I feel there is a need to explain why so many tenant farmers are furious about the LRRG's decision to ignore the many issues which make a tenant's life so difficult in 21st Century Scotland. Here are a few examples:
1. The laird's cut.
Our daughter, who is registered disabled with learning difficulties and who will be leaving school next year, wishes to set up her own business. We are working with her school to concentrate on life skills, independent living, etc and we all agree that Rosie ought to be able to work in her chosen field and make an income for herself.
We would help her with book keeping, VAT, etc but the bulk of the work is well within her ability.
The problem is that she would have to ask the lairds permission to start her business.
Our estate have a history of never returning letters, are in 'meetings' if you phone, are shifty if you email. Months can go past before you get a reply, IF you get a reply. They do not visit our farm in order to talk face to face. They do respond to a letter from our lawyer, however.
If the laird granted permission, he would then set the percentage of his cut of Rosie's business, his only 'input' being that he owns the land.
Rosie would do the work, buy the stock, put in the hours, etc and the laird would benefit from her work.
I have personal issues with some of the laird's agents. I have found them arrogant, ignorant, misogynist, dismissive and so frightfully plummy that it can be difficult to figure out what they are saying. And those are their good points.
I fail to see why anyone should have to go cap in hand to ask permission to start up their own small business and pay someone else for it.
Rosie would feel intimidated by these men. There is so much more I want to write about that loaded sentence but I think it best, dear reader, if you decide for yourself and that way I will not be sued.
I have written to several of Britain's leading business people to ask advice on how a disabled person goes about starting up a business but have not received a single reply apart from a 'Good luck' from Deborah Meaden. I was not asking for money but just how do they avoid pitfalls like being exploited, how to organise the business side etc.
We do not have to travel off the farm to experience exploitation.....
2.Feudal slavery.
In 1890, when Great grandfather Otter rolled in on his horse and cart, wife, child and few belongings, ready to begin as a new entrant to farming after resigning as a headmaster in Edinburgh, a whole new world awaited him.
The then laird, grandfather of the now laird, had a lease written up. In those days, farmers did not have lawyers and besides, the lawyers would have been close to the lairds so the leases are nothing more than a testament to slavery. the restrictions for the farmer are astounding.
Our family are still legally bound to those terms and conditions. In 2013.
The railway that we are supposed to cart stones from the also redundant quarry - no longer exists. The horses that a 'good man' is supposed to use for a week of unpaid work for the laird, they are long gone and only a few dusty bridles still hang in the bothy as testament to their presence.
The roof which was patched up in 1800, repatched in 1890 is the same roof today. There is nothing left to patch.
The original sheds still stand and we still use them for grain, shelter, sheds for the animals when they come in bye. They are tiny sheds, not designed for modern machinery like a tractor loaded with hay for example. All heavy feeds have to be carted in by hand - just like they did in 1890.
Nowadays, the laird is supposed to provide the tenant with modern day sheds but they will not do it. this is a huge issue for a tenant farmer as they end up buying and erecting their own sheds then they do not receive the true cost of the money they spent if they leave at 'way-go'.
Plus, and this sticks in my craw, they have to ask the laird's permission to spend their own money on erecting their own sheds. Usually once the new shed goes up, so does the rent as it is an 'improvement'. You could not make this up.
3. Shooting rights.
Why is it legal for a laird to charge full rent from TWO PARTIES for the same field? We are paying rent for a field which also comes under the remit of the shooting tenant. Not that we have a clue who it is. The estate have never informed us as to the name or address of the new shooting tenant. the man who appears to have been given free reign to shoot anywhere on our farm, cropped land, near the house on any day he pleases.
And we pay full rent for land which was fenced off from our best field, no compensation, no legal document to state this land was resumed, no adjustment in rent nor field in lieu.
4. Water.
To date, we still have polluted water.
In April, right in the middle of an early calving and the lambing, the farm water supply was turned off with no warning.
The Farmer and I had to transport gallons of clean water from our temporary home up to the farm, several times a day so the newly calved cows were hydrated and could make milk for their calves. ditto for my sheep.
When I phoned up the person responsible for turning the water off, merely to ask when it was going to be turned on again, this rude man hurled abuse at me and asked me why I had broken the pipe! He must have been psychic as at that point, they did not know where the burst was yet I was being blamed for smashing a pipe somewhere in a five mile radius give or take a few miles.
