Crofting Matters – Shetland Black Aets: Preserving an Ancient Land Race, and Heritage Straw Crafts

Hello and welcome to Crofting Matters, hosted by Osla Jamwal Fraser where we discuss topics that matter in crofting. Over the next few episodes, we will be bringing you Crofting Matters from Shetland. Today we are joined by two fascinating guests! Eve Eunson who was born and raised on her family’s Croft in Fair Isle and who is now a designer and maker of Fair Isle Straw-backed chairs. We’re also joined by Ewen Balfour who is a crofter, quantity surveyor and also a master craftsman in Shetland basket making. We’re going to hear from them about work that they are part of to preserve Shetland’s endangered straw crafts and one of our ancient landraces – Shetland black oats – referred to locally as ‘aets’. If you enjoyed this episode of Crofting Matters please do subscribe to hear the next episode when we’ll be joined by crofters who work in aquaculture in Shetland to discuss the connections between crofting, fisheries and aquaculture in our Island communities. If you would like to find out more about anything we discussed today, you’ll find links in the show notes. This episode was produced by Kerry Hammond, and Edited by Keiron Sim, in association with the Scottish Government. Resources: Eve Eunson Heritage Crafts - https://www.eveeunson.com/ Ewen Balfour – The Kishie Maker’s Year | Woven Communities - https://wovencommunities.org/collecti... SASA (Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture) | Small Oat/Shetland Oat & Common Oat - https://www.sasa.gov.uk/ The Red List – Heritage Crafts - https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/skills/... Shop — Lois Walpole – Kishie’s and Cuddies Book - https://www.loiswalpole.com/shop/ Contact the Shetland Straw Society : [email protected] Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service (FAS) is funded by the Scottish Government, providing information and resources aimed at increasing the profitability and sustainability of farms and crofts. Subscribe to our channel! https://www.youtube.com/c/FASScot/?su... Visit our website: https://www.fas.scot/ Follow us on Twitter:   / fasscot   Follow us on Facebook:   / fasscot