Crofting
08 August 2013 | Hebrides
Vicki
What is crofting you ask? After the Clearance, the remaining farmers were still being moved around on the whim of the landlord. The farmers formed a movement and had crofting legislation passed in the 1880's that protected their right to remain on the land they were farming, even though they did not own it. Today, they are still protected, and now much of the land is in a national land trust. The crofters pay rent and are allowed to live and farm on the land. Up to recent times many of the women would make money by weaving, the famous Scottish tweed. Today most of the families have a least one wage earner. There are 18,000 crofters, and no new crofts are allowed. The picture is of a croft family home. Unlike our Amish, you can tell by the wind generator, that they do use modern conveniences. But it is still a hard and solitary life on some of the islands.