Island living....we do it our way....?!

Hmm, now you'd think being asked to 'blog' about island living would be easy wouldn't it and a good excuse to pop a puffin picture in.....!? It would appear its got me with writers block or bloggers block or something like that. Surely not me, the wellie-wearer of far too many words! Well, there you are. Why am I so blog-tied you might ask? Well, I don't take myself very seriously, you may have noticed this? The ridiculus hats, wellies and fashion-less dress might give me away on that front. Don't get me wrong, underneath the frippery and silly socks is the heart of a keen environmentalist/island-liver/parent/try-to-be-gardener. Therefore, when thinking about 'island life' blog, I've tied myself up in knots because, I know I'll be flippant, and I won't want to be. This kind of life is not for the faint-hearted, nor should it be taken very seriously as you'd probably go bonkers! But, it does have alot of beaches, and we do like those! (Told you I'd be flippant!)

Living on an island then, the non-sensible but sometimes serious reasons we live as we do on a remote island. Having been asked the question, I've been pondering my own reasons. I'll give you a few and then if any discussion evolves we can expand on anything folk want to know, I'm generally an open book and highly opinionated in real life, so I'm sure I'll manage to generate some kind of discussion, even if its only with myself! So, why do I live on an island and what's it like? I'll give you a bit of my own background - I've lived on 3 Scottish islands: Colonsay (95 people when I arrived), 3 ferries a week, 2 hour, 10 minute ferry ride to the Scottish mainland, via the ferry port of Oban. Islay (3000 people), 2 hours ferry ride to the mainland port of Kennicraig and of course Orkney (20,000 people), 1-1 1/2 hour ferry ride to the north of Scotland (Thurso or John O' Groats) or a 5 hour ferry ride to Aberdeen. All the islands I've lived on have been quite different, there's bits I've loved of all of them and bits I've found challenging. I have to say I like Orkney, whilst we are remote, we're hardly cut off (15 flights a day, 3 ferry operators, upto 7-8 ferry's a day to the mainland and I can't count how many to the other islands) and I think I like that quite alot. We're independant enough to have all of the proper utilities and services to sustain everyday life, but you can also get back to the mainland easily, albeit it does cost a bit. Oh and the traffic's never too bad, not much in the way of a rush-hour, no motorways, no traffic lights, and maybe 4-6 roundabouts!

So why are we here, we've no relations here, infact my nearest relative is in Wick (my dads family) but aside that our other family is 200+ miles away and a down side to this type of life is how little you see people and how much you miss them. However, like many folk, perhaps you sacrifice those things a bit because of the quality of life you can have in this kind of an environment. On a meagre budget, we have a nice sizable house, a bit of land, outbuildings and privacy. We're only renting, but our £'s here buy far more space and rental than it possibly could in many areas of Scotland, never mind England. So, for a single parent family, on  a moderate budget, this kind of place offers us more for our money and the opportunity to have the kind of life we'd like, on less money, so that's a plus. And, if folk are buying an idea of price/cost of houses here is from one of the many estate agents here, there are many more though.........I'm not a home owner, but I think its fair to say you get more for your money here than 'sooth' in some respects anyway. So island living can mean more space for less money, but that has to be balanced by greater or increased heating costs due to the climate, lack of choice of heating fuel (no mains gas here, no forests for wood etc), internet service providers, fuel for the car, cost of living can be higher, but insurance (car and home) and those kinds of costs can be lower. There's pro's and con's to the cost of living here. I think generally we win on that one, but its often a bit up and down but we've space and a lovely view!

Ok, island life, why live here? Well, I've a couple of children, I may have mentioned them once or twice (?!), so one of the main reasons we moved up here was the eductation, healthcare and general way of life. Schools here often have smaller class numbers, a great deal of choice and music tuition, is, for the moment, free. When you've two young minds to educate and a budding musician in the family, school's being fantastic is a huge draw to island life. Also, having rushed my daughter to casuality at the local hospital after a brotherly encounter which ended up with the statement  'honest I didn't mean to lodge the skimming stone directly into her head' incident, to find no wait and her being attended to right after we'd got there, was actually very nice, and how healthcare should be, although the reality elsewhere is probably often as good, at least you'd hope it was. So, good eductation, excellent health service and amenities - these are the benefits of island life I'd say, and for us a pretty important benefit. There's also a lot of employment locally, providing these services, farming and fishing, tourism and so forth, there is work, and generally  low unemployment.

