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The Big Garden and Croft

A small country living in the Outer Hebrides

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The Art of Dyeing

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 10/01/2011 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Denise: I dyed today – in fact I dyed twice; and in both case due to natural causes. First it was with Anatto and then Kutch,. I survived these strong doses, but there’s two batches of (formerly) white sheep’s wool now hung up to dry which are vibrantly coloured orange-red (Anatto – as photo) and mahogony brown (Kutch).

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In the bleak mid winter …

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 10/01/2011 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Jonathan: It’s familiar as a Christmas Carol, but the season it describes – with ‘earth as hard iron, water like a stone’ – is more typical of mid to late January, and this year I’d even say it describes life in Uist. Not that I’ve seen Cherubims and Seraphims appearing in the sky – just snow clouds!  The weather continues cold but calm, and that means no seaweed cast up on the shore; or rather no fresh seaweed, just an accumulation of rotting old stuff, which is little use for feeding the soil, much of the goodness having already leached … Continue reading →

Lucy and the Wolves, Tilly and the Prince

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 30/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Jonathan: Between the morning chores and engineering work, I’m listening to Martha Tilston’s ‘Lucy & The Wolves’. Wonderful compositions and musicianship – a real delight. Thanks Becky! 10 deg C at 7:30am – mild enough for the grass to be growing, so I can reduce the supplementary feeding for the sheep. Perfect calm along the beach this morning: Tilly dashed away after a sheep but turned back at the first call from me – that’s a first!  I wonder, did Bonnie Prince Charles, when he landed on this beach from France in 1745, have a dog with him? I doubt … Continue reading →

Electric fencing, bees and seaweed

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 28/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Jonathan: I started re-routing a long line of electric fencing a couple of mornings ago, and finished it this morning. The weather has been grey and windy, but even with light rain I was warm enough working in my boiler suit of thick, tightly-woven cotton and a couple of layers of jumpers.  Before heading home I let the sheep through to the lower half of the ‘pairc’ (or ‘park’ in Scottish English) by the sea, where there’s a good few weeks yet of grazing. Befor lunch – the weather now being so much milder – I took the lids off … Continue reading →

Christmas day

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 25/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise31/12/2018  
Denise and Tilly, Tipperton, South Uist

Jonathan > First thing, I drove to Eriskay to feed the chickens and geese.  After feeding the sheep I slipped spectacularly on the ice -flailing arms and bending the torso wildly to keep balance for a few seconds before landing down on the wet icy with a thump. And then – taking care to avoid the icy track – I slipped down into a ditch – now unfrozen! Back at the house, drying out by the Aga with a mug of coffee, it was time to open presents, with some lovely gifs from daughters Becky and Cat (alas so far … Continue reading →

A degree too far!

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 24/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Denise: Phone call, yesterday afternoon, from our guests just arrived at Askernish: No hot water. As in no water coming out of the hot taps.  Oh dear: that means only one thing – frozen feed to or supply from the hot water cylinder, up in the roof.  J puts on boiler suit, collects equipment from the store in Eriskay and then drives to Askernish.  Sets up two 500W halogen lights in the loft, directed at the two pipes and leaves them there – will check again in the morning. Guests seem happy that at least something’s being done.  This morning … Continue reading →

Eclipse

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 21/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise31/12/2018  

Jonathan: I took Tilly across the road to the beach this morning at 7:30 – the sand frozen solid and the sea lapping gently onto crisp snow and ice. lit by the light of the moon. And what should I see when I look up, but an eclipse of the moon in progress! Gradually the bright part of the moon got smaller and smaller, and soon it was all a deep russet colour. The first such eclipse on the shortest day for about 300 years apparently. Just coincidence I saw it – only heard about it on the radio when … Continue reading →

… it’s what neighbours are for!

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 17/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Denise: It’s not so long since going to the aid of a crofting neighbour meant helping with rounding up the sheep or mending the byre roof: but this afternoon J helped our neighbour Joan MacKinnon by getting her computer going again. And whilst he was there he set up workgroup and file/printer sharing. It’s what neighbours are for! They’re about half a mile away, but in the snow it was safer to walk,. He  called in at Mairi-Cait and Padraig on the way back: they were warm and cosy in the kitchen with the Rayburn glowing.

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Hungry sheep

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 17/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Jonathan: The snow has continued on and off all day – we now have more than 150mm and the roads uncleared. No deliveries, so I have now today run out of feed for the sheep and they can’t get to the grass for the snow. I’ve made a make-shift hay-rack and loaded it with straw, and though there’s precious little nutrition in that it’s at least better than the rough grasses these Hebrideans usually make do with.  I had intended during this week to move the sheep to the next field, but engineering work has had to take priority. I … Continue reading →

Baked potatos

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 17/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise29/04/2012  

Denise: Baked potato for lunch. Snow and iced up outside, so can’t get to pull fresh carrots and other veg. Usually the winters are so mild, here in Uist, we don’t need to lift in autumn and store for the winter – can leave the vegetables in the ground for picking fresh. Thankfully, potatoes are the exception!

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The Snow Geese

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 17/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise09/11/2015  

Jonathan: During the night a wild north-easterly laid down a carpet of fine powdery snow. Icy cold despite heavy cloud.  Roads not salted, so a bit wobbly going to the croft.  Loaded up with my bucket of grain and egg collecting bucket, I’m enveloped by a ferocious blizzard, blasting in from The Minch. In seconds I’m lost in a maelstrom of needle-sharp ice and swirling darkness. The geese are calling for me, and I for them, but I can scarcely see my own feet. I abandon the usual feeding point and rush headlong down the hill, for the shelter of … Continue reading →

Roscommon Way

The Big Garden and Croft Posted on 16/12/2010 by Jonathan and Denise31/12/2018  

Jonathan: Engineering work has taken up most of my time over the past week. More work for the extension to Roscommon Way in Canvey Island Essex. Fixing problems with the design, even whilst the construction work is under way! Thanks to this I’ve now earned enough to keep our heads above water for another month at least.  If I’d gone to Madeira for the week, as had been proposed, I might have earned a bit more, but would have had to simply abandon all other domestic and croft work for a week.

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