Reap the Harvest of Your Land An Island Parish

94 miles north of the Scottish mainland,

where the blustery Atlantic meets the North Sea, lies Shetland,

an archipelago of some 100 or so islands, mostly uninhabited.

Until the late 15th Century, they belonged to Scandinavia,

and, being closer to Bergen than Edinburgh,

the islanders remain proud of their Norse heritage.

Recently, new riches have been discovered,

supplementing the islands' staple of farming and fishing.

The most northerly island is Unst,

where locals mix tradition with innovation

to survive in a fast changing world.

In the days to come,

Frank and Gem travel to Lerwick

for the pony breeders of Shetland auction.

I can switch off, but Frank's a completely different kettle of fish.

He's emotionally attached to them.

He finds it very difficult.

If you're going to breed ponies, you've got to let them go as well.

Mother Mary gets out the power tools

to create a new space to welcome visitors.

If I have a chapel here in the hermitage,

it's there ready, and it's a witness, not only to Orthodoxy,

but to Christian prayer.

I'm very familiar with a hammer drill.

And islanders celebrate the harvest festival with exotic fare from afar.

Can I order sweet and sour chicken,

and chicken balls in batter please? Crispy chilli beef, please.

And something more traditional.

No, thank you, no.

When I come to work in the morning and it's reestit mutton,

-I know right away, and I think, "Oh no, no soup for me today.".

-No.

Summer is coming to an end on Britain's most northerly island,

and the long days are getting shorter.

All around Unst, islanders are busying themselves,

taking advantage of the precious daylight

before the long winter nights draw in.

At Clibberswick Stud Farm,

Frank Roberts, the island's resident horse whisperer,

is attempting to coax Sula, his five-month-old filly foal

into a trailer for the first time.

I'm not physically going to persuade her.

I want her to make her own mind up.

She's got to make a conscious decision about this herself.

It's just a waiting game, it's just time.

Sula is just one of four young Shetland ponies

that Frank and his wife Jem are taking to the biggest

pony auction of the year, in Lerwick, a three hour journey away.

I would try different techniques.

Swear, probably!

Yeah, it's just getting the confidence to get over the ramp,

it's a big issue.

Because it's quite noisy when they're first stepping on it.

Sula finally relents,

and the other three ponies join her on the trailer for the big sale.

It's been pretty dire with the economics at the moment,

the auctioneer doesn't normally go below ten or something like that.

Yeah, that's a severe loss they're taking at that price.

Yeah, we've seen them not even get a bid.

It just depends on the sale on the day.

This journey might be the first of many for these young ponies,

with buyers at the auction bidding from as far as America.

But making a profit on their sales is a precarious business.

Vet papers, micro-chipping and transportation costs

add an extra £100 per animal to their overheads.

Despite needing the money, Jem knows

that taking the ponies to auction is an emotional time for Frank.

I can switch off, but Frank's a completely different kettle of fish.

He finds it very difficult letting them go.

He would keep them all if he could.

Horrible.

Absolutely horrible.

I don't believe anybody who really loves their ponies

ever gets used to it.

Especially when you've seen them being born...

You learn their analities,

they're all different, each one has its own little anality.

Yeah, you get to know them.

So it's a sad day...for everybody.

Usually, Jem and Frank sell six ponies,

but this year, with prices and buyers down,

they've brought just four.

As difficult as it is to part with them,

Frank and Jem will have to sell their beloved ponies

for their stud farm to stay viable.

On the north side of Unst,

Mother Mary, the island's Eastern Orthodox nun,

is busy preparing for the long, cold, wintery days to come.

I'm just curious to see how it's going to come up.

I suspected that there was a fireplace here

because a croft house just would have a fireplace,

but also because the wall the other side had a lot of peat staining,

and that really gave a clue that there was a fireplace this side.

In fact, the stove has just arrived today,

but it will be quite big enough to heat this room,

and I suspect the heat will go through the house.

I hope the heat will go through the house!

