Just another day on the farm

Yesterday, a couple of friends and I went to Craigie's Farm just outside of Edinburgh. A lovely, albeit short, train ride took us from the middle of our medieval city out to the open farm land. 

Craigie's Farm has a little shop and cafe, and some family friendly events, but it is still very much a working farm.  With animals and produce, and even tractors!

Both of the girls I spent the afternoon with have blogs of their own. Lar makes up half the talent behind AsianCajuns (the other half is her twin sister, Cath). It's a beautifully done blog about fashion, travel, and more. Sara and her hubby post some wonderful pictures and expatriate musings on their blog We Moved To Scotland. I encourage you to spend hours and hours perusing their sites!

But not yet, first you have to finish reading this post! (Believe me, I save the best thing for last... but don't scroll down now, OK, I'll hurry. Stick with me.)

It was beautiful weather and before we had lunch at the farm's cafe, we took a lovely hike through the woods. I believe some could call this activity "tramping", but I admit I can't really use the term without giggling... Regardless, it was a beautiful walk. 

And at the top we were treated to this amazing view of the Forth. I think Lar said that the island in the foreground is Cramond, and that during the low tide, you can actually walk out to it. Might be another fun tramping excursion!

The trees were particularly beautiful. And quite magical.

We spotted a few funny birds in the adjacent field. I took the most amazing photo...

source

I couldn't guess what kind of bird it was... Possibly a pheasant? A grouse? Partridge?? When I got home, I looked it up, and I think pheasant is correct. I've shared an image from a 'Birds of Britain' site, in case you can't fully appreciate the shot I took myself ;)

After our walk through the woods, we headed back to the farm. We bonded with these little guys- cute and stocky ponies. We fed them grass through the fence and I tried to pick up a few tips on how to style my bangs...

We also met these two- the farms only 'pet' pigs. There are more pigs, just wait... but these two definitely have the good life. Their job is to cruise around in the mud and eat all the farm scraps.

We met other pigs too- like this fella.

And we hung out for ages with the piglets... they really stole the show. I could watch them all day! I mean, have you ever seen a litter of puppies play and scratch and eat and sleep? That was exactly what these guys reminded me of, only pinker and with curly tails!  So, even though it was wonderfully fun to watch them in all their piggy glory, it was also quite sad for me to know that they are being raised to be eaten. I'm really not sure how to compartmentalize this sometimes. Part of me wanted to shove them all under my coat and bring them home in an effort to save their sweet piggy lives... but I have to admit, regardless of their future, these guys are quite happy right now. And I guess... if we must live in a world that eats animals... it would be much better if they were all raised on a farm like this.

Ugh. But I can't leave you guys on that note! I mean, this is a HAPPY blog, so, I shall leave you on this little video of piglets playing in their pen. It's a bit long, and unedited, but I couldn't pick the cutest moments, because I think it's all adorable! Enjoy!!! (Oh, and it's set to music, so if you're at work or holding a sleeping baby, you might want to hit 'mute')

and now, a much earned nap with mama under the heat lamp.

Fun in the Firth of Forth

Yesterday, we ventured out on to the Firth of Forth, to see, among other things, the engineering marvel that is the Forth Rail Bridge. Built in the 1880, this bridge is one of the longest and oldest of its kind, and is the first major use of steel in the UK. It is also bright red, and coming from Northern California, I have an affinity for red bridges!

This proves that we were, indeed there...

And this shows, that we did not just admire it from the shore, but we sailed under it...

This bridge is for trains only...

So, in the 1960s they built the Forth Road Bridge. It is not bright red...

The two bridges are quite near one another.

But we didn't just sail around to see bridges, we were heading to an island...

At first, I thought it was this one, but we sailed right on by it.

And instead we sailed to this one. The island of Inchcolm, which, in this photo doesn't look like much, but is brimming with historical significance- from the ancient times, to the middle ages, to the Renaissance, to World War II...

Mostly due to this structure:

In case you don't want to follow the link, but you still want to know about the Abbey:

"Inchcolm Abbey was founded in the 12th century during the episcopate of Gregoir, Bishop of Dunkeld. Later tradition placed it back in the reign of King Alexander I of Scotland (1107–24), who probably had some involvement in the island. He was apparently washed ashore there after a shipwreck in 1123, and took shelter in a hermit's hovel. The Abbey was first used as a priory by Augustinian canons regular, becoming a full abbey in 1235. The island was attacked by the English from 1296 onwards, and the Abbey was abandoned after the Scottish Reformation in 1560. 

Inchcolm Abbey has the most complete surviving remains of any Scottish monastic house. The cloisters, chapter house, warming house, and refectory are all complete, and most of the remaining claustral buildings survive in a largely complete state. The least well-preserved part of the complex is the monastic church. The ruins are cared for by Historic Scotland."

We explored the Abbey thoroughly. Crouching to pass under arches and doorways,

Peaking through windows-

Or down into holes.

Posing for pictures together,

and alone.

We watched this handsome guy play in the waves-

And we peaked through nooks and crannies.

We climbed spiral stairs,

And took in the views-

 We thought about all that went on within these walls so many years ago-

And read the messages those people left behind. In the Warming House there are three legible sentences on the wall, written in Latin. They state:
It is foolish to fear what cannot be avoided.
The safest thing to fear is nothing but God.
Conscience overcomes whatever evil the tongue has composed.

We saw where the monks took their meals in silence.

We admired parts the parts of the Abbey that did not stay intact.

And dreamed about taking it on as a little fixer upper...

We walked over Holy ground,

And then decided to get high-

By climbing to the top of the tower.

 Where there were lovely views,

But it was quite windy...

The stairs were s-t-e-e-p.

and narrow.

We got back down to ground level.

And maybe went underground for a bit-

We explored the rest of the island, gathering feathers and looking for machine guns.

Matt wanted to go down there. Where it was steep, muddy and full of brambles. He did,

I didn't. I took pictures of autumnal island plants instead.

Matt found a bunker. Or some other war-related structure. Behind him is the city of Edinburgh. Our city.

We walked on the beach,

looking for shells and washed-ashore treasures (which we did not find, however, there are an alarming number of sunken sea vessels surrounding this island, one of which is the Cunard cruise liner,  RMS Campania so perhaps it is worth another look!)

It was a lovely day. A day of fun and exploration, climbing and tunneling, and history of long ago...and not so long ago.