Crofting & Farming
By Russell Smith, Scottish Crofting Federation Director and Airdens Crofter In the previous articles on crofting, we have looked at the history and the law. This time we will look a little at the agriculture of crofting and how it differs from farming. The key points to remember are that
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Books
Bear Witness, by Mandy Haggith by Liz Treacher, Author Bear Witness, by the Scottish writer Mandy Haggith, was published by Saraband in 2013, but there is a passion for wildlife that shines through the novel and makes it still feel very relevant today. Described by The Scotsman as a ‘backwoods
Films
Release date: 2019 | Country: South Korea | Running time: 132 min | Genres: Comedy, Drama, Thriller | Director: Bong Joon Ho | Starring: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jol | BBFC 15 By Jack Weir Boon-joon Ho’s latest masterpiece is thematically very important, exploring themes not often present in Hollywood such as class mobility
Heritage
Legend of a young man, his family and a gift from the fairies By David Watson Many years ago, a young couple who lived in a cottage near Invernauld Brae were expecting the birth of their first child. They awaited the day excitedly. The future father was very attentive towards
Heritage
Has our relationship to food changed during the coronavirus crisis? Stockpiling, shortages, local sourcing, and self-sufficiency are now on everyone’s lips. William Mackenzie shares his memories of the time when almost all common foods had been placed under rationing. By W.A.M. MacKenzie Some eighty years ago ( but
Heritage
300,000 to 1. Those are the odds of being struck by lightening in the UK. The chances of being fatally struck are speculated to be around 1 in a million. by Anna MacRae MacDonald In the late spring of 1895, parts of the Highlands were experiencing hot and humid
Heritage
A day or two after any visitor arrived to St Kilda, the inhabitants suffered from outbreaks of a respiratory tract infection known locally as the ‘boat cough’ By James Currall On August 15th 1727 three men and eight boys were rowed from Village Bay on Hirta, the largest island of
Crofting & Farming
by Russell Smith The old joke is that a croft is a small piece of land completely surrounded by legislation and there are certainly some complications about crofting law. Crofting is unique to Scotland so we can’t look elsewhere for enlightenment. Basically, crofting was set up by the Napier
Art
Owls, foxes and puffins populate the artworks of artist and printmaker Louise Worthy, who 15 years ago swapped a career in the fashion industry for an art studio in the Highlands. KC: When and why you decided to become an artist? LW: My love of printmaking started when I was
Place-names
Toponyms from the various names for horse are very common, arising from the old practice of keeping horses on a pasture by themselves. Rosehall (Rossall) comes from the Norse hross-völlr, 'horse field'. In the adjacent Glen Rossal, several names incorporate the Gaelicised version Rosail: Rosail forest, Loch Rosail,
Crofting & Farming
by Russell Smith In the last edition, we looked at the crofting landscape and the benefits of crofting in the 21st Century. Here we look back at some of the history of how the crofters (our forebears) fought for their heritage - not always successfully but always with spirit. We