It is reminiscent of blaming a witch for crops which never grew or a solar eclipse happening and turning night into day suddenly.
A bit 16th century, don't you think?
There are other issues but I will write about them another time.
So, it seems if we are having these problems, the LLRG have decided that it is best if we go to our laird to sort them out. All very cosy and jolly.
When the problem IS the laird, the fact that some lairds openly break the law, some lairds are even law makers....how do you go cap in hand and tell them "Sort yourselves out, dudes?"
How do you ask for clean water when they are not interested if a) you actually died and b) the public will pay for the water then c) they will charge water charges.
and I will add d) charge rent for the water pipe you installed at your own expense.
How do you prepare a vulnerable young woman to go and ask if she can start out in life, supporting herself financially, offering something valuable to society, the self esteem of being independent, to ask this in front of misogynistic, unapproachable, sneering men?
And leave it to them to calculate their cut?
The simple answer is that we cannot approach the laird to address these issues. We are supposed to address them through a land court but this would cost an enormous amount of money plus the lairds tend to employ expensive Q.C.s who can prolong a court case and ruin a farmer.
The odds are stacked up against tenant farmers. These farmers are honest, hard working, helpful and empathetic. They are also isolated, often have no modern internet access nor mobile phone reception and are therefore vulnerable.
We are abused by the lairds, ignored by parliament, despised by the landowner's agents yet we take the knocks and persevere with our livelihoods.
You won't read any of this in the newspapers nor hear it in the news, it is one of Scotland's dirty, hidden little secrets and one which, in my opinion, is part of a bigger agenda....follow the money...
Please support Scotland's tenant farmers. Write to the Scottish government, email, shout out your support on twitter and help illuminate the problems we are facing, how feudalism still exists, how we have something valuable to offer but are held back by oppression.
Thank you.
The farm at the back of beyond.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Pulling the wool over our eyes.
My sincere apologies for not having written for such a long time.
The long drawn out winter compounded with the long drawn out battle with the estate left me feeling wearied and wondering if there was any point in trying to continue against their stubborn attitude and point blank refusal to undertake their legal obligation to provide us with a wind and watertight house.
Well, the sun finally came out, the duffle coat came off, the lambs made their entrance into the world. The sheep were turned out to grass which only started to grow a couple of weeks ago.
The fields were ploughed and sown with oats and barley, the others with grass and once all the Spring work had been done, my fighting spirit returned with a fury.
I had time to catch up with the news today whilst sitting with crossed fingers that my car would pass its MOT retest. The bits which were held on with bailer twine were frowned upon and fixed properly and the myriad of annoying but ignored bits all got sorted out. It was like waiting for Higher results and I felt just as thrilled when I was handed the certificate which announced my car legal.
So, while we were out farming and working, it appears that the tenant farmers of Scotland had been hoodwinked and betrayed en masse.
A rather expensive and dubious group of non farmers, led by an ex Moderator of the Church of Scotland (big wealthy landowners who cannot stretch the Widow's mite to Scots yet managed to build a luxury hotel in Beirut)....after collecting information on Land Reform from many sources, they, in their wisdom decided that they would not bother with tenant farmers but pass that on to the lairds themselves.
The same lairds who have done such a marvellous job in maintaining tenant/laird relationships, the lairds who like to own the land but prefer if others do the dirty work and lairds like ours who could not organise getting blootered in a bochan if they were transported in a whisky tanker.
What should our family do when we have a problem ie no roof, no water no electricity in the farmhouse belonging to the laird and his 'agent' absolutely refuses to communicate with us to the extent that he informed new neighbours to "Ignore the Otter Family as if they did not exist".
Our testament to existing on this farm lies outwith the farmyard. Our long hours of work show in the crops growing and healthy stock.
This arrogant and blinkered attitude has become the norm to these people and there are tenant farmers all over Scotland who genuinely suffer, usually in silence through fear, at the hands and deeds of rogue landowners.
Not all landowners are bad, far from it, yet the examples of good tenant relationships, good housing, potable water on private supplies, good land management are few and far between.
Not every landowner wants the land spoiled by wind farms and the subsidy which is trotted out as ' for the benefit of the community'. What benefit and what community? Let's not beat about the bush here, the money is for them, not the ordinary person.
If these landowners are so desperate for money, why won't they sell the farms to the tenants who have worked the land, sometimes for generations?
