January 2017
Another New
Year rung in our caravan, but with the hopes it would be our last in our trusty
‘tin can’.
Despite the
festive season we haven’t rested here as we have been very, very busy on our
house site. So much so, we have been able to complete the foundations. Neil –
one of the Bernisdale Boys, Norman, Dave, Cammy and Ross in his concrete wagon,
Trevor driving the dumper and Calum driving his tele-handler all arrived one
morning at 06:45 ready to pour the final layer of concrete which will make up
the finished floor of our home.
Preparations
prior to the pouring of concrete included fitting a steel frame to help support
the concrete slab.
We have waited
2 years for this day as we had to monitor the tides and the sea defences we put
in to be absolutely sure that the site will never flood, and it will be just
perfect.
The boys worked
well into the evening but as the temperatures dropped we hoped that the
concrete would be ok!
We awoke the
following morning to ice on the ‘inside’ of the caravan windows!! This was not
a very good sign as concrete does not like low temperatures. However, we went
down to the site and thankfully all was well…
Neil and the
boys arrived later that morning to smooth out the top of the concrete and were
happy that everything had worked out extremely well for us.
Trevor has
worked tirelessly to build the individual wooden house panels, helped only when
he hurt his back then Calum and his boys came to help. 34 panels needed to be
built in total and one in particular, that Trevor built, needed 1000 nails
hammered into it!!
This particular
panel I am looking through is for the kitchen wall and what will be my Kitchen
window! Calum and the boys are putting the waterproof membrane on the outside
of the panels for us. Notice it is quite dark in the shed, this is because we
have to work with portable lighting, it is dark here during the winter as early
as 2:30pm in the afternoon!
Some sad news
to bring you this month though was the tragic loss of our beloved tup Ewan-San.
Through circumstances out with our control we lost one of our best tups, with
his magnificent horns and top-quality fleece (not to mention his lovely nature),
he will be sorely missed by all.
February 2017
We are
delighted to tell you that our house is standing as a house and is no longer in
pieces in the shed!! The concrete floor was put in and on February 24th
Calum MacRae our neighbour and local joiner and his team began to erect the
panels down on the house site.
Trevor built
nearly every panel himself, so it was obvious he had to put up the very first
one. The ground floor panels were up in no time at all, closely followed by the
roof trusses which had been strapped to the sides of a big blue container over
the winter months, just in case they blew away.
As well as
working on the house we have been doing plenty of work on the croft as well. We
have been working a lot more with the donkeys and they are now quite happy for
us to walk up to them and give them a good cuddle, Muffin in particular loves
her chest scratched, and they are more comfortable around new people as well.
We have also been working on their halter training and now take them short
walks around the croft, so they can have access to some fresh grass, which of
course they love and are usually well behaved for. This is huge progress from
when we first got them, and we are looking forward to seeing their continued
development.
We have also
been working with the sheep, bringing the boys in for a much-needed pedicure
and their annual medication. We were ably assisted by Euan, who helps us quite
a lot here, he is a learner crofter and is working and saving hard to purchase
his own croft. He is also working towards his crofting qualification which
Trevor and I have been helping him with the practical side of things.
We also had a
young chap called Hedser who came all the way from Friesland (Netherlands) to help
out at Dunvegan Castle as an Intern with a specialist painter who restores
paintwork. He wanted to find out about Crofting, so our friend Jeroen, the
custodian of the castle contacted us and asked if Hedser could come along to
help. He really enjoyed working with the animals and both Euan and he helped me
with the weekly mucking out of the donkey stable – I was very grateful indeed.
Trevor, Euan
and Hedser giving the wee man his oral dose of medicine and Ralph Percy and his
son Big Laddy enjoying the hay after they had their medication. They wouldn’t
allow any of the other boys into the hay – greedy boys.
March 2017
Our house is
now classed as ‘wind and water tight’ which means the only job needed for the
outside is the breeze blocks, render and a coat of white paint then the house
is secure for all weathers. This last push won’t be until later in the summer
when we have saved enough for the blocks and for Norman, Dave and Neil to come
and lay them for us.
In the
meantime, Trevor has worked tirelessly inside the house, putting up dividing
walls and setting out bathrooms etc. He is just amazing…
With all the
current work being completed on the house, I managed to take a tiny wee break
away with my friends on the Isle of Iona. The four of us were invited to sing
in the Abbey with Siosgeul – the Gaelic Gospel Choir. What a privilege to sing
in the Abbey with some other wonderful singers including the very famous Gaelic
singer Joy Dunlop and Mary-Anne Kennedy. We did a workshop with a Gospel Choir Conductor
all the way from London, where we learned songs they would sing, then these
were translated into Gaelic. We finished the evening with a Ceilidh in the
local village hall, where there was dancing, singing and general merriment. A
good time was had by all as we left Iona first thing on the Sunday morning. Our
second ferry from Craignure to Oban wasn’t until much later in the afternoon,
so we had time to visit Ardalanish weaving house. They weave their own tweed
from their own flock of Hebrideans, it was lovely to meet them, especially
while we lived on Colonsay they were our near neighbours.
