My Last Night in Shetland

I can't even believe that it is my last night in Shetland. This trip has flown by and yet I feel like I am leaving a changed person.

I woke up to a wonderful repreive from the rainy weather this morning. It was bright and beautiful, just like my first day here.




I spent this morning and early afternoon in the garden with Jan. I was tasked with digging up tatties (what they call potatoes here). I dug up so many tatties, I couldn't even believe it. It was probably a bushel's worth. They ranged from teeny tatties to gigantic ones. It was fun to play in the dirt all day. Dig your hands through the dirt and mud to find the tatties.

The soil here is so rich, it's unlike anything I have ever seen. And the worms...oh my god, the worms. You can hardly go a cubic inch in the dirt without finding at least 5 worms. It's amazing. I saw a worm today that was 10 inches long and at least a quarter inch thick. I actually thought it was a snake for about 10 seconds.

This is the garden:





And this is the tattie patch (to the right):





And this is the polytunnel. It's filled with amazing things.





After digging up tattie (and Jan picking beans and peas) Pete brought us both hand made cappiccinos (with shaved chocolate and all!) They are spectacular! I am definitely going to miss those. And tea. Oh god, I can't even talk about tea yet.

After our coffee break, we gathered all of our loot...




And cleaned it up really well to sell at the Sunday Tea at Hillswick town hall.

I kind of love Sunday Teas. They have tons of little sandwiches, cakes and biscuits and (obviously) tea. Jan does an amazing job with arrangements. The goods sold like hot cakes.





Sorry this photo is kind of dark...but this is the booth. There are peas, courgettes (zuchinni), tomatoes, celery, beet roots, cauliflower, poppy seed pods, and tatties. In this photo (L-R) is Alice (a regular fixture and wonderful person), Jan, and Nancy, a Shetlander who lives nearby.

We walked back from the Hillswick Hall because it was so beautiful outside. The sky could not have been more amazing.




I spent the evening down in The Booth by the peat fire. I can't even aptly write about how warm and inviting the atmosphere is in that place. It is as though you time travel back to a simpler days every time you walk through the door. No TV, no computer, no outside world. Just the pleasure of the company you are with, a nice cuppa, and the cozy warmth of the peat fire. I could spend an eternity in that room.

For dinner we had baked tatties. The ones I had dug up earlier in the day. I only put a little bit of butter on it and a spoonful of cheese. In all my life I have never tasted a potato that good. I saved the skins for last.

As I held the potato skins in my hand, I looked down and noticed the dirt lodged beneath my fingernails from earlier in the day.

I gave a satisfied smile to no one in particular.

And took a bite.

Hard work has never tasted so good.

Location:Hillswick, Shetland, United Kingdom