Shearing seaweed-eating sheep on a remote island in Orkney
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- Опубліковано 20 вер 2024
- My parents have been farming a rare breed of seaweed-eating sheep on a remote island in Scotland called Auskerry for nearly half a century, but age and ill health is forcing them to face a future away from their island home. With so much still to do on the farm, I've left my job as a TV reporter in Cardiff, Wales for three months in order to help. I've taken a camera and some lenses and decided to make a UA-cam series to show what life is really like on the island where I grew up, and was named after. In episode 2, my partner and I are woken up by beautiful black guillemot birds and their chicks, my mum explains exactly how to hand-shear a sheep and we spot Orcas off the beach.
Please share and subscribe for future episodes. I'd love to see your comments on the series so far as it's the first time I've done something like this!
Shot on my new Sony A7C (28mm, 35-70mm, 70-180mm lenses)
DJI RS3 gimbal
Audio with DJI wireless lavs and Rode Videomic NTG
And one shot with a drone filmed by my brother, @RoryOnAir
#farming #documentary #islandlife #remoteliving #orkney #offgrid #scotland
These reports have been so lovely to watch. Your mother is an amazing woman.
Isn’t she just brilliant! I’m so proud of her ☺️ thanks for watching - sorry I took so long to reply to your lovely comment!
Hamish, tell us you and Faye will take on the island life and grow a family there!!
In many ways I would love to! But I have my own career that requires living on the mainland for now - you never know what the future may bring though :) thanks for watching!
I just found out your videos. Thank you for blessing us around the world with your life, family and beauty of nature. I'm going to watch all of these. What a lesson of peace as well as the need to care.
Thank you so much for watching and your kind words ☺️
Thanks for sharing your family's life. I'm speechless, your mum is such a strong and wonderful woman.
Thank you so much, I agree! She will be very touched to read this though (I’ll send her a screengrab!) Take care and thanks for your support ☺️
Thank you Hamish, this is an excellent record of a families way of life, and of your parents hard work.
I am hooked 👍
Thank you Graham! I just wanted to make sure the record of the way of life I've grown up with doesn't get lost with time. It's been lovely to share that with others! Thanks for watching
Thank you for sharing your family’s life on the island!! Living and embracing their best lives! A beautiful and challenging way of living! ❤️ Blessed Be!
Thank you so much for watching and your support! ☺️
I am really loving this series about your parents and their slice of heaven on earth.
Thank you! It’s so lovely to see that you’ve enjoyed the episodes ❤️
I'm having alot of conflict and stress in my life lately and I find your videos so very calming. Thanks for sharing and showing another way of life. It's kinda saving mine right now. ❤❤
This is such a special message to read ❤️❤️ thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m sorry to hear life isn’t easy for you at the moment but I’m wishing you all the best and hopefully you have some better luck soon ☺️
I am very impressed with your reports from the Island. I am grateful to Mary because I watch them thanks to her. I wish health and dreams come true for all your family.
Thanks so much Mona! I’m delighted Mary has shown you the videos - hopefully it gives her a nice bit of escapism! Sending best wishes to you too.
Oh my heavens! What a wonderful new channel for me on youtube. Thank you you for this view of Auskerry.
Ah that’s great you’ve found us! Enjoy the series so far :)
Thank you Hamish, for bringing us with you on this journey.
Thanks for your early support John! I hope you've enjoyed the series so far :)
This was the 3d video I watched. Your mom is a force of nature! My husband and I too moved to a really special place, a small town in Nova Scotia, 21 years ago. I mean, it's incomparable to living on Auskerry of course, but it's a very different life from what we ever had before. And I know we've lived in this unique house on this unique property longer than we will live here and we just cherish every day - nobody can take that away from us. Be grateful every day, work to make the world more beautiful, that's about all you can do.
Thank you - that’s so lovely. Take care :)
Hamish & Faye seem to have the skills and heart to continue. The modern world doesn't quite compare.
Thank you ☺️☺️
What a wonderful life your family have had, yes when we choose to live in such an isolated area one day we need to decamp and make a new life elsewhere. Your mum is right it happens to us all be it downsizing or relocating, but memories will always be with us if we are lucky.
