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blackislepermaculture

We're taking our own little holiday for a few week

We're taking our own little holiday for a few weeks and exploring the beautiful places around us, lots of forest walks, funghi spotting and some close up red squirrels (but didn't manage to catch on camera..) #visitscotland #respectprotectenjoy

A birthday gift from the forest garden, our first

A birthday gift from the forest garden, our first harvest of shitake mushrooms, served with a kimchi pancake. And fresh cut clove pinks, sweet peas and cosmos 'alba'. #forestgarden #localfood

Today we're both celebrating becoming mid century

Today we're both celebrating becoming mid century classics with a beautiful sunny walk through Reelig Glen, followed by coffee and cake @corneronthesquaredeli, and last night a campfire chilli and beers with our volunteers Jef and kirsty...

This year we've finally got some shitake mushrooms

This year we've finally got some shitake mushrooms fruiting on beech logs..

It's been a personally turbulent and challenging y

It's been a personally turbulent and challenging year (aside from the Pandemic!) so we've finished our summer season for Siskin cabin, after lots of bookings, happy guests and 5 star reviews. We're taking a breather in September to celebrate our birthdays and recharge our much depleted batteries, but first we've had some help this week from volunteers kirsty and Jef and we've managed to catch up with loads of jobs that have been building up - the Yurt has had a full refurbish with a clean down, a new flue and ropes. We've scythed all the meadows, used the hay for mulch and planting material in our tattie boxes, harvested more tatties, sorted and graded all our offcuts and spare wood from the cabin builds, organised the garage and log stores, planted strawberries and weeded the forest garden, and eaten some lovely lunches in the sun.. This has got us in a great position to finish our projects over the next 6 months and be ready to fully reopen in 2022... Everything crossed...

A few days ago I posted about our Compost heap and

A few days ago I posted about our Compost heap and since Thursday the temperature has climbed to around 70c, the thermophilic bacteria are having a party...

Brightness on a dull day.. #permaculture #naturalg

Brightness on a dull day.. #permaculture #naturalgarden

Not so beautiful to look at but this is where it a

Not so beautiful to look at but this is where it all starts... Organic Compost made from all the garden pruning, grass cuttings, chicken bedding and manure and woody brown material collected over the season. We also add in our wormery material when they need emptying which is where all the kitchen scraps go first.. #compost #organic #regenerative #naturalgarden

Flowers, bees and fruit #forestgarden #organicfood

Flowers, bees and fruit #forestgarden #organicfood #beefriendly

Echinacea with bees and hover flies in the forest

Echinacea with bees and hover flies in the forest Garden #forestgarden #permaculture #beefriendly #beesofinstagram

The summer garden is teeming with life... A beauti

The summer garden is teeming with life... A beautiful place to forget about the human world. #forestgarden #beesofinstagram #beefriendly #permaculture

A bumper fruit harvest from the forest garden this

A bumper fruit harvest from the forest garden this year. Aside from eating them we have preserved lots by canning and also tried strawberry vinegar, which was delicious on ice cream with fresh strawbs. #forestgarden #permaculture #organicfood #eatlocal

Sometimes you just need a moomin brunch of oven pa

Sometimes you just need a moomin brunch of oven pancake and fresh jam (the jam was actually a happy accident as we were canning some fruit in a water bath and a few fell over so we scooped it up) #moomin

Permaculture is about looking at natural patterns

Permaculture is about looking at natural patterns and creating Poly-cultures rather than mono cultures. At our place we have a mosaic of habitats providing for us and everything else that lives here. In these pics are the wild meadow (spot the red kite in the sky), golden raspberries, the woodland and pond, the productive kitchen garden, the forage and wildflower beds on the south terrace (with more raspberries!) , the orchard forest garden and the west woods were the hens live and work. #permaculture #organicfood #sustainableliving #forestgarden

Our well thumbed copy of 'permaculture in a nutshe

Our well thumbed copy of 'permaculture in a nutshell' seems to be popular with our cabin guests. Our organic homemade muesli and granola is also going down very well, so a new batch is fresh out of the oven. #permaculture #organicfood #greentourism #greentourismgold #visitscotland #blackisle #ecofriendly #respectprotectenjoy #responsibletourism #sustainabletravel

Nice to see this little map piece looking good in

Nice to see this little map piece looking good in the #moofood flourish garden next to the village hall. I produced the artwork and map earlier in the year but great to see it in situ..

Our new hens (courtesy of Dan @black_isle_veg_boxe

Our new hens (courtesy of Dan @black_isle_veg_boxes!) are enjoying their new home and some tasty rocket.. Our hen population is now in double figures and provides plenty of eggs for us and our cabin guests #organicfood #freerangechickens #greentourism

Midsummer sun powering the house, plants and peopl

Midsummer sun powering the house, plants and people...

Anyone good at toad identification, saw this one o

Anyone good at toad identification, saw this one on the path..

In the forest Garden, Tree lupin is in full flower

In the forest Garden, Tree lupin is in full flower (and scent!) with ox eye daisy and elder in the background #forestgarden #permaculture

The meadow is full of marsh orchids this year, an

The meadow is full of marsh orchids this year, and Roses, irises and geraniums all coming into flower..

Happy midsummer! #summersolstice

Happy midsummer! #summersolstice

A morning of fermenting drinks - rhubarb wine, kom

A morning of fermenting drinks - rhubarb wine, kombucha and water kefir lemonade bubbling away

Midsummer is here in the poly cultural hugel beds

Midsummer is here in the poly cultural hugel beds and kitchen garden #permaculture #organic #naturalgarden

The woodland walk is now completed with a boardwal

The woodland walk is now completed with a boardwalk, a jetty onto the wildlife pond, a stile over the fence, and the bridge over the little burn, all finished with a woodchip path through the glades. Of course being a social media post it doesn't show us scrambling around in mud and falling over in the pond...

Hens and lupins part 2...can you get bored of hens

Hens and lupins part 2...can you get bored of hens and lupins?! Today the new flock of 7 were released to free range around the west wood, and hopefully get on with their neighbours, the 4 'retired' ladies.

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