Having sorted out the heating,

Mother Mary now has more ambitious plans for her new home.

The next job is to set up the chapel.

If I have a chapel here in the hermitage,

it's there ready, and it's a witness,

not only to Orthodoxy but to Christian prayer,

and it's there ready for people to share and to visit.

Like in her previous house on the neighbouring island of Fetlar,

Mother Mary has chosen her spare room

to become her sanctuary and chapel.

As far as I've got with the chapel, it's just the entrance,

so the door was the chapel door in Fetlar,

which I brought across, and it exactly fits, which is great,

and it's got this nice little cross there,

but you can see it's got a lot of work to be done

before it can become a chapel.

The altar, the Holy table, will be at that end,

and there will be a sort of lattice covering over the window,

and maybe an alcove there,

and a bench for people to sit on here,

and just above the Holy table, the altar,

I plan to take out the plaster board and take it back to the stone,

so it will have an archway back to the stone with an icon on it.

I'm a bit nervous about doing this, but I think I'll have a go.

I made the chapel in Fetlar myself, and many years experience of DIY,

I'm very familiar with a hammer drill.

At his manse on the neighbouring island of Yell,

with the autumn equinox and the full moon approaching,

minister David Cooper is preparing his sermon

for the pagan festival, celebrating harvest time.

Lots of people are still working the land,

sheep and a few cattle,

and we just need to recognise once in a while

our place alongside all these things, and remember the harvest.

A keen gardener, David is planning his own

personal contribution to the event.

I'm going to cut some bay

and take it to the church to decorate the church for harvest,

and then folk can take a sprig home and put it in their soup.

We can take some of these luscious bits of growth.

Aren't they lovely?

I'm no good at decoration, but I can provide the wherewithal.

For the past week, members of the congregation have been busy

decorating St John's Kirk in Baltasound,

where this year's ceremony will be held.

One of the church's bell ringers, Barbara Priest and her sister Anne,

are putting the finishing touches to the decorations.

It's once a year, and we've lots to give thanks for,

so it's not an effort.

This window represents the food that comes from further away.

It acknowledges, I suppose, how much you would think of as Chinese food,

oriental food, that we now eat, and it's so much part of our diet.

One of the reasons Chinese food now sits alongside traditional Unst

fare at harvest is the popularity of the monthly visit to the island

by the Hai Yang Chinese takeaway.

Chefs journey from Scalloway on the main island

to community halls all over Shetland

to cook up traditional dishes.

Today, they've travelled three hours to Unst.

Can I order a sweet and sour chicken, please,

chicken balls in batter, please.

Catherine Moatt, who works at the island's tea rooms,

is a firm believer in traditional Chinese medicine.

It's quite a good cure if you've had a heavy Saturday night,

so if there's been a disco or something

going on at the hall, it's a bit more popular then.

For horticulturalist Sarah McBernie,

it's a chance to take a break from the norm.

Anybody who wants to come up and feed us, it's brilliant.

It means I don't have to cook every night of the week, all year.

There we go.

Right, that's me sorted.

Despite the popularity of the Chinese food,

there are some islanders

who prefer to stick to traditional Shetland cuisine.

In the kitchen of Britain's most northerly shop,

the Final Checkout,

Charlie Priest is busy preparing an island favourite.

Reestit mutton soup.

How do you think you'd do on Masterchef, Charlie?

Oh, that smells good, I can smell the soup.

Putting Charlie's soup to the test is Ian Henderson.

Lovely, thank you.

Warm you up on a cold day.

Yes, thank you.

-Lovely soup.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Oh, I could tell a good soup.

Not every islander is a fan though.

Reestit mutton? No, thank you, Charlie. No.

No thanks, not my cup of tea, I don't like reestit mutton at all.

It's got a distinctive smell,

and when I come into work in the morning

and it's reestit mutton, I know right away,

-and I think, "Oh no, reestit mutton today. No soup for me today.".

-No.

He makes the greatest soups,

but he still can't change my mind about reestit mutton, I'm afraid.

