J >Smare-clate Mach-are [long a except short in Mach, the ch being pronounced is as in Scottish loch]. Your’re right about the primitive: crofting is a low-input, low-output form of agriculture, well-suited to small-scale agriculture, with little capital requirement and not usually requiring loans. In short, crofting is less an industry than a way of life.
J > The Gaelic for meadow is gearraidh (literally cutting – because a meadow is cut for hay) ; I’m not sure of the word for pasture … but Machair is the Gaelic word for the fertile flower/herb-rich grassland that thrives on the shell-sand blown in from the beaches. It’s a highly specialized word for a very special environment – and a rare environment. Almost all of this special landscape is found in the west side of the Outer Hebrides and the west side of Ireland.
I love the picture of the peaceful picturesque countryside. It has such a rustic primitiveness about it that calls to me. But please tell me how is Smercleit Machair pronounced and what does it mean? I suspect it must be Scottish Gaelic, right?
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J > Smare-clate Mach-are [long a except short in Mach, the ch being pronounced is as in Scottish loch]. Your’re right about the primitive: crofting is a low-input, low-output form of agriculture, well-suited to small-scale agriculture, with little capital requirement and not usually requiring loans. In short, crofting is less an industry than a way of life.
Would Machair be the word for meadow or pasture, perhaps?
J > The Gaelic for meadow is gearraidh (literally cutting – because a meadow is cut for hay) ; I’m not sure of the word for pasture … but Machair is the Gaelic word for the fertile flower/herb-rich grassland that thrives on the shell-sand blown in from the beaches. It’s a highly specialized word for a very special environment – and a rare environment. Almost all of this special landscape is found in the west side of the Outer Hebrides and the west side of Ireland.
I love the picture of the peaceful picturesque countryside. It has such a rustic primitiveness about it that calls to me. But please tell me how is Smercleit Machair pronounced and what does it mean? I suspect it must be Scottish Gaelic, right?