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If you're around next weekend - 24th August 2010

Posted by Barry Shelby on Tuesday, August 24, 2010, In : Crofting 

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...


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White Settlers / Settling Down - 2nd August 2010

Posted by Barry Shelby on Monday, August 2, 2010, In : Crofting 

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...


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earshadercroft.com - 24th May 2010

Posted by John McKenna on Monday, May 24, 2010, In : Crofting 

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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Gathering The Sheep - 4th April 2010

Posted by John McKenna on Monday, April 5, 2010, In : Crofting 
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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Harris encouraged to get growing - 23rd Feb 2010

Posted by John McKenna on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, In : Crofting 

Working together, local growers can overcome difficulties –– whether wind or waterlogged soil –– and return land to productive horticultural use. That was the message of a two-day horticultural training event held in Tarbert and Buonavoneader last week.

Over 30 people, mostly living on Harris, attended the training, held 15 and 16 February. This group of current and aspiring horticulturalists heard a detailed and engrossing presentation from two experts in their fields: Scottish Agricu...
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If you're on Harris next week - 8th Feb 2010

Posted by John McKenna on Monday, February 8, 2010, In : Crofting 

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Earshader Update (Peats) - 10th Aug 2009

Posted by John McKenna on Wednesday, September 2, 2009, In : Crofting 
In July, Elizabeth and I began bringing in the peats from our croft's designated bank (about three miles away, on the 'Bernera road' back towards Stornoway, from the croft in Earshader). Cutting started back in May, stripping a half foot depth of turf off and replanting it below the face of the peat bank (so that the heather and grass should continue to grow) before we sliced through the deep brown peat with a traditional peat iron.


the peat bank


Cutting the peat away from the bank is labour ...

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Getting Started - 1st Feb 2009

Posted by John McKenna on Wednesday, September 2, 2009, In : Crofting 
In Earshader, there is no BT-based broadband (the Bernera exchange, 2 miles away, hasn't been upgraded) and the wireless transmitter is blocked by large hills. So, I have gone back to a very slow dial-up account established at the rented house. To get in touch, use either bshelby@bshelby.demon.co.uk or barryshelby@mac.com. (No big attachments, though please. ) Wireless b-band will take a while. The company said another two or three months in January, but the last time I checked it's website, ...
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The Crofting Century

Posted by John McKenna on Monday, August 31, 2009, In : Crofting 

Lewis-based food writer Barry Shelby argues that, far from clinging to a dying way of life, crofting’s time is right now.
(this article first appeared in The List-http://www.list.co.uk/ 1st May 2009)

Crofting can be a conundrum. It was a modern improvement to subsistence farming on the mostly marginal lands of the Highlands and islands, but it neither fitted into the mainstream nor ever quite managed to shake off a bias against it as inefficient. Though crofts are indeed a type of small farm ...


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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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