Hot cat.....

There is no danger of Button ever getting cold....cats have a natural knack of seeking out any source of heat.....

But with a snow shower approaching across the water, she may have to move over and share....yeah...like that will ever happen.....

Still I spent some time baking yesterday (helped warm up the house!) and am tucking into Weslh cakes (promise I will post recipe soon!), shortbread and my first attempt at Scottish Pancakes (in Scotland folk would just refer to them as pancakes....!).  These are eaten with butter and preserves and best eaten warm. (see photo).  So I have some internal warmth from Cake even if Button is hogging the external warmth!

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Last week I mentioned that the local Orkney abattoir had ceased trading. Today there are talks with the local council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise plus a Scottish government department to try and find a resolution that would at least see local slaughtering facilities continue. Hopefully some of the 30 workers would still be employed.  And it will avoid the ridiculous situation of having to ship all livestock south to the Scottish Mainland and re-import the carcases for all the local retailers. Not good for retailers, environment OR livestock welfare.  Hopefully a solution can be found. The local authority own the abattoir and it is leased by the current company so there is hope that someone can take it over. But it's uncertain what will happen to the brand "Orkney Gold", which is top of the range beef produced in Orkney, mostly for export.

Meanwhile in another blow to the Orkney food sector, the Orkney Herring Company has also ceased trading, with the loss of 15 jobs. In a small community that has quite an impact. However Orkney Herring have a good market including leading supermarkets - they process herring (and other seafood) in marinades. Delicious. I do hope that business continues! Again it's hoped a rescue package can be found. Though the fish itself is imported to Orkney, rather than caught locally. But it's a great product and good for local employment AND raising the profile of Orkney.

One of those weeks.....

The week started off with the most stunning weather for Spring, breaking all records back to 1870-something with the high temperatures. Even in Orkney the temperature was up to 19 degrees - we don't get that heat in summer never mind MARCH!  It was two or three days of pure bliss.  Although working,  I found time to wander down to the shore and lie on the pier (photo below) listening to the waves gently lap the shore. This is one of my favourite spots on Graemsay. The old pier was built at the time of the construction of the lighthouses and was used to ship all the materials over from Stromness.

It splits the two beaches at Sandside into one very sandy beach with few shells and one beach with lots of shells and cold water coral but not so much sand.

I found the remains of a poor crab (I assume?) with beautiful intricate markings

It was sheer bliss listening to the waves and all the bird calls that are filling the air now Spring is here. I could hear:

Skylark (dwindling numbers in the UK)
Oystercatcher
Lapwing (sometimes called pee-wits because that's what their calls sounds like!)
Hooded crow
Blackbird (one of my favourite calls, so melodic)
Wren
Sparrows (again dwindling in numbers)
Starlings
Geese (oh far too many here)
Fulmars (chatting to each other on the cliffs)
Herring gulls

It filled my heart with joy and soothed my spirit.

Of course other folk were busy making the most of the weather. One of my neighbours was moving some sheep. While "Mum" was up ahead leading the flock to new grazing, the "younger generation" were helping one of the slower members to move along!

Lambing has begun in Orkney and the "Lamb Bank" is open for business again. No, not a new financial institution, but a much older one that works well in the farming community. The word goes out if someone is in need of a lamb to put to a ewe that has lost hers, and a farmer with a "spare" can help out where needed. Excellent system!

Anyway after a beautiful taste of summer, my week went downhill from thereon.

a) The temperature plummeted to more normal for this time of year - from 19 degrees to 9 degrees.

b) My kettle broke (it's been wonky for a while but still worked) - and as every tea lover knows you MUST have boiling water for a decent cup of tea!

c)  My island car is out of action so I'm hitching lifts to and from the pier (fortunately I'm on the main route to the pier so that's not too bad and neighbours are kind!).  And

d) ....my central heating broke..... WAH! WAH! WAH!  And in fairly spectacular fashion with a pipe bursting and water leaking through the kitchen ceiling....sigh..... The pipe has probably been drip leaking for some time and I thought it was winter rain through the kitchen window staining the plasterboard.  Unfortunately the plumber who installed the pipes during renovation did not choose the best route with this particular pipe and it has corroded due to it's proximity to the outer stone wall, hence the leak. But to find the problem meant pulling up some floorboards and will take some intricate fixing to get round the old floor-board joists and existing pipework. Hopefully it can get fixed this week. None of this activity by ME but a helpful neighbour!  Meantime Button and I are glued to a portable heater I carry around with me....... PLEASE can we have some sunshine!! (It is, of course, lovely weather in the rest of Scotland....not to mention the rest of the UK -harumph!).