The entire land reform issue appears not to be about the people, it is about money, power and greed - and these are not qualities I have ever encountered in a tenant farmer.
The truth is, they want our land, not for farming, hell no - just import food. Cover the countryside with massive wind farms, let the farmhouses decay and build houses that the working Scot cannot afford, isolate communities and turn Scotland into a playground for the wealthy non tax payer.
If the Scottish government and the LRRG think for one minute that the tenant farmers will roll on their bellies and submit to those who have made their lives hell for generations....they have made a very grave mistake. 'Sex up' a Clearance all you want but we have learned from experience...
I propose that a proper Land Reform group is formed. No landowners, no groups with a hidden agenda. I would love to see Andy Wightman consulted, hear Lesley Riddoch's Scandinavian ideas, speak with tenant farmers like ourselves who work and understand land management and who want to buy our own farms so we can invest in the future.
The government thought they could pull the wool over our eyes.
They forgot who produces the wool.
They forgot who turns the wool into tweed.
They only saw the tweed jackets. Those expensive jackets seasoned by 'fual'.
We need to be independent of these jackals in jackets, stinking of 'fual' and feudalism.
We need to be independent.
The long drawn out winter compounded with the long drawn out battle with the estate left me feeling wearied and wondering if there was any point in trying to continue against their stubborn attitude and point blank refusal to undertake their legal obligation to provide us with a wind and watertight house.
Well, the sun finally came out, the duffle coat came off, the lambs made their entrance into the world. The sheep were turned out to grass which only started to grow a couple of weeks ago.
The fields were ploughed and sown with oats and barley, the others with grass and once all the Spring work had been done, my fighting spirit returned with a fury.
I had time to catch up with the news today whilst sitting with crossed fingers that my car would pass its MOT retest. The bits which were held on with bailer twine were frowned upon and fixed properly and the myriad of annoying but ignored bits all got sorted out. It was like waiting for Higher results and I felt just as thrilled when I was handed the certificate which announced my car legal.
So, while we were out farming and working, it appears that the tenant farmers of Scotland had been hoodwinked and betrayed en masse.
A rather expensive and dubious group of non farmers, led by an ex Moderator of the Church of Scotland (big wealthy landowners who cannot stretch the Widow's mite to Scots yet managed to build a luxury hotel in Beirut)....after collecting information on Land Reform from many sources, they, in their wisdom decided that they would not bother with tenant farmers but pass that on to the lairds themselves.
The same lairds who have done such a marvellous job in maintaining tenant/laird relationships, the lairds who like to own the land but prefer if others do the dirty work and lairds like ours who could not organise getting blootered in a bochan if they were transported in a whisky tanker.
What should our family do when we have a problem ie no roof, no water no electricity in the farmhouse belonging to the laird and his 'agent' absolutely refuses to communicate with us to the extent that he informed new neighbours to "Ignore the Otter Family as if they did not exist".
Our testament to existing on this farm lies outwith the farmyard. Our long hours of work show in the crops growing and healthy stock.
This arrogant and blinkered attitude has become the norm to these people and there are tenant farmers all over Scotland who genuinely suffer, usually in silence through fear, at the hands and deeds of rogue landowners.
Not all landowners are bad, far from it, yet the examples of good tenant relationships, good housing, potable water on private supplies, good land management are few and far between.
Not every landowner wants the land spoiled by wind farms and the subsidy which is trotted out as ' for the benefit of the community'. What benefit and what community? Let's not beat about the bush here, the money is for them, not the ordinary person.
If these landowners are so desperate for money, why won't they sell the farms to the tenants who have worked the land, sometimes for generations?
The entire land reform issue appears not to be about the people, it is about money, power and greed - and these are not qualities I have ever encountered in a tenant farmer.
The truth is, they want our land, not for farming, hell no - just import food. Cover the countryside with massive wind farms, let the farmhouses decay and build houses that the working Scot cannot afford, isolate communities and turn Scotland into a playground for the wealthy non tax payer.
If the Scottish government and the LRRG think for one minute that the tenant farmers will roll on their bellies and submit to those who have made their lives hell for generations....they have made a very grave mistake. 'Sex up' a Clearance all you want but we have learned from experience...
I propose that a proper Land Reform group is formed. No landowners, no groups with a hidden agenda. I would love to see Andy Wightman consulted, hear Lesley Riddoch's Scandinavian ideas, speak with tenant farmers like ourselves who work and understand land management and who want to buy our own farms so we can invest in the future.
