Hi from Norteen

[norteen]

Hi,i am Norteen. myself and husband live in the utter north...think north...then norther....we live in Shetland.

we have raised 4 children,all left home now.

we live on 100 odd acres,but it is very poor land.

we have always believed in self sufficiency...mainly because we are at the lowest income level.

we raise our own meat,milk etc,though we are about to get rid of all stock and concentrate on gardening,because we are now our own now.

feedstuff is getting dearer because of oil prices,and traditionally this area was subsistence farming any way.

unfortunately,crofters were encouraged in the 60`s onwards to turn crofts into farms (businesses)...which involves huge inputs...fertilizers,feed,tractors etc...which meant getting loans...well, i am sure you know how it will end up...especially as oil gets dearer.

there does seem to be some realisation of the problems coming,as there is a real drive to grow more food locally now.

we usually cook from scratch and make our own bread,butter,sausages,yoghurt,hams,bacon etc
we cut peat to heat the house.

We have a second hand windmill to put up...probably running high density lights in the very long winter here. my husband will be building others for us to use,building them from scratch.

Everything we have is old...tractor is held together with baling twine...as is everything else...ha ha
we are cash poor..but life rich...i moved here in 1992...the best thing I ever did.

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome.

[scoobie]

Thanks for the intro post, and welcome to UKP!

[diamond lil]

Hi - so you're not natives then ? Looking fwd very much to your posts, is a place I've always wanted to see, but not sure about stay .

[itsybitsy]

Hello and welcome

[hobo]

Welcome from sunny North Yorkshire!

Hobo

[norteen]

thanks for the welcome guys.
my husband is native...i was born in London...and moved steadily north...mu mum thinks i will end up in the Faroes!!
Island living is unique..well small island living,as compared to Britain.think of the advantages if anything does hit the fan...my husband 58,remembers electricity coming here,so he is used to living rather basically.
All they had to eat when he was younger was mutton and tatties (potatoes) or fish and tatties...and shetland kale (cabbage)...a very strong tasting variety,fed to cattle mostly...and the odd neep(swede)..eggs and tatties..well you get the picture.

[Dangerous Dave]

Hi, welcome. You're living the dream!

[diamond lil]

My dad was brought up on fish, rabbit and kale. Grandad was on the fishing half the year and on the farm the rest of the time. There were ten of them and 9 of them lived into their late 80s/ early 90s. I think though I'd rather die young than eat kale, its bloody awful
I have a thing about islands, I love the feeling of being so far away from the rest of the world. I think Faroe is possibly a wee tad too far though!
Looking forward to your posts, is nice to have somebody with worse weather than me.

[nickdutch]

Welcome. Sounds like you have a few stories to tell
keep telling them and inspiring us