It's also pretty safe environment, I'm not saying nothing bad ever happens, that would be a lie, but generally, its fair to say life is more, um, perhaps more accountable, might be a good word.  Its not crime free here, but the level of crime appears to be generally very low. There are less folk living here, you do bump into folk you know or don't know often, you have nodding aquaintances with folk and therefore with that I think comes a greater sense of community, perhaps?  I think for the children that's very helpful, as there's a sense of 'responsibility' or 'consequence' for your actions. For children the ability to roam free and easy, be it beaches or fields or whatever, I think is brilliant. To walk a mile home from the bus, or to walk around town, or go in alone and safely wander without fear of harm, is brilliant. They have freedom that I had as a child and I'm not sure they had when we lived in towns or cities before. In fact I know that's true, I don't have the parental paranoia of them being hurt or anything terrible happening (touch wood), they might get lost, or go off wandering, but I'm not terrified something bad has happenned if we don't manage to meet as planned or whatever. Perhaps I'm niave, or maybe I'm lucky, but this kind of environment, I think is more child friendly, greater freedom and safety than many I've lived in. But, I'm often called niave, its just my experience of living here I'm giving you and in my opnion for my family, its been breathtakingly open, engaging, safe and wonderful. (Remind me of that when I wibble on about the wind again, miss trees, or my garden is being trashed, or when I'm feeding hens looking like a ninja!).  I guess the wind keeps the windsock happy...

And then of course you balance the scenery and wildlife, breathtaking, gorgeous, unspoilt, open, glorious - with the weather - which can be amazingly good, often windy (average 20 kmph windspeed, 10 days average a year with NO wind), low temperatures (average 10 degrees annual temperature with little variation), rain we do get a lot of rain (1000 mm a year) and this kind of climate limits the plant crops that can be grown, the season is shorter (by nearly 100 days compared with England and I'm not sure of the difference between here and central Scotland, which I should know, so I'll find out). There's a lack of trees, yes we do have some, but we're not exactly overrun with forests, lumberjacks and wood processing factories. The climate limits alot of what can grow, but the stuff that grows incredibly well, like grass, sustains a vibrant farming industry, worth over £25M to the local economy, as does tourism, which brings in about the same annually. So, its pretty, open scenery, richly agricultural island living here, but the climate, as I often joke keeps away many a robber! Food is amazing here, imported food costs a bit more than 'sooth' but due to everything being imported, I guess that's got to be the case, mean more local eating, oh dear what a chore that will be...............!

So pro's and con's of this family, living on this island.............

We're a long way from most of our loved ones, which is a bit sad, but folk do come and visit!
Scenery, wildlife and landscape is some of the most exclusive, free and breathtaking in the world
But, gardening can be challenging, short season, windy windy windy, not the the faint hearted!

However, we've got fantastic local food, among the most amazing in Scotland and standard of living which kings would appreciate, on a meagre budget

Some things are cheaper like houses (rent or buy), insurance and stuff like that

However, some things are more expensive like imported food, fuel, heating, telephone/internet and getting things delivered by anything but mail, costs a fair bit.

Each return trip to central Scotland costs in the region of £200+ before you've even bought a cup of coffee..........and that's with the subsidies we get for travel (!)

Schools and amenities are amazingly good, due to remoteness and smaller population

Crime appears to be low, which makes for a nicer way of life and positively impacts on house/car insurance etc

Its a more 'free' kind of existance, but if you live rurally, you have to rely on a car more

It's not 24/7 existance, and the nearest fast food chain is sbout 200 miles away

Its a bit windy and wet and often a bit challenging but worth it I think!!
You don't keep your hair do for very long, and waterproof clothing handy to have!

For more information on island blogging, from inherently more sensible folk with probably better things to say, and probably less wellie action, have a look at this island blogging site........... (thank you kind reader for pointing the link out!)

Happy to answer any thing that comes up from this very unstructured ramble!

Nomad pancakes

Yummy with jam and cream!

I’m not much of a person for cake, in fact if the truth be told I hate it. Same goes for chocolate – I’ve just no sweet tooth. That being said, one of the favourites in our house is pancakes and I don’t mind those, as they aren’t ‘real’ cakes. Here in the UK pancakes and which type of pancake you prefer/like/make and what you call it can spark up a huge debate. And, if you're in the right company you can end up in a bit of a rammy about when a pancake is or isn't a pancake and becomes something ludicrious like a 'dropped scone or a crepe'. These debates can rampage on for hours - no one being right! (bit like the whats a neep (turnip or swede?) and whats a turnip (white or yellow) depending upon where you come from - regional debates about food are hilarious!!)

