Homeland-Scotland

Summer On The Isles - 13th July 2010

July 13, 2010

 

Today marks the beginning of the annual HebCelt festival, so the town is full of visitors. Well, not really, but there is a bit of buzz (mostly among the local dudes who hang out An Lanntair). 

 

Meanwhile crofting activities wait for no event. So more eggs arrived today for hatching and I spoke to a man about installing an electric fence. On Thursday we are to collect two pigs from the isle of Skye. Produce at the Bernera polytunnels is coming along nicely, apart from the infestation of cabbage root fly. Nasty little beasts -- mini maggots in the stalk of the plants just below soil level.

 

It is also show time on Lewis and Harris, with the Point Show being the first of the season. I am hoping that the Bernera Community Assoc. tunnels will produce some things to enter next month. I particularly like the multicolour carrots. And they taste even better.



cheep, cheep!


Good looking Welsummer


Any winners here?


Rams at the Point Show


Coloured carrots

 

blog: 4-1 - 28th June 2010

June 28, 2010
4-1

Ha ha! Of course, the Germans have a word for this. Schadenfreude.



Blame the ball?


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More songs about buildings and crofts - 18th June 2010

June 18, 2010
The publisher thinks you might be interested in the house that E and I are having built in Earshader. I am not entirely convinced as a lot of “look at my house go up” blogs have been posted in past few years.

But here is where we’re at. We have agreed to a SIP-style structure, which means cassettes of highly insulated panels will create the frame of the house. We are also pursuing socalled passive house standards, which means ideally no heating is necessary. I doubt we will be that lucky...
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Fruit and Veg - 24th May 2010

May 24, 2010

I don’t really expect to have much finished produce this year to sell via the weekly Farmer’s (Crofter’s) Market in Stornoway. But as we always have excess stock from our annual sowings, I thought I might try my luck selling some plants this spring.

Took several into town on Saturday morning. Not bad, sales-wise. All of the tomatoes were bought and most of the courgettes. Not a great appetite for Brussels Sprouts, but I will keep trying. They're a purple variety so maybe I need to emphas...
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earshadercroft.com - 24th May 2010

May 24, 2010

As we are beginning to sell produce from our endeavours, I thought we had better get our ‘domain’ sorted. So, went for the easy option: earshadercroft.com.

That will go on all labels and marketing from now to eternity.

As for sales, it has been modest but successful. Eggs (mostly hen) are being sold from the ‘croft gate’; ie, the roadside as one can do this without registering the operation (not that we have anything to hide). Sold out yesterday (Saturday).

Boxes are clearly marked, as y...
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Photos Only - 18th April 2010

April 18, 2010

Bernera Bridge



Standing Stones of Bernera



Old Road Sign




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Gathering The Sheep - 4th April 2010

April 5, 2010
A couple of weeks earlier than normal, the crofters of Tir Mor, Bernera, brought sheep in from the moors Saturday 27 March. Meeting at 8 am, about 10 of us headed south with crooks, quads, and waterproofs from the cattle grid at the Lundal pens. Destination: a set of disused pens along the old Uig road, about half way between the Bernera road junction and the turnoff to Scaliscro House.

A bad bearing on one trailer with a quad slowed progress slightly as the wheel would lock up at the least op...
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Google Street View - 27th March 2010

March 28, 2010
. . .....of 4 Earshader

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Drainage - 22nd March 2010 - part deux

March 22, 2010
You know, I can’t even think of that word now without doing my There Will be Blood / Daniel Plainview impersonation, at least in my mind. Daniel Day Lewis bellowing like John Huston with constipation: ‘Drainnn-edddggge, Eli, it’s called draaainnn-edgggge.’

Anywho, I am not sucking any one’s oil dry using a metaphorical straw. No, I’m freeing the locked water on the croft. This is as satisfying as Plainview’s drainage.




drains follow the old 'lazy beds'

These photos are poor but I ne...
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Seedlings - 22nd March 2010

March 22, 2010

Let me bore you with more crop developments. Tomatoes and tagetes have been pricked out of their seed trays and potted on. Both were quite leggy, which troubles some folk.


potted on

It occurs as we don’t have a greenhouse. Though the room with the propagators is the brightest in the cottage (which is on the dark side), there isn’t sufficient light. So those early leaves stretch, leaving long, stringy stems. With these two plants, as well as many others, it ‘s not a problem. Just gently bu...


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 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.

 

 

About Me


Barry Shelby 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.

Images 

 

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)

So where is Earshader?

 

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