I have also
been getting commissions ready. Many of my hand-knitted garments take time to
make, mainly because they are knitted on fine needles and have lots of
patterns. I have just sent a commissioned Hebridean wool Gansey to Italy, which
took me nearly 200 hours to complete.
Then a Gansey
and Crofters sweater, made from pure Hebridean and Black Cheviot wool were sent
to New York, closely followed by a Tam-O-Shanter (traditional beret type hat)
sent out to Denver and wrist warmers to England and Germany. I have a white
Kiloran to block ready to send out to Minnesota, and one white and one black
Kiloran sweater to sew up and block ready for the Lake District. I then must
order the wool for some Fair Isle cardigans I’ve to make, some are for Japan
and others for the UK! Plus, we are still getting bus tours down each week, so
myself and my knitters are working hard to get beanie hats and wrist warmers
made too.
April 2017
Lambing time
again… Trevor and I take it in shifts to check on the ewes and sure enough, I
was checking at quarter past five in the morning when Tessie was lambing. Out
popped a lovely little ewe lamb, a first for Tessie, as she has usually
produced tups (boy) lambs. Trevor came down to the shed at quarter past six in
the morning and she began again with a second lamb – another first for her, she
has always produced singles. Sure enough, the same as last year, a small tail
appeared!! This is not what you want to see, you want to see a wee nose and two
front feet, so we knew this was another breech birth (backside first) I had to
hold Tessie down while Trevor managed to find a wee foot and out popped a
little tup lamb.
In the
meantime, we had let Marsaili the Hebridean out into the field, and blow me,
didn’t she just deliver a tiny ewe lamb within minutes of Tessie! We managed to
bring her in too as the weather wasn’t particularly nice, and didn’t she go and
have a second ewe lamb too! This is also unusual as this was a first-time
lambing for her and she also had twins. Ironically the father of the Hebridean
lambs was Ewan-San who sadly passed away earlier this year, so at least we have
his progeny in two lovely little girlies.
We also had a
lovely group of Americans who came to visit us on the croft in April, there
were 20 of them in total who had come all the way from Pennsylvania and all had
connections to a knitting shop in Pittsburgh. Whilst they were here they learnt
all about what it takes to be a crofter, knitting in the round, Fairisle
knitting and were given a spinning demonstration, as well as an opportunity to
give it a go themselves. We brought in one of our expert Tutors Pat to give the
demonstration and help the ladies to take away some hand-spun yarn of their
own.
May 2017
May was a big
month for us because we had some very special and much anticipated visitors
come to see us and that was our friends from Japan – there were 22 of them in
total! They are readers of the Japanese magazine I write for, Mr. Partner which
is about all things British and they came over here as part of the Mr. Partner
tour. Before they arrived, we had spent all afternoon in the kitchen preparing
a feast for them, this included the best seafood – Langoustine and Cullen Skink
(an East Coast delicacy) made using fresh ingredients off the boats in Portree
that very morning and supplied to us by our dear friends down at ‘Just Hooked’.
Luckily it was a beautiful sunny day and when our guests arrived we took them
to meet the sheep and introduce them to the fleeces and explain about what it
is we do here.
After this we
took them down to the shed where we provided them with entertainment. This came
in the form of a young and very talented piper from Edinbane (Archie Maclean –
aged 13 years) who is a pupil at Portree School and also some Gaelic singing by
Uiseag (Skylark) a small Gaelic band which is a spin off from Portree Gaelic
Choir in which I also sing. I believe the group didn’t know anything about this
– only Jeffrey the tour guide. It was a nice surprise for everyone. Although we
didn’t have that long with them, we managed to pack a lot in and everyone had
an amazing time and we look forward to them visiting again one day.
Our Japanese Visitors enjoying
their food and the piper
June 2017
Shearing time
again! This year Malcolm White, a good friend of ours who also happens to be an
excellent shearer and fencer, brought with him his usual partner in crime Marty
from New Zealand and Scott from Australia. We were hoping to have a big
demonstration for people to come and watch but unfortunately the good old Skye
weather let us down as it was raining that day. Therefore, we had to bring the
sheep inside the night before to keep their fleece dry – they cannot be sheared
when wet, it is both difficult to remove the fleece and is more dangerous for
both the shearer and the sheep with everything being waterlogged. Although we
weren’t able to hold the big demonstration we wanted to a few of our friends
and neighbours popped down to watch. They all thoroughly enjoyed the experience,
especially Jaine one of our spinners
Marty shearing one of the
girls
Some of the sheep after the shearing
Part 2 of our Year in Review will be posted next week, happy knitting till then...
