The UK is full of intrigue and discovery. It is a place with so much history to explore. My journey has been surprising and unexpected; like the fact that I thought I would be in Wales for most of my trip but I spent a week there, then I was in London for the holidays, and now I am on the west coast of Scotland. I am starting to feel a bit of homesickness, I think that is partially due to the holidays and I am reaching the midway point of my journey. That being said, I look forward to what the rest of my trip has in store for me since so much can change and happen in a short amount of time.
Currently I am located in Scotland, just outside of Tarbert: a small fishing town on the Mull of Kintyre. I am living with an artist (incredible!) in an old manor (insane!!). It has been a delight living here. My host has been so accommodating and I have so much to learn from her. She is one of those people that has had so much life experience; every story she tells me, or new fact about her past, never fails to surprise me. She also is really in to food and has been very passionate about helping me with my project. We have done a fair amount of cooking together and I finally have some nice recipe content to put on the blog! She also has been teaching me to knit (something I have been wanting to do for a long time) and giving me art lessons as I want to improve my botanical drawing. The way she lives and how she has followed her passions throughout life is so inspiring and I really look up to her.
In Wales and in London I lived with a couple who also had so much knowledge to share. They are very committed to living off grid and setting up a zero-impact space for them and future generations to live. It is amazing to see people who are in their 70’s still fighting for the future of our planet. They truly understand the impacts we are having right now as humans and that we are running out of time. In Wales we worked on their land that has the beginnings of a cabin, a polytunnel, and winter garden. I am excited to see what comes of their land as it develops further.
I learned a lot from them, not just practical skills but my host and I would engage in conversations that challenged me to think critically, it almost felt like I was speaking to a professor at times. In London I worked on an allotment (community garden) pruning grape vines and doing slug clearance. During our slug clearance we made a little project out of it by cataloging which methods attracted the most slugs and what species they tended to be. I learned A LOT about slugs, more than I ever thought I would. They’re such interesting and beautiful creatures when you really stop and look more closely. We found that the best method was to put wet cardboard down on the growing plots for a day or two and they would come crawling. One day we got about 476 slugs in a small area.
Here in Scotland, I am also doing garden work but my host is very interested in my project and has been telling me all about the local food culture here. Here in the county of Argyll and Bute, they have a pretty close-knit local food culture. With farmers mainly working with raising cattle and sheep for dairy and meat and as well as a very large fishing sector. My host’s daughter helped in the founding of Food from Argyll, which is a collective of local producers. She worked on bringing together the local farmers to bring attention to and inform the community of what they have going on in their area and how to support the local economy.
Link to their site if you want to learn more!
As I am living on the Sound of Bute, which is on a west coast peninsula, and it feels as if I am not so far from home. It’s the same winter weather, grey skies and never-ending rain, but the landscape is just teeming with wildlife and lushness. The starkest difference to home is the lack of trees, especially conifers. You can see the hills rolling on forever, spotted with deciduous trees like birch, whose branches are tinged purple in the winter. The beaches are sandy or rocky, full of scallop shells and quartz. You can see an incredible amount of detail in the winter with the lack of shrubbery and growth. You can really sit and study the shape of a tree, or see the true colors of the rocks with the dampness of the climate. Even though the winter months are often the most undesirable times to be here, I am glad I got to come and appreciate how beautiful this place is right now.
One of the reasons why the landscape and geology is so interesting here is the formation of this island. Scotland is actually made up of at least four fragments that merged about 420 million years ago, resulting in the creation of very unique and impressive rocks. The island has moved from near the south pole, to all the way up the northern hemisphere over the past 600 million years (yes that’s a lot of time, but still impressive!). During the island’s journey, it has been completely submerged under the ocean, as well as having towering jagged mountains — that have since eroded away. Due to this movement across the globe and various continental collisions, Scotland is full of geodiversity, having rocks from almost every geological period. I have only seen a small percentage of Scotland, but even in this small location I’ve observed, the rocks here are so varied and unique.
During the Ice ages, Scotland eroded even more and created the kind of landscape you see today: small rounded mountains, large valleys, and rolling hills. Scotland is home to many different trees ranging from Scott’s pines, to ashes and oaks, but today the landscape is more barren. The trees have begun to decline ever since human impacts were first made here around 6000 years ago. Areas where timber was felled tended to become mashes, making it less suitable for trees to regrow. You still get large areas of woodland, but as the bronze age and later industrial revolution, the number of trees in Scotland dipped down to about 5% at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, tree plantations have been implemented as a way of bringing back trees — mainly of Sitka Spruce, which is a species native to the west coast of North America — and provided jobs to men after WWII. This effort has increased the amount of trees in the area, but in turn decreased the amount of native woodlands. Sitka Spruces are not the only non-native trees introduced from North America. I noticed, especially while I was in London, how many of the trees were actually from the pacific northwest: Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Pacific Western Hemlock — just to name a few. These species, which are renowned for their timber, have been implemented ever since the 19thcentury; mainly due to Scottish botanist David Douglas — the name sake of the Douglas Fir. He brought back and introduced over 200 species to Britain and although that helped make grounds in botanical knowledge, the landscape both in the United States and in Britain have been changed forever.
The landscape here is evidence of a long geological past, but also of the movement of people, conquest and colonization. The English conquest had led to change all over the world. In Spain, you can really see how much the Americas influenced their cuisine, but here in Britain, their cuisine and flavors are influenced from India. Trade routes to India first began with the British East India company in the 17th century which led to the eventual invasion and occupation by Britain well into the 20th century. Their cuisine is teeming with Indian influence from the spices they use, to having chutneys and curry paste as common ingredients in the fridge. This melding of cuisine is evidence of the past, how long the British Raj was in India and how cultural aspects like cuisine were affected. During the occupation, a blending of cuisines took place in India. Recipes were adapted to how the English would eat, for instance, serving soup as a course rather than a side, or the introduction of chile from the Americas. It has been very eye-opening to learn about British colonization of India, something that was touched on in high-school but not delved in to. I wanted to try making Dal and chutney so my host and I cooked those up! I decided to upload the recipes to the blog as well!
This month has been a whirlwind! I have learned so much, even though being here was not what I was expecting, I am so happy I had this opportunity. Next week I am heading to a commercial farm (complete with sheep, cows, pigs and more!) outside of Edinburgh. Much exciting content ahead!
Some Extra Highlights!
Standing Stones! And ancient gravestones, spoooky
Baking bonanza: we made banana bread almost everyday for two weeks and tried our hand at mince pies (a failure) and blueberry pie (success!)
Burns night Haggis: (link to what burns night is)
Cats!
