Another new addition to the croft...

Introducing daughter of Daisy.  Daisy was a cross-cheviot who came to us via friends in Bunavonneader.  She had been abandoned by her mum and when her adopted mum moved to the mainland, we welcomed Daisy into our flock.  Last year Daisy was the last to lamb and sadly her lamb died at a couple of months old from an infected tick bite. This year she is the third to lamb and her daughter looks to be almost completely cheviot. 

Daisy looks to be caring for her lamb very well.  The picture above shows the lamb at about 5 minutes old.  What a wee cutie!!

Reasons To Be Cheerful - one and two......!

Right on time, Mr Stork made a special delivery to Croft 37 yesterday evening. Not one, but two lambs.  Charlie the Cheviot Ram has made his mark on the flock.

Mother and lambs both thriving.

Well, here on  Scalpay even the rocks have horns!



Actually, it's Mr 4-horn lurking behind a rock.  He thinks we can't see him!

The Postie brought a surprise package last week......

Yes, my new Ashford Country Spinner has arrived.  It was simple to assemble, and I gave it a good polish with linseed oil.

With my usual lack of planning, I forgot to take a full length photo of the spinner.  But here's a shot of the bobbin almost full of chunky Wensleydale destined for Teoshandspuns at Broadford, Isle of Skye.  The bobbin on top of the spinner is an Ashford jumbo bobbin - just to give you an idea of the scale of it all.

It took a bit of practice to get it going, and for a while I just couldn't see how on earth it would work, but now its really comfortable and you really can get 1kg off one bobbin.  I recommend the Country Spinner to anyone else making chunkies.





How Can We Help?

Our thoughts go out to those homeless and bereaved in the north of Japan. 
If you are affected, or wish to help, the British Red Cross has started a relief fund.  Donations can be made at: http://www.redcross.org.uk/
Thank you.

Great News for Scalpay

Yesterday, the keys of the new Buth Scalpaigh community shop were handed over to the project steering committee.  This is the culmination of much hard work by the committee aided ably by Harris Development Ltd.

But this is just the start - now there will be a management committee needed, renovations to be carried out, operating plans to be formulated, staff training, product sourcing etc. etc.

Speaking as a small business owner, having to spend four or so hours per week travelling to Stornoway for shopping, along with the associated costs of travel (£1.43 for unleaded; £1.49 for diesel just now) will make it very worthwhile for me to patronise the new shop.

Not quite sure when it will open, but watch this space.  Also, google "Buth Scalpaigh" for news reports, or see the blog link on the right hand side.

This photo shamelessly lifted from Ken MacDonald & Co website:  http://www.kenmacdonaldproperties.co.uk/properties_detail.php?prop_id=85 a leading estate and property agent for the Western Isles.  Tel: 01851 704 040

Snowing, cold and very windy today.  Spending the day picking Wensleydale fleeces ready for the arrival of my new Ashford Country Spinner which is hopefully en route from P & M Woolcrafts. 

Lost and Found

For todays' blog I am resurrecting my "Hen of the Day" feature.  Below is a photo of a mystery hen who has joined our merry bunch.  She is completely black and has a rosebud comb and a big sail-tail.  She is in very good condition and looks to be a fully mature hen.  We first noticed her yesterday at feeding time because she was not part of the usual rough-and-tumble feeding frenzy, rather she was standing on the outskirts looking a bit lost.

After a night in the byre with the rest, she is still around and we can't find out where she's come from.  None of the neighbours have black hens.  What a mystery!  If anyone has any information about this hen, please let us know.  We are more than happy to re-patriate her, or we can keep her.

Another new addition to the poultry gang is the naked neck chick who went down the road to our neighbour as "Duchess" and yesterday returned to us as "Duke"!!  He is a fine fellow - half buff-orpington and half golden naked neck.  Our other two naked neck cockerels are getting on a bit so Duke can take up the slack when the time comes.

