back to Mainland Shetland

Woke up and found out some sad news...the gannet died last night.

Cooked some breakfast in the hostel kitchen. We cooked some potatoes, then browned them and put eggs on the top. There was a carton of local eggs on the counter for whoever wanted them...with a box for coins...on the honor system. On each egg, it said "laid June 16". I don't mind unrefrigerated eggs, but I was concerned about the time lapse..so I asked a guy & he said they are good unrefrigerated for a month or so. So I cooked them and guess what...we're still alive!

A shetland pony behind the youth hostel:












A bit of information about Unst:
The island is 12 miles from north to south and only 5 miles from east to west. It is the most northerly island in the UK. To the east, Norway is only 200 miles away. Due west is Greenland.

Robert Louis Stevenson visited Unst in 1869 and he used Unst as the model for his "Treasured Island" map,

We took the ferry from Unst to Yell.





There is only 1 highway going through Unst and along that highway we saw only a handful of houses. There were lots of fields of peat with the peat drying out.

It really came apparent after being on the 3 islands how desolate and isolated it is here and how that contributes to the amazing resourcefulness of the people here. Nothing is wasted...everything is valued and appreciated.

From Yell we took another ferry back to Mainland & drove back to Hillswick.
Back at Jan & Pete's we met the other volunteer that is staying here. Her name is Pilar and she is originally from Spain but is living in London now.

We had a group of elementary aged school children come to visit today as they do every Thursday...and we had them help build the bee hotel in the garden (a haven for bees and other insects to take refuge in strong winds and rain). Jan & Pete have gotten a grant to build a garden around the public toilets close to their house. They have titled this garden "Nature Calls"...with double meaning! They received grant money from an organization called "Grow Wild". The purpose of it is to beautify neglected areas and secondly to involve youth in the process. It's a work in progress. Here's a picture of the garden and the public restrooms:






The kids that visited the garden were really cute and wanted so much to help. The teachers invited us to their school next Wed to make a presentation to them about bees. They have bees on the island, but no honey bees.

Here's a picture of the bee hive we made. Remember resourcefulness...in the layers (floors) of the "hotel" there are used rubber hose sections, sticks, old pallets, shredded fibers from an old floor mat, and grass clippings:






and here's some photos of the very creative and resourceful garden here:
























And behind the building is the back garden where the bee hotel is:


















After that session with the children, we had a cup of tea, then several hours of weeding in the garden. here are some photos of the garden:












Strawberries under fish netting (think resourceful):





These rhubarb plants are taller than me!!:











Here's the poly-tunnel:





And inside the poly (it's nice and warm in here!):






Pilar cooked dinner tonight and it was a very good savory pie with roasted veggies. For dessert we had sliced strawberries with a dab of ice cream and a biscuit on top!
Went to bed at a decent time tonight. Big day tomorrow planting trees and other plants.

Location:Hillswick, Shetland Islands