Therefore, I’m simply talking about my pancakes – rather than your ones! In real life, I’m a bit Scottish, a bit Irish and a bit of a nomad (ex forces) so I’m not really an anything and neither are my pancakes. So I’m going to keep it simple and just call them ‘my nomad pancakes’. Whilst they do keep, they are best eaten around the kitchen table, whilst hot!

My Nomad Pancakes (1/2 Scottish, ¼ Irish, ¼ Nomad)

SR flour (about 1 1/2 cup )

Milk (about 1 1/2 cup)

Egg (one will do)

Sugar (to taste – about 1-2 tbsp)

Bi-carb or baking powder (1/4 tsp – no more than half or it will be a bit weird)

Pinch of salt (don’t forget this or it won’t taste right)

Mix batter together and whip hard - quite a thick mix, should look bubbly. Best cooked on a moderately hot griddle which is rubbed over with a tiny skim of butter/oil, or a heavy based frying pan or if you’re lucky like me on a crepe pan specially designed for the job of making pancakes! Drop a half ladel ful of batter onto the pan - turn once the bubbles start forming - when the underside is golden brown. Only a few minutes on the other side then ready to scoff.

Time to turn a pancake over...............

You eat them with jam or butter or cream or both or syrup or cheese or anything you fancy – pancakes with no limits. You get the idea, I learnt to make these on the Island of Colonsay. I lived there for many years on a farm, with the children, where I turned my hand at baking and had a wee café for a while with a chum, which we called ‘The Barn’. I can’t call them a family recipe because having lived all over Scotland, often far away from my own family I’ve not much in the way of a ‘heritage’ to pass on. So we make up the heritage we fancy as we go along – the kids can make these themselves so they can pass them on too!

They can be dressed up and made with fruit dropped into them – ala banana, cherry, sultana, etc sweet pancake

Or they can be made savoury (don’t put in the sugar) and you can add vegetables to them such as sweetcorn, mushrooms, etc or meat (cooked chicken or fish are nice) and cook them in the same way or drop them into hot oil to make ‘fritters’.

Enjoy - what recipe would your kids to know off by heart and remind them of home?

Famines and feasts

I saw a robin again today – maybe not something amazing to many folk – but to me just gorgeous as I don’t see them very much at home. I’m still on my travels off of the island, fuelling up on friends, food, views, trees and many of the things we can’t easily do at home. We’ve been to parks, been to forests, to the city and of course to the beach (I’m lucky to be on the mainland by the coast). It’s quite strange to have access to all of those things that are normally out of reach, almost like feast or famine in our lives.

A lovely robin

 For our adventure into the ‘good life’ it seemed sensible to try and maximise our money by stocking up our store cupboard shelves. We do this when we are on the mainland as there is more choice and the prices in the bigger supermarkets are much cheaper than at home. It helps to keep us out of the main supermarket at home where the money spent makes no real difference to our economy. It does help us save money, by reducing the need to just pop in for a small item and end up with a basket full. Instead we pop to the store cupboard in the garage; it got the nickname of the ‘stripey-socks-shop’. No petrol needed to get to this shop, no money required – open all hours – everything you’d ever need. Perfect!

Part of the last stripey-sock-shop! Ready to be put away, we reuse the bags!

We have a list – we had a lot of help making up the stripey-socks-shop, from many friends – my question was ‘...if you have to stock up your cupboards for six months what would you buy?’ The answers helped to form our shopping list – and the quantities well, they were a bit of a guess. Kind of what might we eat/drink/use for a week/month, times by the time between trips to the mainland. The savings we make allows us to maximise our food budget and to be able to support our local community by being able to afford to buy our fresh produce (meat/fish/cheese/vegetables) locally where the money will be more gladly received.

Today’s task is to finish this and pack the car which will be laden to bursting for the trip home, making the most of the money spent on the ferry. Whilst we’ve saved for this trip, to spend money so freely is quite odd, scary in fact. It’s worked very well, although it does go awry when the children decide they’ve ‘gone off’ something and you’ve bought enough for 6 months! Nevertheless, on the whole we have found a system that works for us by being frugal at home, then a massive ‘feast’ on the mainland, which once home we’ll follow by ‘frugality’ again. I’m looking forward to being home again, too much choice and temptation on the mainland – although I’ll miss my little robin for a while.

