
this one is a bit of a mess and he has a few feathers missing
on his back after a run in with a male turkey. He didn't come
out of that very well and was separated. It has been amusing
watching him trying to exert his authority over the females.
He's not particularly aggressive, but just enough for the
females. We do have one particularly aggressive female
in there and she has been testing her boundaries by
nipping him on the back where he has lost his feathers. It
hurts, bless him, but he is standing up to her. She still tries
though and she circles around him trying to get to his back
 and he circles around to stop her - a bit like a dance.

Proof that Spring has sprung, well in the greenhouse anyway

Ordering it wasn't without issues though. For some reason the system didn't like Ian's card and it ended up getting blocked. Several days later and we managed to get it unblocked - I'm sure it would have been quicker to phone, but I preferred to use the internal bank's messaging system, rather than sit in some interminably long telephone queuing system, listening to some awful tinny music. Once the card was unblocked I was also able to order some felting needles and silk in preparation for felting scarves and little animals (making little animals from felt you understand, not felting little animals, which would be cruel). I just hope it all works well. Having never done dry felting before. I have also heard that the small felting machine that someone has given to us has set off on its journey. It has travelled down the country from Northumberland to Sheffield and should set off on the next leg of its journey sometime next week (I think that's the plan). I should have asked for transfer pictures to watch its progress.