So true! ❤️
Absolutely incredible, thank you again for sharing!
Thank you!! ☺️
I'm really enjoying these videos. Thank you from me in South Africa 🇿🇦
Thank you Wendy!! ☺️
Amazing to see. Very nicely made video. The sheep are so peaceful!
Thank you so much! They are very characterful sheep, and it’s great seeing them on the low tide where they look so at home. Thanks for watching!
The UA-cam mysterious algorithm brought this video series to me today. Simply stunning way to live
It’s cool how people around the world have found my videos! Thanks for watching :)
I've watched literally every video you've put out on this island. Thank you so much for this, it truly is a different but very beautiful way of life.
That’s so kind, thank you so much for your support! There’s more to come ☺️
I thought you were shearing seaweed and eating sheep and I saw those cute little faces and just didn’t want to see that at all!
😃 that would be a very different kind of video!! Thanks for watching
Quit you’re job you’ve got a real talent here some of the best reporting and farm videos I’ve watched 👍
Ah that’s so kind, thanks mate! I’m not quite at the level to quit paid employment for UA-cam but you never know! Thanks for watching 👍
@@hamishauskerry I hope to see you doing more of these videos. You should find more farms to report on and do a series on. I think you’re voice and editing is unique keep going
Have just found this series, a little late to the party….a gem!
I love the long wool of the sheep.
Thank you Beverly! They're wonderful creatures :)
A lovely watch H. Keep’em coming.
Ah thanks so much Car! X
What a life well lived. Im new to your channel and I love it. I just had surgery yesterday so I'm going to binge watch all of them. My great great great grandfather immigrated from Scotland to America. Ive always wanted to go to Scotland.
Ah thanks Kim! I hope you’re on the mend and have a good recovery. That’s so lovely that you’re going to watching the rest of the series! I hope you get your trip to Scotland one day 🙏 take care!
Love your mother’s perspective. ❤
She’s an inspiration! Thanks for watching Eleanor! ☺️
Love your series
Thank you so much Jacqueline! ☺️
I used to lived in orkney and I enjoyed living up there
It’s a beautiful place!
Hamish , what a life your parents have lived doing what they love so much. Wish they could live as old as Moses did and be able to continue to do what they love . If it didn’t cost so much for shipping I would love to have enough wool to make a sweater but I’m here in the states. Do your parents own the island. Hope someone young would come alone and take over where they left off when they rich the age of no can do no more . So glad I saw this on UA-cam. Never new they could use pet for burning. Where I was raised in North Carolina USA they had pet but I don’t ever remember them mining it unless it was for planting soil .
Thanks for watching Bart and for your kind comment! How brilliant that UA-cam has connected our wee farm with the world. Peat is a brilliant fuel! It’s used around parts of Scotland and Ireland but less and less now because there are much greener alternatives in most places (not in Auskerry though!).
My parents do international shipping so if you email my mum through isleofauskerry.com you should be able to make that sweater! Take care
Wonderful again, Hamish ❤
Thank you very much for your support!
Fantastic Hamish. Great style, content, production quality and what a lovely close family you have.
Thankyou! I’ve learned a lot technically with making this series both filming and editing
5000 years? wow thats so awesome!
Yes! Next year I want to do a video about all the older history of the island if I can. We've had local archaeologists out here in the past for a just-for-fun trip out and they've told us about all sorts of neolithic remains on the island and everything since. Thanks for watching!
@@hamishauskerry I would 100% watch that video :) sounds really interesting, is there much evidence of walers on the island?
@@SoNoFTheMoSt There was once a blue whale washed up about 100 ish years ago I think and dozens of people came from a neighbouring island to melt down the blubber for oil. It would have been a major event! No whaling as an industry round here though I don’t think - further south off mainland Scotland though for sure.
Just fabulous, makes me want to be there. Love to you all xxxx
Thank you so much for your support! xx
Such hard work…
But very satisfying! Thanks for watching ☺️
Memories of our sheep farm came flooding back watching this. I miss the farming life but like your parents ,old age takes its toll.
