Barbara McLeod: Cruciferous Croft

You are listening to Agri Culture, a podcast that aims to explore the stories of the people that make up our agricultural industry and culture of farming, in Scotland and beyond.  On today’s episode Mary-Jane is joined by Barbara McLeod. Barbara owns and runs Cruciferous Croft in the Lochinver area of North West Scotland.  She took on a croft herself, renovating an old building to live in, and has since started growing vegetables, finding most success with cabbages.  This gave her the idea to start fermenting them into sauerkraut to add value.  She now sells her products at food festivals and fairs.  She tells us about what it was like getting started in crofting, and discusses heritage practices such as using seaweed for fertiliser, and following chemical free growing practices.  She also tells us about the various sources of funding and support she has used to get her business up and running.  If you’d like to get in touch or find out more about Cruciferous Croft, the Farm Advisory Service mentoring scheme, the HIE food and drink tech hub, or the other sources of support that Barbara mentioned, you can find links in the show notes.  This episode was presented by Mary-Jane Lawrie, produced by Kerry Hammond and edited by Cameron Waugh, in association with the Scottish Government.   Related ResourcesHome - Cruciferous Croft Website Food and drink TechHUB | HIE FAS Mentoring Support Available | Helping farmers in Scotland  For more information, visit  www.FAS.scot Twitter: @FASScot Facebook: @FASScot National Advice Hub Phone: 0300 323 0161 Email: [email protected]