The government thought they could pull the wool over our eyes.
They forgot who produces the wool.
They forgot who turns the wool into tweed.
They only saw the tweed jackets. Those expensive jackets seasoned by 'fual'.
We need to be independent of these jackals in jackets, stinking of 'fual' and feudalism.
We need to be independent.
Saturday, 2 March 2013
Turning earth and attitude.
We are welcoming the return of Spring.
The sun brought much needed warmth to the soil and has begun to dry out the sodden fields. The Spring work has begun and there is a flurry of activity around the farm.
It is gladdening to see the dreich, lifeless fields ploughed and ready for this years crop. Great pride is taken in straight furrows, tidy end rigs, a small sample of soil taken from various points of the field to ascertain the acidity and help determine whether lime will be required (it will).
The ploughing cannot be rushed, it is a slow, exacting job and one where two heads would come in handy, like Janus. One to look ahead for stones and straightness and one to look behind to see if everything is going as it should and nothing has fallen off the plough.
Seagulls appear from nowhere to check that you are doing a good job and are paid in fat worms. The red kite wheels and mews close by and swoops on tiny mice.
With some heat in the cab, a good 'piece' (sandwich), a tartan flask full of soup and feathered companions, it is easy to feel like the luckiest person alive.
Our eldest son listens to music through earphones when he helps but The Farmer and I prefer the drone of the engine; space to think, peace to try and make sense of the world around.
Two issues have really bothered me recently and whilst I work, I wonder how these issues can be resolved.
The first is the idiotic 'laws and rules' that landowner's agents tend to create. These 'rules' are neither in the tenancy agreement nor in any agricultural law yet are apparently cast in stone and Must Be Obeyed by the tenant regardless of any suffering or humiliation which inevitable occurs.
When did these tin-pot little dictators gain so much alleged power that they have become loose cannons?
They clock off at 5pm, go home to a house with a roof and switch off to the damage they have created to families. We are not seen as people to those fools.
The second issue is the law and proves that the agricultural Law is an ass. If a tenant farmer works with his brother or sister then dies, the tenancy cannot be passed on to a sibling nor to a niece or nephew. The tenancy is either lost or a Short Tenancy is offered to the sibling. So much for new entrants to farming.
Even worse, and I have known an instance where this has happened, if a father signs over the tenancy to his son and the son dies, the father is out.
The law is swayed so heavily against the tenant and pro the landowner yet nothing is done to address this. It makes you wonder if the law makers benefit in hidden ways somehow (and I don't mean the tenant seeing them ok for a boiling of tatties).
If those who govern Scotland don't want the tenant farmer to survive, at least have the decency and honesty to tell us instead of turning a blind eye to the untenable laws and uncouth feudal behaviour which is happening on a daily basis.
These words are important:
The sun brought much needed warmth to the soil and has begun to dry out the sodden fields. The Spring work has begun and there is a flurry of activity around the farm.
It is gladdening to see the dreich, lifeless fields ploughed and ready for this years crop. Great pride is taken in straight furrows, tidy end rigs, a small sample of soil taken from various points of the field to ascertain the acidity and help determine whether lime will be required (it will).
The ploughing cannot be rushed, it is a slow, exacting job and one where two heads would come in handy, like Janus. One to look ahead for stones and straightness and one to look behind to see if everything is going as it should and nothing has fallen off the plough.
Seagulls appear from nowhere to check that you are doing a good job and are paid in fat worms. The red kite wheels and mews close by and swoops on tiny mice.
With some heat in the cab, a good 'piece' (sandwich), a tartan flask full of soup and feathered companions, it is easy to feel like the luckiest person alive.
Our eldest son listens to music through earphones when he helps but The Farmer and I prefer the drone of the engine; space to think, peace to try and make sense of the world around.
Two issues have really bothered me recently and whilst I work, I wonder how these issues can be resolved.
The first is the idiotic 'laws and rules' that landowner's agents tend to create. These 'rules' are neither in the tenancy agreement nor in any agricultural law yet are apparently cast in stone and Must Be Obeyed by the tenant regardless of any suffering or humiliation which inevitable occurs.
When did these tin-pot little dictators gain so much alleged power that they have become loose cannons?
They clock off at 5pm, go home to a house with a roof and switch off to the damage they have created to families. We are not seen as people to those fools.