It does, Maggie - even when I bet my parents never imagined getting old when they started life here. Thanks for watching - take care ❤️
What a lovely way of life
Thanks Simon! We’re very lucky ☺️
The strap looks like a great idea for shearing
It’s very effective!
Thank you for the lovely reminder. Our family once lived at Crewesbreck House on North Ron, but left in the 1850s.
Ah wow! I bet they had some stories to tell. Thanks for watching!
Awesome video
Thanks Deborah! More to come ☺️
Nice
Thanks for watching!
thank you for thoses reports , I love wool, I dropspin local wool, here, south west france. I love nature, all those animals you show us.
That is awesome, et salut! We sell fleeces if you ever want to spin with the wool you’ve seen in my videos - isleofauskerry.com :) take care and thanks for watching in France!
I just stumbled upon your channel while I was looking for ethically raised wool. I love how you’re helping your parents. Thats how families were long ago, but unfortunately nowadays, too few have that sense of family. Let me get some point, I’d very much like to know if your parents’ wool is available for sale on line, or an Etsy shop? I love the natural gray color of the wool and have never seen wool like this. I would like to buy some for my mother to knitt.
Hello! Ah how brilliant that you found us! Orkney as a whole is a great community for pulling together when it’s needed. And yes, you can find all of their products at isleofauskerry.com! Thanks for watching :)
@@hamishauskerry thank you so much for the information. I hope you and your family have a very merry Christmas.
@@baldwinleatherworks and yours! Take care
So glad to see this ! I also avoid wool because of cruelty so looking forward to taking a look at your shop
So glad for documentary, so sad they can't stay in their home,sadder still it doesn't sound like it will stay in the family. Love learning how to clip the sheep and they are small enough even I could wrangle them. Guess the rocks trim feet well.Hatedconstant foot care of the dairy goats years ago on grass. Love idea of seaweed feed. Love the peek into another life
Ah thanks Cheryl! Walking over the beach and rocks is fantastic for their feet - we never have any need to trim feet which is a blessing. The sheep are small but quite wriggly! 😃 Thanks for watching
❤
Thanks for watching John!
Another great vid, awesome life experience, there's toppers you can tow behind the quad, good for cutting thistles and rushes as well. I must say, love the family island.
Thanks Davy! We’ve done things the hard/old fashioned way a long time - it’s hard to change! Thanks for watching
فيديو اكثر من جمييييل حياةرائعة وطبيعة
Thanks for watching!
Hi hamish, I've hit you up on a few different socials. I haven't watched the rest of your series yet, I know I might be late to the party. Hope you get back to me
Hello! Ah my socials are mostly on private - you can email me though if you like: hamish@hamishauskerry.com thanks
You better forget about becoming the next Pulitzer big shot reporter find a partner disposed to forget becoming some corporation big shot and keep that legacy. I bet you after this series and little more time you are to become more fulfilled than winning whatever awards.
Cheers Jorge 😆
I hope you find a creative solution to preserving this wonderful natureland.
You are extraordinary💚🤔🐏🐳🕊️
Thanks so much for watching Glenda! That’s so kind ❤️
Thanks so much for watching Glenda! That’s so kind ❤️
That is one hard job !! Just come across your channel & subbed. Be nice to know more about the past of your parents, and why your dad moved there
Thank you for watching and subscribing! There’s a bit more about the past and my parents in the latest video in this series - and I’m sure I’ll touch on it more as I go 👍
I love those pretty sheep. I'm a spinner and would love to have a fleece. Are they sold as fleece? I'm enjoying these videos.
Thanks Veronica! If you contact my mum through isleofauskerry.com then we can keep you a fleece from next summer’s clip👌
Awesome! Your parents are amazing people. I see a book in the future ???? Would love to know what made them choose Auskerry and this lifestyle, and what it was like growing up on such a remote island. Beautiful photography.
Thanks so much for watching! Thankfully my mum has been writing a book about the early years and is nearly done the first draft. I can’t wait to read about what life was like before I was born! Take care
🇨🇦👍
❤️
excellent
Thank you!!
