Another October Day...

Today we have had some respite from the wind and rain, but as I type I can hear the wind getting up again. That is the nature of Autumn and Winter in Orkney (and indeed Spring and Summer sometimes!).  Our ferry is still having technical problems and some sailings are cancelled. The high winds don't help either! There are some days in Winter when the ferry can't get out to us, but the Hoy Sound is more sheltered than other stretches of water in Orkney, so generally the boat sails. Though it can depend on wind direction, state of tide etc. and some days you really would not want to be sailing on it! Generally if the weather is bad I'll check first to make sure that not only can I leave the island but that I can get home again too!  If it's thought the weather will be particularly bad, the parents of the children will be advised not to send them into school. I think most of the children have relatives on the Orkney Mainland so in an emergency they can stay with them if the were to get stranded.

Above you can see a neighbour's cattle enjoying some Autumn sunshine in my field behind the house. OK the sky is grey but the sun was coming in and out, honest! They certainly seem to appreciate the grass in the field!

Meanwhile the mother hen is still clucking around her new brood.  I know this floor doesn't look that clean and I've dumped some oatmeal for them, but she will insist on keeping them there so what can I do! I moved her last week,with some help, to a more cosier base and she promptly removed them! So I shall leave her well alone now!

Meanwhile poor Charlie the barn cat has to be fed above ground level so that the 40 or so chickens don't bully him into letting them eat his food!

Button, of course, is not that happy about the wind and rain as it curtails her outdoor adventures. I've started putting the underfloor heating on so she has taken to napping under a chair where the carpet is warm. Her pose below makes me smile.  I suppose some days are tougher than others!!

And in this photo you can see why she was called "Buttons" by her former owners. Her eyes look like two bright green buttons!

Windy Day.....

What a change in the weather from yesterday!  It's VERY windy today. Gusting to about 35mph at the moment but due to increase to potentially severe gale force tonight.  Meanwhile some of the young cattle stock from a neighbouring farm have been put into my field at the back of the house to graze it down for winter. The field hasn't been grazed this year as I've been having a new stock proof fence put up. That's now in place so the wee beasties can go in and graze away for a few weeks till they are taken inside to sheds for the winter.

These young stock watched curiously as I hung out a window to take their photo. I can imagine them asking each other "What does she think she's doing?"!

Meanwhile we have ongoing technical problems with our ferry. We're waiting to hear when these might be resolved, with currently limited runs and limited cargo delivery. But it has to be said it seemed to be making good speed against the wind tonight, although it sailed back to harbour on a more sheltered route.

Painting our community hall

Quite a few folk from the island were up at the Community Hall this afternoon, giving it a fresh coat of paint. Due to my asthma having a tendency to be triggered by chemicals I avoid paint etc so I didn't go.  Yes I know that sounds convenient - dear reader, you are not the only one to make that comment! Tee Hee! 

As you can see all hands are put to good use (literally, who needs paint brushes!!) and even the wee kids helped out! (Photo taken by Irene Mathieson who was one of the valiant workers - though she clearly was slacking judging by the number of photos she took! Only joking Irene....tee hee!)

Our Community Hall is an ex-Army hut from WWI. It was transported from the island of Burray in Orkney to Graemsay after WWI and constructed by the "men of the island" as the story goes. It's been used since then for dances and parties, as well as any other community function. It's all wood lined and has a good acoustic so is a favourite of musicians when they come to play. Most other parishes have been provided with "Community Schools" by the local authority (Orkney Islands Council), which means that the local authority also provides a community hall. But Graemsay, not having a school, was not able to take advantage of such a facility so we do the best we can with what we have! 

As I say it's been in use since just after WWI, and Ethel, who was a young girl on Graemsay during the WWII (please note that's TWO, she's not that old!) remembered that the soldiers stationed at the gun battery at Hoy Low would come along to the dances. But they weren't best pleased at having to stand outside with the other men to drink or smoke! I bet they weren't!! It can get a bit breezy here at the best of times......

Anyway good progress was made on painting the hall today. I went up to inspect (once I was sure all work was over - tee hee!). To finish off the afternoon a barbecue was held too so all the workers got fed as well..... (......as well as those of us that *didn't* do any work!).  It was also a lovely day, with the SUN shining and, out of the breeze, was very warm. Wonderful for October...... I refused to listen to everyone saying it was going to be very windy tomorrow.....

Not more chicks.....sigh.....

I have this chicken problem.....sigh...... I may be able to class myself as a chicken farmer soon! I began the summer with 8 hens and a cockerel. Up to now there have been numerous clutches of eggs hatching out so I am up to about 40 birds..... and today...... another hen has hatched a brood - probably about 10!! You can see them in the photo above - day old!  They were hidden in one of the outbuildings..... She's a very protective mother so was pecking my boots with her sharp pecky beak while I took this snap.......sigh.......  Hey Ho!  At least I am getting about 3 eggs a day from the other hens - now I've found their stash..... however...... while rummaging in the barn for any other broody hens I found one of them tucked into a corner - out of my reach.....so I fear this won't be the last batch!

Next year I'm hoping to organise nesting boxes around the barns so that I might be able to collect the eggs more easily and this population explosion won't happen again........

My week  didn't begin particularly well as I seemed to have an ear infection and that coupled with a flu vaccine had my immune system on overdrive and me feeling rather "wabbit" - no that isn't a reference to Bugs Bunny or Woger Wabbit (Roger Rabbit) but a lovely Scots word meaning "tired" or "exhausted". The ear infection gave me vertigo when I laid down, but fortunately I was OK as long as I sat or stood up! It seems to be clearing now thankfully.