The second issue is the law and proves that the agricultural Law is an ass. If a tenant farmer works with his brother or sister then dies, the tenancy cannot be passed on to a sibling nor to a niece or nephew. The tenancy is either lost or a Short Tenancy is offered to the sibling. So much for new entrants to farming.
Even worse, and I have known an instance where this has happened, if a father signs over the tenancy to his son and the son dies, the father is out.
The law is swayed so heavily against the tenant and pro the landowner yet nothing is done to address this. It makes you wonder if the law makers benefit in hidden ways somehow (and I don't mean the tenant seeing them ok for a boiling of tatties).
If those who govern Scotland don't want the tenant farmer to survive, at least have the decency and honesty to tell us instead of turning a blind eye to the untenable laws and uncouth feudal behaviour which is happening on a daily basis.
These words are important:
Is there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an' a' that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a' that!
For a' that, an' a' that.
Our toils obscure an' a' that,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The Man's the gowd for a' that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an' a that;
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine;
A Man's a Man for a' that:
For a' that, and a' that,
Their tinsel show, an' a' that;
The honest man, tho' e'er sae poor,
Is king o' men for a' that.
Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts, an' stares, an' a' that;
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a coof for a' that:
For a' that, an' a' that,
His ribband, star, an' a' that:
The man o' independent mind
He looks an' laughs at a' that.
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a' that;
But an honest man's abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa' that!
For a' that, an' a' that,
Their dignities an' a' that;
The pith o' sense, an' pride o' worth,
Are higher rank than a' that.
Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
They came from the heart and pen of a humble tenant and ploughman. Those mentioned in the third and forth verse ought to take note and try walking a mile in our shoes.
How sad that the same issues which bothered Robert Burns are still unresolved today.
Time for fair reform, an a' that.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
The mythological roof
We realise that we are part of a cat and mouse game, a big joke.
Our landowner initially demanded proof from our bank that we had £50,000 for renovating the interior of his house. The letter which he received from us did not meet with his approval and it would appear that no letter, no roof.
The materials to provide a kitchen, heating, plumbing electrics; we have bought and stored them over the years yet no acknowledgement given to this cost nor the cost of renting somewhere else whilst the farmhouse roof decayed further over several years of harsh winters.
Given that the house belongs to the landowner, yet we still pay rent for the house, anyone with an iota of sense would think it prudent to upkeep the property that they own and when an article has reached the end of it's life eg a 150 year old roof, joists, wood, etc 'through fair wear and tear' then under Scottish Agricultural Law, it is the responsibility of the landowner to replace the article and not the responsibility of the tenant.
Some landowners will attempt every dodge and ploy to evade their legal responsibilities, some will demand the Herculean Tasks and on completion will dream up a new task which will also be dismissed. It is a game for them, an amusement, an act of stalling for time whilst the Right to Buy for secure tenants is debated.
We have mucked out the Augean Stable aka the cow shed although we do this twice a year rather than once every thirty years, do not have one thousand cattle nor diverted the river. We used the tractor and shovels in the difficult corners. A graip in the impossible to reach bits.
We have chased cattle which ran faster than the Ceryneian Hind, have tightened the Belt of Hippolyta to the last notch after several difficult years due to climate change, which leads to the Apples of Hesperides - they won't grow because there is too much rain and too little sun.
The Cretan Bull was rather a docile old chap who preferred nibbling buttercups and providing us with rather good calves to tearing up crops and levelling orchard walls.
Cattle of Geryon? Yup. Fed, watered and cared for them. Occasionally been chased by them, chased after them but I think we have Made Peace.
Mares of Diomedes? That is yet to come as Rosie wants a pony.....
The Stymphalian Birds; now they were a pain. Bronze beaks and metallic feathers that they could launch at their victims. They took over the countryside, destroyed crops and communities. Toxic dung.
We know them as factors and land agents these days.
The snow here is thick and hides pits and dips, excellent for trapping the Erymanthian Boar or catching you unawares when you stagger under the weight of a bag of sheep feed only to vanish from view and become flattened by the sack of feed. Let's throw in 'And Lose your Hat'and dignity
Cerberus.....the most difficult. Depending on tradition, beware the ample of thigh especially when it is ensconced in the Chair of Forgetfulness.
Be unafraid. Do not partake in fierce and heavy Frowning for no balm nor unction will rid thee of wrinkles.
Tell the beast what it can do with it's letter and foul attitude.