More about your parents, their history, and family life when you were growing up please
Thank you Charlotte! The latest video has a bit more about my parents and family life if you haven't seen it yet - but I will do more! Thank you for watching :)
Such incredibly soft look fleece is it available for purchase where is it sold and is it available for purchase please tell❤ me
Thanks for watching! Yes it is - their website is isleofauskerry.com :)
So sad if they have to move 😢❤️
🙏
Hello. What an amazing video and the island. How can I pay the visit to this Island and have an experience of once in a life time. Please do answer
Thank you for watching! You can find lots more information and contact details at isleofauskerry.com
@@hamishauskerry 🙏❤️
whats is those carvings seen in the island from the sky , is it natural or manmade, i just noticed it in the google map
They are very old peat hags, cut by people from neighbouring islands before my parents came here. Thanks for watching!
Does your mum crochet or knit with the wool? I expect so, but if not I would love to crochet something for them with the wool she's sheared and dyed.
Hello! Well my mum sells knitting and crochet kits on her website isleofauskerry.com, as well as the wool on its own - so hopefully you can find something you like on there! Just a heads up though, orders may take a little longer to fulfil at the moment due to family illness. Thanks for your interest!
@TheSheepGame needs to come help next year!
It would be cool to collaborate! Thanks for watching! :)
Have you ever thought about letting an intern come to help in exchange for learning the trade?
We have! We currently have someone on the island helping my mum who discovered the island through UA-cam! So that’s cool. And there are other people who have inquired too :) thanks for watching!
@@hamishauskerryoh good!
Get some electric clippers. They are not cumbersome. It’s actually the reverse.
Honestly we don’t agree but I understand why people use them. We enjoy the calm quietness without the generators and electric shears cut the wool too close to the body and with the climate here I doubt they’d all survive. Thanks for watching!
What is the size of the island? We use hektares, square kilometers.
Hello - the island is 250 acres, so just over 100 hectares. It’s only three quarters of a mile long! Thanks for watching :)
Where is the wool sold? I live in the USA so I’m curious as to how I could purchase some?
Thanks so much for watching Rebecca! You can see their products at isleofauskerry.com
They do international shipping!
Thank you for sharing this information! My prayers for your parents and your family. I pray that someone will come along and follow in their footsteps and continue the care of this rare breed like they have.
@@rebeccadees We all wish for that too. Thankyou Rebecca - take care
I tried to place an order but I couldn’t. The message said to contact via email regarding shipping outside your country so I sent an email.
@@rebeccadees ah ok - I’ll tell mum to keep an eye out for the email!
You need a donkey or goat to eat the thistles
It would be good wouldn’t it? But my parents have their work cut out with 600 sheep to be honest so that would have to be an idea for a future inhabitant of the island I think! Thanks for watching
What scissors does your ma use?
Hello! They’re proper hand shears - not sure of the brand though sorry! I think they’re Japanese though for some reason. Thanks for watching!
Can I still buy some wool goods from you guys?
Of course! Just head over to isleofauskerry.com :) thanks for watching!
غريبة لا يوجد عندهم جزازة صوف كهربائية المقص متعب للشخص والحيوان
Hello! Thanks for watching. Actually we believe the hand shears are much less tiring for the sheep as they are quiet compared to having to run a generator to power electric ones :) and we enjoy the tranquility!
Please ask the blonde lady to not support any business with whales in captivity. She mentions their dorsal fins looking so sturdy and they are, in the wild. Orcas in captivity often have drooping dorsal fins, so you know they’re not in best condition or at all happy. Orcas killed a trainer at Sea World in Florida in 2010, dragging her to the bottom of the pool by her ponytailed hair. If she wants to learn more about it there’s a 2013 film called Blackfish, which brought about huge changes to how SeaWorld treats its orcas.
I’m enjoying your videos very much. It must have been a great life growing up there. I shall subscribe.
Don’t worry - Faye doesn’t support any of those businesses! Thanks so much for watching - take care 😊