Designing a garden................(I)

This is the first of a few brainbubbling things I wanted to get down about planning a garden. I did a series of articles a while back for an online magazine - I must find them........................Anyway gardens - love them - or hate them, to get the most/least out of them it often feels like an uphill task. However, its pretty simple really when you think of it, even though it feels daunting. There are a few short things you have to ask yourself:

Who - will use it with you (humans, pets, crops, livestock etc)?

What - is there already that you can't move/love/hate/need what are the limits (size, soil type, aspect etc) and fixtures you need/have?

Why -  do you want a garden (pets, flowers, relaxation, exercise, provide food/shelter) or don't you want one and need to design an outside minimal use space?

When - do you want to use it and how often/which times of day?

How - often do you want to be out in it, how long do you want to spend looking after it?

The ideal garden suits the needs of the users at the times they want to be in there. If you can answer the questions above for yourself - your garden is almost designed! I start by doing my who/what/why/when/how list and take it from there. For example, if you don't like gardening but have inherited a garden with a house you might want to make it minimal tend and reduce the work it might cause you if its not under 'control'. If you love gardening a minimal tend garden isn't really what you want from your space. Also the time of day, other users and whats there already may well be things you need to consider to get the most from your space. The plants and the other fun stuff come later..............................not much later, but later.

Here's my own example:

Who - I've older kids, a dog, hens a partner who hates gardening but likes sitting out in it and riding his bike in it, whilst I LOVE gardening :) Although we do all like to camp out sometimes.

What - My garden had a rickety old fence, no gate, no plants except a few ropey looking shrubs. It has a path around the entire house and a couple of sheds. A washing line on three poles, gravel drive and not much else. Literally a blank canvas! Its large but no divisions, and its windy - I can't change the wind but I can change the structure of the garden to cope with a windy place (we live near the beach, its normally windy, sometimes more than others, as you can see in the photo!), hedges and garden rooms I think might be needed in my own garden to cope with the wind!

Why -  I love gardening, I like flowers for the house, I like food from my garden, I like working in it more than sitting in it, but I do like to eat outside, I like a functional space which is also productive, I needed to keep my dog in the garden and my hens out of the garden area, kids are bigger - so less likely to eat any toxic plants, the dog on the other hand will have a go at eating anything. I like to look out in the garden and watch birds and look at the view. I like outside work but I don't really like mowing grass! My poor garden needs to deliver alot! Beautiful, functional, productive, wildlife haven, toxic plant free and also minimal mowing! Oh I like bonfires as well!

When - I use mine everyday if I can, lunchtime and dinner time are good if we can eat out, I don't tend to sit out at night here - so night scented plants are really wasted on me. I use mine for the washing when I can, for the dog when he wants and don't want the hens in there! Kids ramapage around in it, toy fight (see below and the girl child generally wins), but are more inclined to sit and read these days, my other half likes to cycle around the paths (!)

How - I'm happy spending alot of time out there, others aren't so keen! A minimal garden is not for me! I like to be busy and work out there. My friend on the other hand hates gardening, and has managed to make a garden look pretty with containers and gravel, no grass but a nice area to look at from the house and dry the washing in! Whilst she loves her garden from the kitchen window, I prefer to get out in mine with one of these........well a real spade - kids are bigger now and the sandpit has sadly gone!

Now I know all of those things I can start to think about 'how' to design my garden. My first priorities were to get a dog proof fence up (chicken wire on the old fence) a link here to the fence (http://orkneyflowers.blogspot.com/2010/03/start-of-garden.html to keep the dog in and to get a hedge started to give me some shelter to build a garden from there. My hens were made a seperate enclosure beside the house but not in my garden (I'm lucky I have the space) a link here to the hen area  http://orkneyflowers.blogspot.com/2010/09/hens.html. My children are older, if they'd been younger - a gate and a child proof garden would have been more of a priority! Now that I've done that I can think about what I'd like in my garden and start there.

My wish list is:

a place to sit
somewhere to grow alot of plants to develop my interests

a place to eat

shelter from the wind to get a garden started (windbreak and a hedge)

somewhere to potter in the garden

somewhere to read

somewhere to grow food

somewhere to feed the birds

somewhere to have bonfires

a place to play with the dog

a place for my kids to flop and read/mess around outside

a secure place for the hens (!)

clutter free path around the house with robust plants to cope with occassional bike tyres

a nice view from the indoor rooms which look over the garden

nothing really toxic plant wise

nothing really large at the front of the garden as the view is great

flowers for the house
a nice area by the byre to greet folk

eventually a gate? I'm not sure yet...................

Now I've got those bits written down - I can start to think about how to use it and what to put in it.