Hoik the devil over your shoulder like a sack of sheep feed and drag it into the daylight.
Kings will flee, feudal task setting will cease. The Right to Buy will manifest and the myth of the laird will vanish like smoke from our consciousness.
The land which was stolen from us and not compensated for will grow crops again.
We will have clean drinking water and be able to invite people over.
We have done the tasks set for us and will continue to do them but not for the Cerberus. We will do them for our family, our animals, for anyone who needs our help.
The sun might even come out.
It will shine on the new farmhouse roof.
Our landowner initially demanded proof from our bank that we had £50,000 for renovating the interior of his house. The letter which he received from us did not meet with his approval and it would appear that no letter, no roof.
The materials to provide a kitchen, heating, plumbing electrics; we have bought and stored them over the years yet no acknowledgement given to this cost nor the cost of renting somewhere else whilst the farmhouse roof decayed further over several years of harsh winters.
Given that the house belongs to the landowner, yet we still pay rent for the house, anyone with an iota of sense would think it prudent to upkeep the property that they own and when an article has reached the end of it's life eg a 150 year old roof, joists, wood, etc 'through fair wear and tear' then under Scottish Agricultural Law, it is the responsibility of the landowner to replace the article and not the responsibility of the tenant.
Some landowners will attempt every dodge and ploy to evade their legal responsibilities, some will demand the Herculean Tasks and on completion will dream up a new task which will also be dismissed. It is a game for them, an amusement, an act of stalling for time whilst the Right to Buy for secure tenants is debated.
We have mucked out the Augean Stable aka the cow shed although we do this twice a year rather than once every thirty years, do not have one thousand cattle nor diverted the river. We used the tractor and shovels in the difficult corners. A graip in the impossible to reach bits.
We have chased cattle which ran faster than the Ceryneian Hind, have tightened the Belt of Hippolyta to the last notch after several difficult years due to climate change, which leads to the Apples of Hesperides - they won't grow because there is too much rain and too little sun.
The Cretan Bull was rather a docile old chap who preferred nibbling buttercups and providing us with rather good calves to tearing up crops and levelling orchard walls.
Cattle of Geryon? Yup. Fed, watered and cared for them. Occasionally been chased by them, chased after them but I think we have Made Peace.
Mares of Diomedes? That is yet to come as Rosie wants a pony.....
The Stymphalian Birds; now they were a pain. Bronze beaks and metallic feathers that they could launch at their victims. They took over the countryside, destroyed crops and communities. Toxic dung.
We know them as factors and land agents these days.
The snow here is thick and hides pits and dips, excellent for trapping the Erymanthian Boar or catching you unawares when you stagger under the weight of a bag of sheep feed only to vanish from view and become flattened by the sack of feed. Let's throw in 'And Lose your Hat'
Cerberus.....the most difficult. Depending on tradition, beware the ample of thigh especially when it is ensconced in the Chair of Forgetfulness.
Be unafraid. Do not partake in fierce and heavy Frowning for no balm nor unction will rid thee of wrinkles.
Tell the beast what it can do with it's letter and foul attitude.
Hoik the devil over your shoulder like a sack of sheep feed and drag it into the daylight.
Kings will flee, feudal task setting will cease. The Right to Buy will manifest and the myth of the laird will vanish like smoke from our consciousness.
The land which was stolen from us and not compensated for will grow crops again.
We will have clean drinking water and be able to invite people over.
We have done the tasks set for us and will continue to do them but not for the Cerberus. We will do them for our family, our animals, for anyone who needs our help.
The sun might even come out.
It will shine on the new farmhouse roof.
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Monochrome farm
Saturday, 26 January 2013
Melting the sna' wi rage.
Hello from a very Narniaesque farm at the Back of Beyond!
The sun is making a brave attempt to shine and no doubt I will be tempting fate as the washing has been hung out and the windows opened to air the house.
Not that it needs the extra air; it is freezing in here despite the fire being lit.
"Cauld, cauld barn o' a hoose" according to our farming neighbour who used to live here before I moved in.
He drove down to feed his cattle and 'melt the sna' wi rage'. He had been sworn at for 'blocking the road' because he was in a tractor pulling a load of turnips for feeding his cattle; not just sworn at but shouted at and gesticulated to. He was also brandishing a copy of The Scottish Farmer and was incandescent with fury at the headline that the Absolute Right to Buy (our own tenant farms) was not an option, according to the NUF and Land Agency (as they are calling themselves this week).
