September 4, 2010
Well, with little relish but clear resolve, we culled a Welsummer cockerel last weekend. We will do one a week for the rest of the month. That night it made a decent roast bird, served alongside all our own croft produce: broad beans mashed with fresh ‘green’ garlic, boiled Stroma second early potatoes, peas, shallots, and some of those funny ball-shaped Paris variety carrots. The bird’s liver was a succulent highlight. In the future, we will probably go the slow-cooked, braising route for our birds. Just a bit tough. A second bonus was, however, some delicious soup made from stock of the carcass and root veg such as parsnip
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
September 3, 2010
Bernera Community Association came home with four ribbons from the annual Horticulture Show in Stornoway. The best result was 1st place for a trio of lovely onions (variety: Sturon) grown from sets. Strawberries (Florence) came 2nd and two 3rd place certificates were earned for the volunteer horticulturalists’ rainbow carrots and display of 18 veg. As for 1 Earshader croft, 1st place was bagged in the growing herb category (rosemary, sage, and comfrey).
showtime
Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
August 24, 2010
First Horticulture and Local Produce Weekend on Lewis and Harris Events to highlight wholesome, seasonal food
The first Horticulture and Local Produce Weekend will be inaugurated next Friday and Saturday, 27-28 August. Organised by the Lewis & Harris Horticultural Producers [LHHP] –– in association with NHS Western Isles/Fas Fallain and An Lanntair –– several events are planned to highlight food that is sown, grown, reared, and harvested locally.
Various exhibits at the 3rd annual... Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
August 22, 2010
We eventually found out “the Walrus was Paul”, but I wasn’t sure what to say when I was asked earlier this summer if I was the Egg Man? Aside from prompting me later to pull out my Beatles collection (which if you asked Elizabeth doesn’t take a hell of a lot), I could only answer “yes,” however sheepishly.
high street at the byre.
But more recently I was up at the Bernera poly tunnel project and someone asked if I was the Pig Man? So, pigs or hens. I have to admit ... Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
August 15, 2010
Lest I sounded dismissive of the opening day of the Hebridean Celtic Festival (in my entry dated 13 July), I should make brief amends. While the headline act of the weekend, the Gaelic rock band Runrig (pic below), does little for me, they are a good act with a large following. My highlight was entitled “Ceol Mhor /Little Music” with Iain Morrison and band – plus his father and a friend, Rona Lightfoot, to sing a few Gaelic songs. It was a culturally enlightening evening and, with the rig... Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Cultural
August 14, 2010
a tidy bank cut last year
Although I am about two months behind my peat-cutting mentor, who appears to have a stack at home to see him through the apocalypse, I am just about to bring the final batch back to the croft.
In truth, the penultimate batch. The last peats cut at the end of June, soggy and sad, remain propped up in their mini house of cards. They may never dry but then the quality of the peat at the top end of the bank is quite rubbish anyway.
the last cut (slow to dry)
T... Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
August 9, 2010
Actually, Lewis and Harris’s regional show time has just ended. For my work with the Horticultural Producers, I attended each one (save the Westside Show in Barvas). These agricultural shows are only partially about the competitions to show off the best tup [see thecroft.wordpress.com blog] or largest potato.
Is that Mikey D?
I associate shows more with English counties. Cider-drinking men in flat caps or jodhpurs or Paisley cravats. But as this is Scotland and the region is lum... Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
August 2, 2010
I meant to say in that earlier blog that our Nice New Neighbour(s) [NNN] are incomers just as we are. They’ve been on Lewis longer; presumably are a bit wiser.
In some instances, incomers onto the island are called “white settlers”. I have never been certain whether this is a reference to many who arrive with grey hair or whether it is because they behave like colonialists. Or both? Whatever the case, incomers are forever incomers in the eyes of a Lewisian, Leohasach.
I heard from... Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
July 21, 2010
“I think you’d better come down to the pigpen,” he said “What’s the trouble?” asked Mr Zuckerman. “Anything wrong with the pig?”
“No—not exactly,” said Lurvy. “Come see for yourself.”
Well . . . it was one-hell of a long day, using a hired 4x4 that could barely scale hills with the borrowed 2-tonne trailer, but we managed to get to Skye and back in one piece, with our valuable cargo: two Gloucestershire Old Spots.
some pigs
Plan A is for them to clear the crof... Continue reading...
Posted by Barry Shelby. Posted In :
Crofting
July 19, 2010
All the locals smiled sardonically and one said “Welcome to crofting.”
We were at the fank, having just brought in the sheep for sheering, and
I received the news that a dog -- owned by the new tenant of the croft
adjacent ours -- had killed our last surviving female Indian Runner
Duck.
This fellow although not exactly apologising, he did offer to give us ducks of completely different
breed. As the conversation progressed, he then suggested that his dog
would, in fact, kill more of our ... Continue reading...
Posted by John McKenna. Posted In :
Crofting
Colin Macleod - Local Lad + Landscapes:
Again in the music-videologue-of-Lewis-vein: this one features the rather frightfully handsome lad, Colin Macleod. Pal of Dotjr, apparently. New CD (on Geffen) due out soon.
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About Me
Barry Shelby, American-gone-native-Scotsperson, Journalist , Photographer, Author and....Crofter located now at Earshader on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Barry, based for years in Glasgow, is now with his wife Elizabeth on the Islands off the North-West Coast of Scotland.
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Lewis (Scottish Gaelic: Leòdhas, also Isle of Lewis) is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides (an archipelago) of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is 683 square miles (1,770 km2).
Lewis is, in general, the lower lying part of Lewis and Harris, with the other part, Harris, being more mountainous. The flatter, more fertile land means Lewis contains the only town, Stornoway and three-quarters of the population of the Western Isles. Beyond human habitation, the island's diverse habitats are home to an assortment of flora and fauna, such as the golden eagle, red deer and seals and are recognised in a number of conservation areas.
Lewis is of Presbyterian tradition with a rich history, having once been part of the Norse Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. Today, life is very different to elsewhere in Scotland with Sabbath observance, the Gaelic language and peat cutting retaining more importance than elsewhere. Lewis has a rich cultural heritage as can be seen from its myths and legends as well as the local literary and musical traditions.
(source Wikipedia)
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