November 2024

We eventually recovered from last month’s haymaking which was mainly done by hand.  I’ve managed to find a tedder (a hay turner) that can by drawn by an electric quad so we won’t be turning the hay with rakes next year and after reading last month’s column, Alasdair has reassured me that doing things by hand isn’t an ideological decision; if we could afford a tractor we would get one.

With the change of the seasons we’re less busy and have been thinking a lot about our future plans. Morvern Community Council are currently drafting a Local Place Plan and we were encouraged to submit a proposal for our future development. I got swept up in the idea of the croft becoming a model for sustainable tourism as an antidote to some of the worst case scenarios of development in Morvern where natured is exploited, limited jobs are created, and profits are syphoned off the peninsula by wealthy private investors. Could it be possible to capitalise on Rhemore’s natural habitats in a way that also contributes to their protection? There seems a massive appetite for nature-based/environmentally-friendly holidays, could these support our work on the croft? Two of the largest estates in Morvern may be moving in this direction, should we be too?

The cows want the grass to grow and are happy when their bellies are full. There comes a point when they can eat no more so they rest and ruminate. They laze in the sunshine, stand in the sea, groom each other and stand and stare. I am often envious of them in their ability to just exist and the pleasure they get from it. There are hard days, like today, in the wind and the rain, but there is also the discovery of birch leaves, bog myrtle and water mint or the companionship of cud chewing. The only animals that seem as driven to develop as humans are beavers and they are regarded by some as a nuisance because of this.

It is easy to forget our original aspirations on the croft of looking after the land as best we can and engaging with the local community. It feels harder to keep life simple and just be, like the cows, than to constantly drive forwards towards some distant idea of success.

Just because something is possible or even profitable, doesn’t mean it is always the right thing to do. Sometimes there is a danger of getting caught up in development for the sake of development.

So for now the main work on the croft will remain responding to the land, making enough to meet our needs and articulating the sheer delight of cows in a patch of fresh water mint.