Shearing update. I managed all seven with a lot of help! That's the hoggs and the boys done. A few weeks and I'll give the ewes a bash! I've been trying to put into words what shearing today meant to me, and then this thread happened [thread]

I'm a firm believer that if you keep animals on the small scale I do and are fit and healthy, you should be willing to do or learn all the necessary things associated with it. Good, bad and sometimes heartbreaking. Almost always smelly.

Not having been brought up on a croft - and being a fascinated child, watching in the summer - I have been learning to croft from scratch. To do that I rely on so many people. I have a wonderful welcoming community around me who only laugh at my scrapes occasionally.

I sometimes fix their computers and they repay me in more than I could ever afford. It's give and take. But very few of the old guard I rely on are willing to take. Like Skippy, and Lachie the last few days, they give up precious time to show me skills and explain things.

I couldn't have made it to seven years here without them. I hear about island idylls and romantic notions. And yes, don't get me wrong, the island is beautiful and I want people to come and enjoy it to the very fullest extent. But that is pretty minor for me if I'm honest.

It means history. It means generations of knowledge and skill. People who knew every rock and every bump by names that are now forgotten. It means that when we lose an elder in the community, a little bit of the island dies with them. And I mourn more than a life.

What people like Lachie do for me - giving literally days of their time - means the absolute world. It's more than just tuition, whether they know it or not, they are helping me feel like I belong. They are what make this place home. They are a great definition of community.

I often look at the picture of my great great grandparents in the kitchen before I go out to do something and I hope they are proud. I'm proud. I've found a home - and more than that, I found a wonderfully diverse family.

So come and marvel at the beaches, the white sand, the stinging wind, the corncrake, snipe and surf, but take a moment in the beauty and remember the folk that lived and worked - and still do - to keep knowledge, language and tradition alive as best they know how.