english | gàidhlig  
Crofting in Sutherland
Posted: 29/06/2016


They have been talking to crofters about what food they are growing and how their involvement with SRDP has an effect on wildlife, income and sustainable land use. This has helped them understand more about the local landscape and general land use in Sutherland today especially the land management in relation to ‘The Flow Country’, a world heritage site close to the school. Comparisons have also been drawn between crofting and small scale farming in Bangladesh, America, Sweden and various countries in Africa and how climate change has affected all of these counties. 

A lot of the pupils in Rogart PS live and work on crofts and have excellent practical knowledge. They love learning outdoors through projects in the ‘real world’ such as growing food in their own polytunnel and what sustainable land use actually means in practice.

            Rogart PS millers

In June the upper primary pupils had a chance to grind grain to make bannocks, the traditional crofters’ bread, which they shared with the rest of the school and the nursery.  There was lots to learn about traditional Scottish cereal crops, milling grains and dairy produce on crofts.  The children plan to find more traditional recipes they can use in the intergenerational café they are planning in the new academic year.