crofter-amy

My brother was charged nearly £1000 to amputate his cat's front leg.

OMG you could rescue a cat with 4 legs and feed it for life for that kind or money....

Sorry. It's the hard line crofter in me. I would never consider spending that kind of money on an animal. An animal is only worth its wieght in meat to me. That's not to say I that I don't care about my animals because I really do, it's just that's where i have to draw the line.

Peat really only makes sence if you have your own bank, time to work it and the means to get it home. You'll be warmer burning coal that's for sure.

hope this helps

Hi all.

Only discovered Shetlink a few weeks ago and i'm hooked. Still finding my way around and since i had stumbled on this thread thought the desent thing would be to add my bit. No surprise I'm a crofter called Amy. Born in Shetland lived here all my days and have no intention of going anywhere. I am also wife and mother of two. Have lots of other interests but no time for them. Like straight talking.

Oddly the bluetack worked on the blue crayon but not the brown... wonder if you can get browntack...

So let me get this right you have had this cat for 14 years, think enough of him to use his likness for your avitar and now after a 'wee' accident you are loking him out!!!

For the cat pee I would try the steam cleaner followed by a liberal dose of bicarb o soda left overnight before hovering it and hopefully smell with it. Definatly avoid smelly cleaning products or the cat will be drawn back to remark his corner

Now that sounds caustic, will get some.

Per chance do you also know how to get the bairns doodles off the wallpaper?

A nice selection of crayon, colouring pencil, and most feared...biro

Thanks for those.

I do have a steam cleaner but am a little unsure about using it on an electrical apliance.

Have tried vinigar before but found it of little use even with salt in.

No nail polish remover in the house.

Anyone else got any ideas?

Is there a way of getting the fatty mess off the outside of the deepfat fryer without deploying tools from the shed? Would gladly see the thing in hell if i thought i could get away with it.

you do need to think about distance and time for a farrier to arrive in any of the outlying islands its going to take a lot of time and the cost are going to be high.

 

assuming the farrier need there van with them it would be a chancy thing to go to foula of fair isle because the ferry may fail to sail

People on the really hard to get to isles dont shoe so everything else should be easy enough to take on the plane. I dare say when the islanders heard a farrier was coming they would find enough work too fill the time between flights and that will spread the cost of travel aswell.

Does at least sometimes a farrier come to Foula?

Not to my knowledge, ever. In desperate cases the vet is called to trim but he is soo busy when he's here and really just has time for the most pressing work and since my pony is sound I can't justify taking his time away from far more needy animals just to fine tune my trimming.

Does one need planning permission if one was to convert a small area (about 600 or 800 m²) near the house or stable into a sand paddock (which could be used as a riding arena as well) to avoid full-time stabling? This is what we have done here... also in Bavaria the ground is mud in winter times if you let a heavy horse run around freely.

 

Farrier is not really the big problem because I was trained to trim hooves (just need to sit the exams now) . So I am not dependant.

Now the way I would look at a 'sand paddock' is winter exersize ground for my working horse. Even if you are only using the horse for checking your boundarys instead of using a quad that surely makes him part of your agricultural activities. therefore as an agricultural 'building' so long as it is over 25m from the road it shouldn't need planning permition. I'm just a crofter not en expert in planning so please check this idea out with them. And by the by, horses and ponies are included in the agricultural census. If you were to 'diversify' your 'croft' activities into say B+B with trecking there possably could be grants for that if not from the C.C. then maybe some kind of new business grant...

Is it barefoot trimming you have trained in or traditional? you might well find extra income from that. I have a pony and have been trying to teach myself barefoot trimming from books and seem to be getting the hang of it but would love to have a trained person check my work and I doubt I'm alone in ths.

Been thinking on getting some comfrey in my garden, can anyone sugest a veriety that would survive in the most exposed, salt laden garden known to man?