On a night like this, one's thoughts in Shetland turn, inevitably (and in our case with considerable guilt) to the peat hill. Three banks cut (not by us - our friend Lornie did the heavy tushker work), half-raised (by us, slowly) and drying out so fast in this weather that nearly everyone else has their peats bagged and home.
It's back-breaking toil, with only a few minutes' winter fuel in every single turf turned. But with the new Haas und Sohn stove, and the price of oil...we're not alone in making a commitment to local carbon fuels this summer. And before you make accusations of profligate carbon abuse, remember this is (in Shetland's case) a local (a mile away) fuel and in almost infinite supply if not extracted commercially.
So to the peat hill. Susan insisted that my shorts-and-red-All-Stars mid-life crisis get-up be recorded. Fashion statements are crucial on the hill. And then she went kayaking...
3 comments:
Forgive my ignorance Tom, how is the supply infinite or sustainable? Is the peat "laid down" at a relatively speedy rate in the Shetlandic climate? (sorry if that sounds cheeky, it's not meant to - there's often unwanted tone in emails/comments, I'm simply trying to understand how it works as I'm convinced peat MUST be better to use than the coal and oil)
Phew.
Cheers,
Bryan
That's entirely fair, Bryan. I did say 'almost' and qualified it by adding 'if not extracted commercially'. Clearly the supply of peat is NOT infinite, but I see it a bit like fishing - on a small, local level, if not sustainable, it does minimal damage. Especially using traditional techniques of replacing (forget the dialect name) the top-turf (graef?) and repairing the ground as you go.
As factory trawlers do all the damage, commercial peat extraction as in Ireland is horrendous. There's a real hatred even of small-scale tractor-mounted peat cutting machines in some parts of Shetland. I think that's because there's a recognition of how necessary the careful use of resources is.
Have to say, there is a hell of a lot of the stuff here...
Thanks for the response Tom. Very interested in the "repair as you go" mentality. Sounds like good custodian-ship (is that even a word?)
As you say, in Ireland it's a real mess. I remember heading through Connemara in the big yellow bus a couple of years back and seeing monster peat stack after monster peat stack, all cut and stakced far too uniformly to be hand cut. Though I must confess to purchasing the odd bale of compressed peat briquette in Strontian when we've run out of wood....
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