Island Sheep and Island Futures
They survive in Berneray, in Rathlin and the Aran Islands, and then to the north in Faroe and Iceland where the early Norse settlers took them. In Orkney the tradition of communal management continues in North Ronaldsay, where the 13-mile-long sheep dyke confines the seaweed-eating flock to the shore.
And it is from North Ronaldsay that a group of visitors are coming to Orkney to share information about their native sheep – and how traditional uses of the wool and meat are being invigorated today to open fresh markets, with old strengths proving themselves anew.
The initiative for the gathering has come from the North Ronaldsay Trust, which is looking forward to new development in the island this summer, with its wool mill expanding into new premises, and a meat larder alongside it. Talks and workshops in Kirkwall will be followed by a weekend of activities in the island.
Adding to the momentum, in recent years a flock of Boreray sheep has been established on the Orkney mainland. You can find out about them too. You can learn to cook Icelandic lamb and why it is nutritionally so good. And you can see how wool from native breeds is used for knitting and weaving, from scarves and sweaters to a traditional Norse cloak that can cope with the bitter northern winter wind and sea spray.
Icelanders grill it in the summer, make soup in the autumn and serve it specially at Christmas and Easter. The sheep graze on mountainous pastures on lush green grass, wild herbs and fresh berries, which gives the meat a distinctive flavour. Master chef Hafliði Halldórsson, managing director of the Icelandic Lamb cooperative, who grew up on a family farm, describes some Icelandic ways of using the meat in the kitchen, and shows how to make cured lamb and lamb fillet with lamb jus.
In an age of technology, wool is back – taking advantage of that very technology to open up new products and new markets for yarn spun from traditional breeds of sheep. Visitors from islands along the old Norse sea-routes have come to Orkney to show what they are doing and find out about Orkney’s own developments.
More than a millennium ago, Norse settlers brought native sheep to Faroe and Iceland and began a long tradition. Its value continues today, with new markets opening for the meat and wool. Dorthea Joensen works for the Faroese Agricultural Agency which collects the wool, and also works on her own family farm. Jens Ivan í Gerðinum is an agricultural researcher, with degrees from Aberdeen and Copenhagen, and a farmer and sheep breeder and a judge in the national tup ring. Hafliði Halldórsson is a master chef and managing director of the Icelandic Lamb cooperative, which recently took part in a project which highlighted nutritional levels in the meat.
Meg Rodger from Berneray founded the Birlinn Wool Company to sell the yarn from pedigree Hebridean sheep from her own flock and from neighbouring crofts. She works to a ‘whole sheep plan’ – covering yarn, sheepskins and meat boxes, and has woven a traditional Norse cloak. Alison Gault of Belfast School of Art describes community wool initiatives for Rathlin Island and for the Aran Islands, with computer-aided design and manufacture involved.
North Ronaldsay’s wool mill is expanding into new premises, with a meat larder alongside at a new commercial hub for the island. North Ronaldsay Trust's Community Development Manager Luke Fraser describes the project. We hear about the sheep and their traditional management from the Clerk to the Sheep Court, Michael Scott. Tim Ross describes the success of the North Ronaldsay Sheep Festival in repairing the 13-mile-long sheep dyke, and Jane Cooper reports on work on facilities for meat.