Our neighbour was stabbed during the 'Night of the Long Knives' when lairds appeared at doors before midnight, demanding that the farmers sign their tenancies away, some lairds threatened violence. Many tenants lost their farms as a result of the debacle despite a long and complex legal fight.
Our laird never bothered but his did. He only has a few years left to farm here then that is it.
"Every tenant that I know wants the right to buy" he said. He mixes with many farmers as he always attends marts, roups and other social events (unlike us) so he keeps up to date with many.
I felt that the article was disinformation, designed to kick the last vestiges of morale away from the tenant. The NUF were always a useless union, in my opinion, slow, inept and predominately male....reminiscent of a fushionless, expensive bull who never performs.
I won't start on the opinion of the Scottish Tenant Farmer's Association...like a farm collie who has lost it's teeth and bark then become fat and complacent. Great for a lap dog, useless when you need the fighting powers of a rottweiler.
For the record, every single tenant farmer that we know wants the right to buy their own farm. We are sick of the oppressive and useless lairds, tired of bullying land agents and disillusioned by hopeless representatives.
Tenant farming needs to be recognised. It is our culture, way of life yet we are being slowly smothered and killed off by stealth.
We would thrive, given the chance. We would improve our own farms (as we already do due to landowners shirking their responsibilities). We manage to keep our faces clean through sheer hard work and long hours whilst the landowners grow fat from the cream of our travail.
Again, how many professions would have to produce a written letter from their banks demanding that they prove they have £50,000 in the bank to renovate someone else's house?
No wonder the snow is melting rapidly around here. The rage is palpable.
Yesterday, the snow was waist deep in places as I did the evening feed and check of my flock. The land around had vanished as there was a complete whiteout yet the work had to be done, regardless.
I can thole a whiteout but not a whitewash.
The sun is making a brave attempt to shine and no doubt I will be tempting fate as the washing has been hung out and the windows opened to air the house.
Not that it needs the extra air; it is freezing in here despite the fire being lit.
"Cauld, cauld barn o' a hoose" according to our farming neighbour who used to live here before I moved in.
He drove down to feed his cattle and 'melt the sna' wi rage'. He had been sworn at for 'blocking the road' because he was in a tractor pulling a load of turnips for feeding his cattle; not just sworn at but shouted at and gesticulated to. He was also brandishing a copy of The Scottish Farmer and was incandescent with fury at the headline that the Absolute Right to Buy (our own tenant farms) was not an option, according to the NUF and Land Agency (as they are calling themselves this week).
Our neighbour was stabbed during the 'Night of the Long Knives' when lairds appeared at doors before midnight, demanding that the farmers sign their tenancies away, some lairds threatened violence. Many tenants lost their farms as a result of the debacle despite a long and complex legal fight.
Our laird never bothered but his did. He only has a few years left to farm here then that is it.
"Every tenant that I know wants the right to buy" he said. He mixes with many farmers as he always attends marts, roups and other social events (unlike us) so he keeps up to date with many.
I felt that the article was disinformation, designed to kick the last vestiges of morale away from the tenant. The NUF were always a useless union, in my opinion, slow, inept and predominately male....reminiscent of a fushionless, expensive bull who never performs.
I won't start on the opinion of the Scottish Tenant Farmer's Association...like a farm collie who has lost it's teeth and bark then become fat and complacent. Great for a lap dog, useless when you need the fighting powers of a rottweiler.
For the record, every single tenant farmer that we know wants the right to buy their own farm. We are sick of the oppressive and useless lairds, tired of bullying land agents and disillusioned by hopeless representatives.
Tenant farming needs to be recognised. It is our culture, way of life yet we are being slowly smothered and killed off by stealth.
We would thrive, given the chance. We would improve our own farms (as we already do due to landowners shirking their responsibilities). We manage to keep our faces clean through sheer hard work and long hours whilst the landowners grow fat from the cream of our travail.
Again, how many professions would have to produce a written letter from their banks demanding that they prove they have £50,000 in the bank to renovate someone else's house?
No wonder the snow is melting rapidly around here. The rage is palpable.
Yesterday, the snow was waist deep in places as I did the evening feed and check of my flock. The land around had vanished as there was a complete whiteout yet the work had to be done, regardless.
I can thole a whiteout but not a whitewash.
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