Document 1471
Conversation 35: Three Shetland women on gardening in Scotland
Author(s): N/A
Copyright holder(s):
Prof Christian J Kay, SCOTS Project
Audio transcription
| F969 |
And, what is it you ca at? |
| F1074 |
[tut] Weel, the written wey is Hjogaland. |
| F969 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
But the wey that the fock spak aboot it wis that they caad it Hjoland. |
| F969 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
And there are two idder Hjolands close by, baith in Burra Isle, wan Ester Hjoland, an wan Waster Hjoland. [laugh]
But for the sake o [exhale] ehm, postal address, we thought that that was [laugh] that was kind of difficult so when we cam, we sort o modified it an made it Hjogaland.
And we thought that that was maybe mair accurate for what it would mean.
Cause I looked at that and it turned out that there were a lot of places caad Hogaland.
And the Hoga actually referred to the Scattald of the common grazing. |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
But the places that had the /ju/ soond there mair or less referred to a hjog or a hill. |
| F969 |
Oh what does that mean, Christian? |
| F1074 |
Hjog means a hill. |
| F969 |
Right, uh-huh. |
| F1074 |
So it's like the hoose on the side o the hill.
//That's what what we think the word is.// |
| F1073 |
//Mmhm.// |
| F969 |
Do you ken foo lang fock have bidden there? |
| F1074 |
Not really, no, I really don't know. No. |
| F969 |
Wa de a hoose dere when you cam? |
| F1074 |
No. Not a, well not a habitable wan.
The original hoose was doon at the banks of the [?]road nearly[/?].
And [exhale] I don't know what it di-, when it di- [inaudible] but the faimily's story aboot it is that ehm
the fock didnae even bide in it, at that time, that would have been in the [inhale] twenties, nineteen-twenties, or somethin like that,
[cough] when Harry's faider had the croft. |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
And he lived in Burra Isle, the next isle, of course, there was nae brig,
but they would come across, they would row across frae Burra to Trondra,
in order to cultivate the land.
//Right? You see?// |
| F969 |
//Yeah.// |
| F1074 |
And they keepit horses,
in in Trondra for plooin an that.
And a crood o them would come ower and work togedder.
And because they were a crood o them were goin doon, some o the women thought they'd mak [?]met[/?] to them and they wid pit on the fire in the hoose,
and of course they were grand muckle widden lintel.
Right?
And what happened that particular day was that they were makkin their wey hame after the day's work in the field,
//right?// |
| F1073 |
//Mmhm.// |
| F1074 |
And as they gaed ower the hill, they turned back and they saw the smoke risin. |
| F1073 |
Oh, heevens! |
| F1074 |
Uh-huh.
And a spunk oot o the fire had set had set the whole place, whole fireplace alight.
And erm they rushed back,
they couldnae save the hoose,
but they did save the horses that was in the in the byre next door.
It was a kind of stables that was kind o attached to the hoose in the auld-fashioned wey, ye ken, the peerie hoose and then the stable and then the byre was beyond. |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
But they saved it and they saved the horses, but the hoose was brunt doon. |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
Ehm, efter that then the hoose where we bidit [inaudible].
Ehm [tut] Harry's stepfaider and his faider,
they biggit a hoose, er wi no intention o ever bidin in it on ony permanent basis,
but they biggit it in order to bide there when they were ower w- wi the lambin or
onything like that. |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
So that's the story of our place. |
| F1073 |
And on it is the most wonderful gairden.
//And gairdenin in Shetland// |
| F1074 |
//Mm. [laugh]// |
| F1073 |
is no easy task, and you've made this, created this wonderful oasis. |
| F1074 |
Well it's an act of faith, I think. |
| F606 |
//[cough]// |
| F969 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1073 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1074 |
An I mean first of aa, I mean we startit sma, and just made a peerie bit on it.
And the main thing was really to mak, put up shelter, plenty o shelter so we had fences and shrubs and things that were biggit for us.
And then of course I got ambitious and wanted an idder bit, an it kind o grew and grew, organically. [laugh]
//[laugh] A bit here and a bit here and so on, it did,// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F969 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1073 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1074 |
until Harry said, "That's enough.
//No further." [laugh]// |
| F969 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1073 |
//[laugh]//
But I bet you still buys plants. |
| F1074 |
Oh certainly, yes yes, mmhm, every opportunity. |
| F1073 |
And it's quite unusual because the rhododendrons that blooms there.
//And that's really exotic for Shetland.// |
| F1074 |
//Oh brilli- yeah, mmhm mmhm mmhm.// |
| F969 |
And you've been cuttin doon trees. |
| F1074 |
We hiv. Mmhm mmhm.
We planted them far too close, you see, because you never ever thought for a moment that they would [laugh] grow to the size that they did. [laugh]
//[laugh]// |
| F1073 |
//Goin roond Shetland noo//
//can you no see that, the number o peerie hooses wi these great muckle trees aside them, and it is because fock never [?]reckoned they'd[/?] grow.// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm, mmhm, mmhm, mmhm.//
Mmhm.
//That's right.// |
| F1073 |
//And noo fock are haein to cut doon trees.// |
| F969 |
//Mmhm.// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm.// |
| F1073 |
So I hope they're gaen to keep them and cure them an mak bonny things wi them. |
| F1074 |
Yes, I think we're goin to mak them into a garden feature.
//Mmhm.// |
| F1073 |
//Right.//
//Uh-huh. [laugh]// |
| F969 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1074 |
//[laugh]//
But I'm no tellin you aboot it!
//[laugh] It's a secret until I see if it works. [laugh]// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F969 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1073 |
//[laugh]// |
| F606 |
Have you both got gardens too? |
| F969 |
[tut]
Sad to say I don't have a gairden.
