The extraordinary growing skills of Hebridean crofters who grow vegetables, are celebrated in a new Gaelic book, published tomorrow (Thursday 25 July to coincide with this year’s Lochs Agriculture Show.
Ailean à Baile Ailein (Alan from Balallan), by Magaidh Smith and Steven Tod, tells the story of a determined Balallan gardener battling to protect his vegetables from deer, ultimately defeating them by surrounding the vegetables with soap. The gardener goes on to win a top prize at the Lochs Show.
Magaidh Smith, an island tour guide, researcher and performer, heard the soap story from a gardener friend in Balallan, and it inspired her to write a story about the ingenuity of islanders who continue to defy the often fierce Hebridean weather to grow potatoes, cabbages and carrots outdoors.
“A Balallan gardener told me he’d put soap around the vegetable patch,” she recalls. “The deer who had been stealing his vegetables from the garden would be disgusted by the smell and leave them alone.”
The soap story, Smith says, is just one example of the kinds of gardening skills that have been passed on from generation to generation on Lewis. While polycrubs are an increasingly common sight on the island, Ailean à Baile Ailein celebrates a hardier breed of gardener who grow vegetables outdoors, despite famously hostile weather and a very short growing season.
“The book is celebrating the tradition of the people of Balallan who have passed on their knowledge from generation to generation,” says Magaidh Smith.
“They are tradition bearers and knowledge bearers and we could learn a lot from these old skills. They know what kind of ground works, what you need for fertiliser, and varieties of potatoes or carrots or cabbage have been tried and tested in the Lewis weather.”
Ailean à Baile Ailein is illustrated by Steven Tod, who has previously created a series of children’s books set on the island.
The book is aimed at local children, Gaelic learners and visitors to the area who want to learn about island traditions. If the book is a success an English version will also be made available.
You can find out more about Magaidh’s work at http://www.magaidhsmith.co.uk/about/ or contact her at
