Bonanza!

Gosh, I didn't know we had our own breed! Who's the good looking human - you or the breeder?
 
Margaid said:
Gosh, I didn't know we had our own breed! Who's the good looking human - you or the breeder?
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Me! No, I’m balder.
And yes, not only the Clun Forest but another breed called the Shropshire. Back in the day when the wool trade was flourishing you’re part of the world was very important.
 
Ah well, I'm not from round these parts ...

You mean you're balder now or balder than the breeder?? :?
 
In the end decided not to. The breeder I’ve dealt with before has a batch of Rouge x Texel lambs so Ive booked a ram lamb now to be sent up next year as a teenager, or shearling to any sheep fans. They are of such quality that I couldn’t resist. This should throw quality stock in both carcass and milk yield. This year I’m using a black Shetland x Zwartbles ram of my own breeding. As with my hens I’m happy to cross breed to maintain the characteristics I need.
So 2021 lambs will be 11/16ths terminal sire breeds for carcass, 3/16ths Zwartbles for prolificacy and milkiness and 2/16ths Shetland for a dose of hardiness. And black! So job done after 9 years. Or they may combine the worst characteristics of their four ancestral breeds and be rubbish. But who said breeding stock was easy?
The only other ram I’ve kept of my own breeding grew up to be aggressive and dangerous and got a bullet in the head so this time I’ve avoided contact with him to maintain his natural fear. What with rams and cockerels I sometimes wonder why we do it though it’s a few years since I had a bad cockerel.
 
I know you worked for London Transport, did you come from a farming family or did you just have an interest and decide "that's it I am going into this full time" ?
It certainly is a challenge for you and you seem to be doing well with it, and makes fascinating reading.
 
I first holidayed in the Scottish Islands when I was 17 with a schoolmate and have returned every year since to one island or another. I always knew that I would end up on one or another and retirement gave me the freedom to do so. I sometimes muse that I must have lived on one in a previous lifetime because the draw each year has been unremitting.
As to which island I had a checklist. Excluding some for being too big or too small or too populous or too flat or too Gaelic left me with just four. There is a saying hereabout that “you don’t choose the island, the island chooses you”. Soon after I moved here a neighbour said to me that every Fetlar man needs a shed, a sheep and a boat. Stifling any bawdy remark relating to the purpose of the sheep I nodded sagely. I have the sheds and the sheep but have drawn a line at the boat. Most fishermen here have never learnt to swim because sinking into the sleep inducing cold water is better than a long struggle. There is a kind of reverence here for the interplay of life and death that is actually quite refreshing.
Obviously we all have the benefits of 21st century living but there is a kind of pride of living with and then enjoying the challenges that living on a small island in the far north presents. There is also an almost infinite amount of time available for drinking tea in the daylight hours and whisky once the sun is over the yard arm and yarning. Yarning is the local word for a combination of story telling, gossiping and musing about the future. This is not because people are idle but because the true value of human interaction is appreciated. Coupled with the insatiable curiosity about one another’s goings on is an intense appreciation of place and kindness and concern for anyone on their uppers.
So all in all I find a kind of spiritual homecoming.
 
Very uplifting to read Hen-Gen and glad it has all worked out for you, down to hard work on your part as well. When everyone is so busy rushing about, really refreshing to hear of you enjoying a cuppa and a good old natter. Lot of that goes on down our lane.
Don't make it sound too idyllic or we will all be moving up there
 
No-o-o! It’s a wind blasted hell hole with long dark winters, infuriating isolation and an absence of cultural pursuits.
Nearly convinced myself!
But the inexorable downward slide in the population (57 as I write this) engenders great sadness in us all, incomer and local alike. After at least 4000 years of habitation (Stone Age artefacts have been found) it would be tragic to see the collapse of a viable population on our watch. Coincidently tomorrow I am doing a short presentation in Lerwick about Fetlar to representatives from Foula, Papa Stour, Fair Isle and Out Skerries, all islands suffering similar problems. We are setting up a working group exploring ways forward.
 
Good luck with the presentation, or hope it went well depending on when you read this.
It is sad the decline in island living, presumably youngsters born on the island want a different style of life, several local farmers face the same sort of thing in the simple fact their children don't want to be farmers meaning farms that have been in families for generations face a very uncertain future.
I wish you luck in engendering a rosy future for the islands. Is tourism the main income on the islands these days ?
 
There's Shetland Wool Week, which I'd love to attend, see https://www.shetlandwoolweek.com
Every year they give the pattern for a new fairisle hat, and attendees are supposed to come wearing the current version. It's a particularly nice one this year, and designed by a male knitter.
https://www.shetlandwoolweek.com/introducing-the-roadside-beanie-and-sww-patron-oliver-henry/
 
A birdwatching friend has been to Shetland wool week and came back with a fantastic hat, he also has an equally nice one from Fair Isle complete with ear flaps.

We are off to Scotland Saturday, staying just outside Perth, just hope the weather isn't too bad. Not that it will stop us doing anything, but a mix of rain and strong winds can be a bit unpleasant
 
Yes bym. The aspiration of youth for a life beyond their island homes is a factor in the problem of depopulation. Also lack of employment, remoteness from essential services and the higher cost of food.
Tourism makes a contribution to our island economies but not as much as you may think. The cost of getting to Shetland is high which is why we only get a fraction of the tourist trade that Orkney does.
The conference day went OK. It was a little intimidating because also present was the leader of the Council, several of his colleagues and council officials. This did however demonstrate their commitment to finding solutions to our problems. It was also valuable to us island representatives to realise that though we have many shared problems we also have uniquely different issues ranging from transportation, inter connectivity and land ownership. Hopefully positive action will result from our entreaties.

Shetland Wool Week has grown in importance year by year and is now very much a fixture here. Also there is absolutely no stigma to men being knitters. In fact until recently knitting was on the school curriculum for all children up to 16.
Enjoy your break in Perth. Seriously wild country thereabouts. As you say, autumn sweeps in early!
 
My grandad was a fantastic knitter, having been taught whilst in hospital recovering from an appendix operation, back in the days when that involved a two week stay in hospital. several schoolfriends dad's were knitters having also learned whilst in hospital. After double pneumonia I was sent for convalescence and learned to cross stitch which I still enjoy.
Can't quite see us dragging the youth of today away from their phones to knit though. best thing about home knitted garments, they don't go baggy at the wrist or go shapeless
 
My dad was a better knitter than my mum! Not sure where/when he learnt to knit; possibly when he was recovering from mumps. He knitted a complete outfit for my sister who was 5 (I was 2) - leggings, jumper, thick cardigan, bonnet and mittens with squirrels on the back.
 
View the Marigold link and get knitting. I look forward to seeing all your Roadside Beanies. My preferred colours would me brown, sage green and mauve but unfortunately I can’t knit ?
 
I love knitting, but I'm the slowest knitter in the world! Last year, I knitted a lovely jumper for my little grandson, with a paddington bear motif knitted into the front. Took me forever, and when doing the motif, there were five or six bobbins of different coloured wools hanging at the back. They drove me nuts, getting tangled up! It came out well, but I swore I'd never do anything like that again!
 
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