Ehm, my mither was a keen gairdener.
But er my excuse is that whaur I live, the gairden is very weet, the soil is too weet.
But er it's likely just my ignorance as much as onything. |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F969 |
So every summer I just rush oot and buy ready-made flooers,
and stick them into containers and that's my gairdenin done for the year, more or less.
//I really am just a non-gairdener.// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm.//
But there's no that mony plants that grow in wetter areas; you just need to look for them. |
| F969 |
//Yeah, I ken, it's likely me.// |
| F1073 |
//Mmhm mmhm.// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1074 |
//Blogga.//
//Mmhm Seggies.// |
| F1073 |
//Oh there's blogga, yes, but er you wouldnae want a gairden fu o blogga.// |
| F1074 |
Well I never [?]had that[/?] in me ponds. |
| F969 |
//Oh that's right.// |
| F1073 |
//Mmhm mmhm.// |
| F606 |
What's blogga? |
| F1073 |
It's marsh marigold.
//Mmhm.// |
| F606 |
//Uh-huh.// |
| F1073 |
//Aa the wild flooers have Shetland names.// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm.// |
| F606 |
Mmhm. |
| F1073 |
//And seggies is the irises.// |
| F1074 |
//Irises, iris is what you caa it.// |
| F1073 |
And we hae primroses that grows in oor gairden, primroses and rhubarb and that's it.
//We're just a disgrace.// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F969 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1074 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1073 |
A braa lock o weeds. |
| F969 |
Uh-huh. |
| F1073 |
//The odd daisy. I did hae a tree or twa.// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm mmhm.//
//Mmhm.// |
| F1073 |
//But er sorry, nae flooers.// |
| F606 |
So what kind o trees do you have, Christian? |
| F1074 |
Oh well the the ones we've been cuttin down are sitka spruce.
They're not very satisfactory. They're |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
they're subject to the wind damage and they're also subject to aphid damage, but erm
but we have a lot o ither kinds, we have
er elder and elm, we actually have elm.
And we have numerous kinds o willows.
And a lot of sycamores cause they grow everywhere. |
| F1073 |
Is there any alder, cause
//alder's one that usually grows weel on Shetland.// |
| F1074 |
//Yes, uh-huh, oh yes alder.//
That's a weet wan, you can grow
//[laugh]// |
| F1073 |
//Oh! [laugh]// |
| F969 |
//That's maybe what I hae, and dinnae ken the name.// |
| F1074 |
//Then there's//
some birch, an there's lodge pole pine or,
what else do we have?
Oh right, ther- I have a mmhm, cottonwood.
Black cottonwood.
//Larches, plenty o larches.// |
| F1073 |
//Mmhm.//
Somethin you used to see an aaful lot in gairdens in Shetland was southernwood. Does fock still grow that? |
| F969 |
//Aye mind the, that's the stuff wi the bonny smell.// |
| F1074 |
//That's lovely. I mind when we were bairns,//
//du must have done it too. We used to poo aff all the thi- and you used to mak what you said was perfume, you used to pit this in a bottle of water, and that was a game, to mak perfume.// |
| F1073 |
//Mm, mmhm, mmhm, yes, perfume, [laugh].//
And wisn't it interestin in the gairden on Jura yesterday, comin in just efter the rain,
//the real scent comin frae the wild flooers.// |
| F1074 |
//Oh! The scents. Mmhm.//
//It was just gorgeous.// |
| F1073 |
//That was [inaudible].// |
| F1074 |
Just loved it. |
| F1073 |
Du took a lot o photo. |
| F1074 |
I did, mmhm mmhm.
I'm goin to mak a wild flooer gairden when I go home. |
| F606 |
[laugh] |
| F1073 |
Du can do that ootside the deck. |
| F1074 |
Yeah. |
| F1073 |
Mmhm. |
| F1074 |
Mmhm. |
| F1073 |
That's pretty good.
Well I reckon the place whaur we bide in Lerwick, I reckon that that field used to be covered and smothered in primroses, but noo o coorse it's
//aa biggit up, it's aa biggit. Mmhm.// |
| F1074 |
//It would be very fertile yonder.//
//Mmhm. Yeah.// |
| F1073 |
//It wis actually the pairt o Lerwick doon as the slets, that they used for the pig fairm.//
//Mmhm.// |
| F1074 |
//It wis the pig fairm, mmhm.// |
| F969 |
//When when wis that?// |
| F1073 |
//All all//
//Mm, my grandfaider's youth.// |
| F1074 |
//Mm.//
Mmhm.
//Mmhm [inaudible] mmhm.// |
| F969 |
//Oh right.// |
| F1073 |
//An it's writt- it's written aboot in er "Lerwick in the Last Half Century",//
//which was written by Mortimer Manson's faider when he was the editor o the Shetland News.// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm, mmhm.//
//Mmhm.// |
| F1073 |
//He wrote, it was a weekly column to cheer up fock durin the First World War.//
//Yeah, and he just wrote aa the, it appeared weekly, and he just wrote aa kind o reminiscences and stories.// |
| F969 |
//Yes, that's a good book.// |
| F1073 |
And the ree story aboot a terrible terrible er gale o wind and severe
//sea that cam to the slets.// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm mmhm.//
//Mmhm, mmhm.// |
| F969 |
//What?// |
| F1073 |
//And all Lerwick's pigs were sweepit oot tae sea. They were// |
| F1074 |
Mmhm. |
| F606 |
//Pigs?// |
| F1073 |
//Pigs, yes, mmhm. Pig farm.//
So you can imagine that were a very sad and sorry day in Lerwick when we lost all that lovely food!
//[laugh] Yeah.// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F1074 |
//Mmhm.// |
| F606 |
Well thank you very much, I think that will do. [laugh] |
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