Sunset

Now we are on "British Summer Time" sunset is at 7.38 pm....whoo hoo!!!  Sunrise is at 6.59 a.m. but I'm less concerned with that!  In mid-winter the sun set between the hills of Hoy to the left of the picture. I love tracking the sun across the sky over the seasons.

I'm always posting pictures of the Hoy Hills which are a lovely backdrop to Graemsay. Here is a short film of the island of Hoy. Very atmospheric and beautifully shot by Raymond Besant.  I can only provide a link as it's not on YouTube but do take a look here, it's only 3 or 4 mins long.

Extraordinary weather!

It's mid March and I've been digging the garden in a tee shirt (well I used a fork too and was wearing trousers....). BUT I didn't need my hat, scarf or trusty waterproof to keep out wind and rain!  It was joyous!!  As you can see above - the chickens were on hand to supervise again....

It's been a lovely few days, though we did have some fog yesterday.  Friday Mrs Orkney Flowers came out and did some work in the garden, including digging part of my border while I just hovered about being unproductive. Today I made up for it by digging over the veggie-patch and tidying up the edge of it with Mrs Flowers trusty edger thingy.  To get a straight line I   measured from the wall and used pegs and string.....sigh..... unfortunately I spent most of the time untangling chicken feet from said string.....

I think the hen is saying "Go on, gi' us a kiss"!

Anyway with the help of the chickens the straight edge isn't perhaps as straight as it might have been!!

But poor Mrs Flowers beautiful straight-edge soon got ruined by the chooks!!

And of course the chooks have been enjoying a dust bath today... and yes I have to engineer all sorts of contraptions to keep them off my seeds and veggies!

We had discussed ways of keeping the chooks out of the garden this summer.  But - er - I think I might have to revise those plans as clearly not even a 5ft wall will keep SOME of them out!

Maybe a guard cat would help?

But while I was happily pottering in the garden, farmers on the island were busy with lambing, calving, ploughing and muck spreading. The new season has begun (it was the start of "British Summer Time" today) and lots of work to be done.

For the farming community there is also concern at the moment as the local abattoir, Orkney Meat, made a sudden announcement on Thursday that it has ceased trading. The local council, Orkney Islands Council, and our member of the Scottish parliament, along with shareholders etc are trying to sort out a rescue package as it will be devastating for the local farming community. Without an abattoir in Orkney all livestock would have to be shipped across the Pentland Firth to Mainland Scotland. Not good for animal welfare or costs to producers. Our local butchers buy their produce from the local livestock mart and it is processed by Orkney Meat, so an uncertain time for all concerned.  Fingers crossed a solution can be found soon.

Spring!! Off to the garden....

.....with Mrs Orkney Flowers coming over to help today.  And she fixed the weather so it's sunny - although the haar (sea mist) is rolling in now. Still a lovely day for the garden.  And it was the Vernal Equinox  first day of Spring) this week AND this weekend turns to British Summer Time with the clocks going forward an hour. So more daylight in my day.  Oooh my cup runneth over..... I'm a sloth, and hibernate in winter. I come alive in the Spring, like a wee seedling, pushing it's way up through the earth where it has snuggled warm over the winter, now ready to embrace the light..

You're never alone when you have hens.....

Yesterday was another lovely Spring day. A bit breezy but in the shelter of the old stone dyke (wall) it was lovely and I got some more digging of the veggie (vegetable) patch done.  The hens just love rootling around among the soil as I dig.  Fresh worms in exchange for fresh eggs seems a reasonable deal to me!

However..... sometimes I feel a little crowded by hens..... I fear I might impale one on my garden fork, or give one concussion as it bends for a worm in a clod as I go to whack the clod to disperse the earth! Fortunately it's the older hens that cluster round me, and the old cockerel.  The younger birds wait till I've retreated to a safe distance before they tuck in.

Meanwhile the furry buds on the willow trees are bursting out already. They are so pretty.

Now....if I could just get my hens to lay eggs like this I would be very happy! But their own variety are probably healthier....sigh..... and go better with toast......

Guess what this is......

Well....... it's an egg skelter, of course (bought from the British Hen Welfare Trust)!!  And this is what it looks like with lovely freshly laid eggs upon it. Sadly you can't use it AS a skelter or you end up with scrambled or cracked eggs.  But it's still a neat way to store the free range eggs I get from my chooks AND I can keep track of which are the newest and which are the oldest eggs.  Two of my hens are laying now that Spring is here. Fortunately they are laying them in a place I can find them. Having to keep an eye (and an ear - they cluck loudly when they have laid an egg - well wouldn't you?) out for them sneaking off to lay somewhere I can't find them.

Time for some scrambled egg on toast for lunch I think.....