Things have been a bit hectic on the croft over the past couple of weeks.  We have had a big outbreak of "pink-eye" amongst the flock.  This is a nasty inflammatory condition of the eyes that cause a cataract like growth to form over the lens and the affected sheep become blind for a while.  The treatment is an eye ointment containing an antibiotic which has to be applied to affected eyes every couple of days, and which reduces the inflammation.  Most sheep recover within a week or two.  However, a peripheral problem with this condition is that because the sheep can't see she can't find her food by herself, and this is not a good thing to happen just before lambing.  It is also a very contagious condition and passes from sheep to sheep mainly following bad weather during clustering round the feeding trough and hay net.  Thankfully nearly all the sheep are now on the road to recovery.  One of last years' lambs looks like she may be blind so will need a lot of care for the rest of her life.   Whilst its always good to have births and good news on the blog, we do need to reflect that here on the croft we are not immune to the problems that beset other farmers in other parts of the country.  It's been a wretched winter for us - heavy losses due to the weather conditions.  Spring can't come soon enough and we all have our fingers crossed for some good weather to get the grass growing and give the new lambs a fresh start when they start to arrive at the end of the month.

Spring in the air, London 2012 and some interesting news.....

     Long time since my last blog, for which I apologise.  There has been much activity on the spinning wheel since Christmas.  Curly Wensleydale, furry Mohair and sleek Friesland have all been picked, spun, washed and hanked.  And there's still more to do before we start on the annual treat which is cleaning out the loomshed ready for the season (NOT!).

  But today was sunny and even a wee bit warm so we grabbed the matches, woke up the dogs, and went for a falaisg - which for the non-Gaelic means a heather-burn on the common grazings.

   Aaahhh, the smell of smouldering heather is just amazing. 

For those not familiar with the concept of heather burning - when heather is a few years old it becomes very lanky and shades the ground beneath which blocks out the growth of grass and any other little green plants that will feed the sheep.  The stems of the heather become hard and woody and the moors also become dangerous to both animals and humans as the overgrowth conceals holes and unevenness of the ground beneath.

So once every ten years, each section of the common grazings that has cover of heather is burned to re-envigorate the heather plants and also re-establish grass growth so that the sheep can graze on it during the summer period.

On the way home, Bramble decided to put in a bit of training in the pool.  She has hopes of competing in London next year and is spending a lot of time in the water.  We couldn't find a baton to practice the relay, but a coke bottle seemed to fit the bill.

Unfortunately, when the time came to pass on the baton, Pippin had got fed up and gone home!

The other night on a journey to Stornoway at dusk, I saw a mountain hare - nattily clothed in white - dart across the road in front of me.  Though I knew that these hares were in the hills, I've never seen one before.  It was quite a surprise, but a very pleasant one.  Hope it manages to avoid the roads in future.

The news on the island today is that there is the possibility of the island being given to the community by the trust which currently owns it.  Scalpay featured on the STV news and in lots of newspapers and other media reporting.  In Scotland, much of the land is owned in large chunks by individuals and trusts.  Even if you buy a house and garden, the land underneath is still owned by someone else.  A few years ago the government made it possible for communities to buy out these estates when they came on the market and there have been several successful takeovers.  The island of Scalpay used to be part of the North Harris Estate until it was split off and sold in, I think, the seventies, so there is speculation as to whether it might be merged with Harris again.  When we see the progress NHE has made since it was taken over by their community, it is certainly a thought.

Finally, the northern lights are out tonight - if its clear and the moon not too bright, they will be observable from about 9.30pm here.  After a clear day, we have our fingers crossed.  Here at the Outend we have only a few streetlights, and can find a dark place to see the sky, so hopefully we will be in for a good show later on.

Weather Report

Despite the amazing news that the Scalpay Bridge anemometer recorded a top gust of nearly 107 mph last evening, we are all still here! 

It was pretty breezy, and our bin turned over, but apart from that, it's surprising to find such extreme conditions being recorded so close to us (we are about 1.5 miles from the bridge and located in a very exposed high place) at around the time we were taking the dogs for their evening walk.  The power was off from 6am to 7.30 pm today presumably due to lighting strikes, and some areas are still off as I write. 

Todays task was to finish spinning the Friesland for Driftwater Weaves, and the last brown Wensleydale fleece for Teoshandspuns in Broadford, Skye.  So tomorrow is going to be wash day for the hanks!