October 2023

Apologies for the lack of column last month. A few people were most annoyed at me for not doing one, which I found quite heartening.  August and September are always busy on the croft. This year was particularly tricky as I was moving my elderly father from his home in London while simultaneously trying to promote the launch of a film (as well as other jobs paid and unpaid).

We tried out having WWOOF volunteers all summer this year, which I found quite hard given how back and forth I was. I kept coming home to find a new set of twenty-somethings in my kitchen full of elaborate ideas for other things they could cook instead of the abundance of cabbage and courgette from the garden I was making everyone eat. I was not popular.

Simultaneously, a cascade of projects I started on a wave of enthusiasm when we first moved to the croft all came into fruition.  A “polycrub” polytunnel we applied for through a crofting grant was agreed and erected by Gary Burton a lovely builder from Lochailort and is now ready for winter planting (we just need an irrigation system).

A loan from Home Energy Scotland put solar panels on the barn and these along with a battery (and a wood fired back boiler) make us pretty much energy self-sufficient. The sudden change from a routine dictated by cheap night time rates setting all the appliances on timers, to running around the house every time the sun shines turning everything has thrown us a bit – but we are not complaining.

We also gained Archie’s Kennedy’s well behaved chickens (along with their a chicken shed) who have settled in really well thanks to Archie transporting their entire home with them and we have had five of the most gorgeous calves, the first offspring from our wee Highland bull Bracken who has proven his worth (whilst still growing!).

The best thing to happen though, has been haymaking. We saved up for a two wheel tractor with a scythe cutter so we could cut enough winter hay without borrowing machinery as inevitably everyone wants to make hay at the same time and suddenly found ourselves with a field full of sweet meadow hay that needed bringing in before the rain. We asked a few friends to come and help in return for hay, and before we knew it we were loaned an excellent homemade baler, and a trailer and had visitors every other day. We’ve filled the hayloft in one of the sheds and most of the barn, but the real joy has been working together alongside others, sharing the produce and the company.

We never made a conscious decision to become self-sufficient, but our priorities have definitely been affected by the energy and food price hikes, interest rates, global distribution difficulties, shortages caused by war and marked changes to weather patterns.

I’ve put an emphasis on community in this column before, but the hay making and seeing others come together to tidy up communal patches in the Lochaline has reminded me how good it is to work together with the land and that we need to find more ways to do this, whether it is to make hay, share food, or create community spaces we can enjoy.

I’d like to do more of this with the croft instead of bringing in strangers – most of whom won’t return or reap the benefits of their work. Alasdair and I are increasingly learning what our limitations are (and we aren’t getting any younger), and finding ways of working together as a community, sharing skills and resources, might become even more important in the years to come.