Yesterday I had a nice surprise. Some visitors came to the island who had family links with the Sutherland family who had lived at Sandside since the early 1800s and stayed till the mid 1950s. They also brought along family trees and some old photos which was great. Particularly as they are descended from the branch of the Sutherland family I have little information on.  So we had a good blether (chat), and they were shown around the island and wandered on the beach to find "groatie buckies" (tiny cowrie shells), and had their photos taken outside the house etc.

Here are three photos - this is labelled as Isaac Mowat, in which case his bride is Clara Sutherland on Sandside beach.

Clara as a young girl with her twin Jane-Anne Sutherland (I think). Jane-Anne ran the post office at Sandside for many years. She lived here with her brother John Daniel (Dannie) and his wife Eliza Williamson until the early 1950s when Dannie died and the family left the farm.

Here is Dannie with his wife Eliza

But this is the side of the family I know quite well (figurateively speaking anyway!). The visitors left me with lots of photos and info about the other branch of the family so a project for the winter for me to match them with the Sutherland family tree! 

Back to the present - the weather has been unseasonably warm this week. Not the high temps of the South of England, but definitely WARM for Orkney and no wind.  Apparently in the town the Rooks are roosting again! They think it's Spring! Well the wind will no doubt get up in a few days again and put them off THAT idea.

Today I'd decided to go over to town to do some stocking up of store cupboards. However our wee ferry has some engine problems and today was only doing a couple of runs to get the children to and from school in Stromness, so I cancelled my trip to the town.

Instead I made use of my time by making several batches of roast potatoes ready for the freezer using any baking dish I could find. I have lots of "tatties" (potatoes) from the garden and I just love them roasted. I often buy "Aunt Bessie's roast potatoes" from the supermarket. But I'm not taken in by the jolly "aunt" label and know full well that these are mass produced in a factory! So thought I'd try my own. I love a few roast tatties with my dinner during the week and it seems very decadent to make them fresh just for me.

So as another week draws to a close I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend with some pottering in the garden (if the weather holds!).

North Ronaldsay

One of the North Ronaldsay beaches

I thought I'd tell you about another of the Orkney islands, another "small island" - the island of North Ronaldsay is the northern most of the Orkney islands and is seriously remote! It's only about 2.7 square miles and it's only connection to the Orkney Mainland is via cargo ship once a week, or via a regular small plane service.

Pat, one of my regular blog readers mentioned watching a short film "Life on a Small Island" which is about North Ronaldsay, so I thought I'd share it with you all. Click here for the film

It's about 18 minutes long and is narrated by a young North Ronaldsay lass. It was filmed in 2008, and since that time the school has closed and then re-opened again! The wee boys at the school in the film have grown now and gone to the school in Kirkwall (where most children from the isles go from the age of 14 to finish their studies, along with children from the town of Kirkwall and surrounding parishes). However the island community managed to get two "gateway" houses built and advertised for two families to come and live on the island. So the school could reopen again - much to the delight of the community. Once a school closes it can be the end of many rural communities as young families are not keen to move there.

But a "claim to fame" of the island is the Seaweed eating sheep, the famous North Ronaldsay sheep. Those in the UK may have seen North Ronaldsay on the BBC Countryfile programme recently. These sheep really do live on seaweed! Most of the year they are out on the shore, getting shelter from the dry stone dyke that runs around the island and keeps them out on the beach. The seaweed gives their meat a special flavour and several restaurants in London serve this as a speciality.  The fleeces are also sold, and the wool processed and sold on. The island has it's own website so do take a look here at more info and photos.

Here are some of the North Ronaldsay sheep on the beach!

A beautiful day

Today has been just glorious with WARM sunshine, and NO wind!  There were a couple of very brief showers but nothing to bother about. I spent the entire day in the garden and had a lovely time. I dug over part of the veggie bed ready for a seaweed mulch. Then I dug up some more tatties (potatoes) and harvested almost the last of the broad beans. The latter are now "blanched" and in the freezer - last year I gave a lot away but then I regretted that in February when I ran out of my own supply. So this year I'm being selfish!

Above is this evening's sun setting above the Hoy hills (just after 7pm) and below is some late afternoon sunshine over Sandside bay, taken from just outside my garden.

Tatties drying after washing the soil off, ready for storing.

Broad beans - and of course Button has to get in the picture!  She's desperately trying to look cute as she clearly thinks *she* is more interesting a subject for a photo than a bucket of beans......

Autumn

Autumn is definitely here, now we have passed the equinox. But Nature produced a beautiful rainbow to mark the occasion so I couldn't be sad.

Meanwhile Button is selecting her "indoor spaces" for additional napping time, now she doesn't want to be outdoors so much.

The bees are still making the most of the Borage which apparently keeps refilling it's flowers with nectar. This plant has been a huge success and I'm hoping for reseedings next year too! I love the fine hairs on the borage flowers!

I took an opportunity this morning in the lull between gales to go out and do some harvesting. The courgettes (zucchini) have done well this year, and the broad beans are not doing too badly, though they are late in filling out their pods.  But there will be lots of broad beans for the freezer which is good!

But the Hoy Hills look very dour today. An image of a sleeping dinosaur!

And tonight there is a Quiz in our community hall, so I'd better go and put my "thinking-cap" on!