The Croftless Crofter: Nic Goddard - October 2024

We have passed the autumn equinox meaning the daylight ratio has tipped towards more dark than light, the trees and the hills are changing colour, the view from the window is suddenly bigger as leaves fall from trees and the bracken has bowed down again for the end of the summer.

I have spotted the first curls of smoke from chimneys and the first dew-filled early mornings reminding me it will be frost season soon.

There seems to be an abundance of rowan berries this year; bright splashes of red waiting for the migrating thrushes to arrive and strip the trees bare.

Overhead, huge skeins of noisy geese are passing as they fly south and the last swallows of the summer have already flown.

In the garden, we have completed the autumn pruning of plants like lavendar, bought the more vulnerable potted shrubs closer to the house for shelter and tossed the straggling remains of summer crops onto the compost heap.

Our chickens, far from slowing down egg production, have been confused by the late heatwave and two of them have gone broody instead. If left to their own devices, they would be trying - and failing - to raise ill-fated chicks due to hatch when the first snow is already on the hilltops.

A look back through my diaries of previous Octobers reminds me that during our crofting years on Rum we would currently be gearing up for days of butchering and processing - our own fattened pigs and culled deer from the island’s population being turned into strings of sausages, diced steaks, roasting joints and kilos of mince filling up the freezer or cured by hanging up, packing in salt or soaking in brine.

The final harvests of fruit, herbs and flowers would be being turned into jams or jellies or hung up to dry.

I was able to reassure those friends I mentioned that, yes, the stags are indeed roaring, marking another season turning and reminding me, just as my podcast does, that the natural world continues with her rhythms regardless of whether we are there to witness them or not - and to be grateful and appreciative that I am there watching and listening.