Lynn Cassells - Our Wild Farming Life: Adventures on a Scottish Highland Croft

I raced through this beautiful story with mounting awe and excitement. What Lynn and Sandra have achieved on their croft in Scotland is a miracle of rebirth on land that most would have considered beyond hope. Their success is testament to the wisdom of working with nature rather than battling against it and their pragmatism, honesty and openness to new and old ideas shines through on every page. I hope it inspires legions of new farmers.

ISABELLA TREE, author of Wilding

Full of refreshing honesty and a burning passion to reconnect food, communities and nature, what Lynn and Sandra have achieved is nothing short of incredible. These two are the real deal; humble pioneers during a critical time working selflessly to empower others. Lynbreck Croft is the embodiment of how humans should approach food production, and this book serves as an invaluable resource for anybody who has an interest in a regenerative future.

HUW RICHARDS, author of The Vegetable Growers Handbook

The inspiring story of two courageous women who took the leap and embraced a whole new way of life. Lynn and Sandra, I salute you!

KATE HUMBLE, broadcaster and author of Home Cooked

This is a story that needed to be told. I defy anyone to be in the presence of Lynn and Sandra for ten minutes and not come away inspired and with a smile.

I know I did.

Arriving in the Highlands with a dream and very little else apart from determination, enthusiasm, passion, warmth and humility.

Not afraid to learn from mistakes and to seek help and advice.

The Highlands can be a welcoming place, but you have to earn it. Folk here wont beat a path to your door unless you leave it wide open.

And they did it. Neighbours embraced their dream and wanted to make it happen. To be a part of it. The gift of a cow. The gift of fuel. The gift of thousands of years of experience, knowledge and a love for the land.

Its not often a story is greeted so positively across the Scottish media. Cynical journalists may have greeted the couples arrival with a degree of scepticism, but now colleagues are full of nothing but praise for two ladies who took Scotland by storm and made it a better place.

EUAN MCILWRAITH, BBC TV and Radio presenter

Many of us dream of going back to the land. Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer have made it happen. In this inspirational, honest and quietly revelatory book they show how farming is not a lifestyle fantasy but a way of living, working and eating that is in partnership with the land, the community, animals and each other. This is not a step back but the key to all our futures.

PATRICK BARKHAM, author of Wild Child

OUR WILD FARMING LIFE

Adventures on a Scottish Highland Croft

LYNN CASSELLS AND SANDRA BAER

Chelsea Green Publishing

White River Junction, Vermont

London, UK

Copyright 2022 by Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

All photographs copyright 2022 by Sandra Angers-Blondin.

Commissioning Editor: Jonathan Rae

Project Manager: Patricia Stone

Developmental Editor: Muna Reyal

Copy Editor: Susan Pegg

Proofreader: Nikki Sinclair

Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.

First printing February 2022.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 122 23 24 25 26

ISBN 978-1-64502-070-7 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-64502-165-0 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-64502-071-4 (ebook) | ISBN 978-1-64502-072-1 (audio book)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cassells, Lynn, 1978- author. | Baer, Sandra, 1983- author.

Title: Our wild farming life : adventures on a Scottish highland croft /Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer.

Description: White River Junction, Vermont : Chelsea Green Publishing,[2022]

Identifiers: LCCN 2021056924 (print) | LCCN 2021056925 (ebook) | ISBN 9781645021650 (paperback) | ISBN 9781645020707 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781645020714 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Cassells, Lynn, 1978- | Baer, Sandra, 1983- | Farm LifeScotlandHighlands. | FarmersScotlandHighlandsBiography. | CroftsScotlandHighlands. | Farms, SmallScotland.

Classification: LCC S522.G7 C37 2022 (print) | LCC S522.G7 (ebook) | DDC 630.9411/5dc23/eng/20211202

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056924

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056925

Chelsea Green Publishing

85 North Main Street, Suite 120

White River Junction, Vermont USA

Somerset House

London, UK

www.chelseagreen.com

To Elaine, Ueli, Brian, Maree and Clare

We never meant to be farmers.

It was a warm, sunny late-summers day as we drove down the bumpy stone track and had our first experience of the Lynbreck view. The vast expanse of the heather-carpeted valley floor merging into the Scots pines of Abernethy Forest, then slowly climbing the lower slopes of the granite hills behind, with Cairn Gorm the mountain that lends its name to the whole range taking centre stage, was something wed never forget.

The sales brochure had described Lynbreck Croft as: A rare opportunity to purchase an attractive registered croft located within the Cairngorms National Park, extending to 150 acres and enjoying a spectacular setting with its mixed topography and stunning views to the south into the heart of the Cairngorm mountains, there is a great deal of potential to further develop the property and enhance its amenity, agricultural and woodland appeal.

Stunning doesnt even come close to describing the view. On that day in August, there was a slight haze in the air, making the expanse before us gently vibrate. The haze gave everything a soft edge and it felt as if we were looking at a watercolour painting or chalk drawing.

We were met by the owner and, after a quick tour of the small wooden cabin that comprised the living space, we set off to explore the land. After an hour or so of wandering through fields and woodland, we finally stopped on the side of a hill, collapsing into a springy mat of flowering purple heather and taking in deep breaths of Highland air, which filled our nostrils and lungs with the intense floral aroma that was all around us. Here, we realised that this was the land where we wanted our life story to unfold.

I was lucky to grow up on the edge of a medium-sized town in Northern Ireland, where I was out from dawn to dusk, playing with friends, exploring the local countryside, building dens and racing down the hill at the front of our house as fast as I could on my skateboard.

Looking back, it was a wild and free existence, and I would delve into my own imagination to create daily adventures that involved flying into space with my sister from our coal bunker or fighting off an army of invaders from my friend Timothys tree house.

As I matured into my teenage years in the nineties, I experienced some of the worst of the Troubles, living in a part of the province that was called the murder triangle. I had friends who had lost parents in a spate of what we called tit for tat killings that went on for years between warring Irish nationalists and British unionists. It was normal to be in bomb scares or to hear bombs going off: the sound of a deep, heavy reverberating thud that would sometimes make the ground shake as the violent tremor vibrated in ripples through the air.