| Long ago, the cultivable land and the better grazing was divided into small crofts. To
this day crofting is a system which gives each household a stake in the island and its
future. It’s a lifestyle based on low-intensity, subsistence farming.
 The combination of
modern technology and old-style labour produces hay, silage, oats, kale and turnips as
winter fodder for sheep and cattle.
Although Fair Isle’s so far north, islanders can grow a lot of their own food
outside - potatoes and a wide range of vegetables. Increasingly, crops for household use
are raised under glass and polytunnels.
Always progressive, the crofters of Fair Isle in 1997 got together in yet another
communal project - this time to produce baled silage rather than the hay traditionally
made for winter keep.
Baler
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Shipping lambs from
Fair Isle |
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