Orkney Islands calling

[Maranne]

Hi Folks
Thoght I would introduce myself.
The name is Martyn, married to Anne (hence the user name).
We have been in the Orkney islands for nearly ten years now and have enjoyed the sense of community and awayness.

We have and old farm steading with a lot of stone buildings which we try in vain to stop from falliing down.
Our three children are all in, just finishing or just about to start higher education so we have not so far been able to get rid of the jobs.
The plot is just under two acres (mostly buildings). I try to grow an organic fruit and veg garden but the orkney conditions make it difficult. We keep some hens and a breeding trio of geese. I have kept pigs and sheep in the past but have put that on hold for the time being.
I found this site via the downsizer.net site and I recognise some of the user names.
Best wishes
Martyn.

[Wombat]

G'Day Martyn,

Welcome to the site, If I remeber the script, the Orkneys have a fairly rough climate....cold, wet, windy.......how do you guys cope up there?

Nev

[Andy Hamilton]

Hello there nice of you to join us here

Is it the orkneys that don't have any trees or is that the shetlands? I can quite imagine that it is pretty hard to grow things up there. Amazing really that we are a pretty small country and yet the differences in weather from Scotland to the south coast can be so extream.

Anyway welcome to the site

[Maranne]

Thanks for the welcome.

There are trees in both Orkney and Shetland ( locals don't use the expression Orkneys) but not many .
Most of the forest cover has been removed after six thousand years of farming.
The growing conditions are difficult but given a bit of shelter one can produce a fine veg garden although outdoor tomatoes, runner and french beans are a non starter.
The winters are long and dark but there is rarely any frost and snow cover doesn't last long.
The summers have long hours of day light ( You can read a newspaper outside at midnight in late June) which means that crops with a short growing time do well if they don't require high temperatures.
The main weather feature here is the wind with January storms often reaching 100 knots. I recall a blow of 83 knots one year on 13 June which stripped the new leaves of the trees.
However Orkney is a great place to live and raise children, there is little crime and little traffic and most folk will take time to stop and talk.

Cheers Martyn.