Back at the pony auction in Lerwick on the Shetland mainland,

Frank and Jem are giving their ponies a final brush

before the sale.

The time to finally say goodbye is nearing.

The ponies are brought for breeding,

for children, or as companions for older horses,

and head auctioneer Rod McKenzie will preside over this year's sale,

which, with just 68 lots,

is significantly smaller than last year's.

This would be the least number we've had in the last ten years.

I remember there used to be up to 180, 200 Shetland ponies

and up till about four years ago, we could sell them all,

but that's by and large gone away now,

so you've only got the hard core pony breeders that are looking for

maybe a filly to go back into their stud, or maybe a very good colt.

Prior to the auction, the ponies are prejudged

in their respective classes.

Miniatures, colts for young males,

fillies for young female,

castrated males, geldings,

and mature mares for breeding.

The judge looks for a nice balanced head,

healthy teeth, a plump rump,

good colouring,

and calm temperament.

After the assessment, the ponies are awarded coloured rosettes,

which aid prospective buyers before the auction begins.

I got a second, yay!

Good lass.

Well done. Well done.

Yay!

With two rosettes, things are looking hopeful for Frank and Jem.

First and second, that's pretty good.

But, as the auction starts..

50 guineas, 50 guineas... The call for 50 guineas. 20 guineas then?

20 guineas, 20 guineas...

The opening lots struggle to get any bids.

20 guineas, 20 guineas, 20 guineas...

20 guineas, anybody?

Not a sale then.

50 guineas, 50 guineas, 50 guineas?

They won't go for less.

If you want to bid, give us 50 guineas for a start.

50 guineas?

We'll move on.

Sorry, no sale.

Back on Unst, in her hermitage on the north of the island,

Mother Mary is throwing herself into her chapel build.

I'm a bit scared of electric saws, that's the only thing,

but power tools are great, really helpful.

I find it really handy to work two drills at a time,

it makes it very quick.

It's part of a monastic tradition

to work with your hands and with tools,

and be self sufficient as well.

So all those things come together, as well as just enjoying it,

I really do enjoy it.

The chapel will allow me to celebrate certain services

in a much fuller, better way than I could in my cell,

which is what a nun's bedroom is called, basically,

but also it's a place where other people can come.

Mother Mary's first service in her handcrafted chapel

will be the blessing of the icon St Sunniva, an Irish saint who's

said to have visited Shetland on her way to Norway in the tenth century.

It's a bit of a race against time

because the blessing of the icon is tomorrow morning,

and I've invited a friend along as well,

so that's a little bit more pressure.

It's just got to be finished, but it will be, it will be.

It'll be ready tomorrow morning, God willing.

It's the morning of the harvest service,

and at St John's church, a time for the islanders to give thanks

for everything the sea and land has provided.

It's lovely to see everything on display.

A lot of folk must have come along, bringing fruit and vegetables

and so on, and have decorated the church

so that it really looks sumptuous.

Folk have been busy.

As long as the world exists,

there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest.

There will always be cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night.

Minister David Cooper is attending to another important duty

at the only school on the island in Baltasound.

To honour the harvest, the children have all brought in tins

as a donation to their local charity.

-Hello, everybody.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi!

-Hello.

# All things bright and beautiful

# All creatures great and small

# All things wise and wonderful

# The Lord God made them all... #

Most children grow up with almost everything they need.

This is an opportunity for them to share.

Yes, that's an important lesson to learn.

Now it's a scandal and disgrace that there are some people

who haven't got enough to eat, but we can help them,

and this is your way of helping,

and I'm sure that when this is being delivered to Lerwick,

there'll be a letter come back to school thanking you

for sharing your harvest

with people who, for a little while, just have not got enough.

In Lerwick at the Shetland pony auction...

20 guineas, 20 guineas, 20 guineas? Anybody?

20 guineas, anybody here?

20 guineas? No?

..most of the ponies are still not even meeting their reserve prices.

140, £140...

Bid at 140, 140...

Unfortunately we'll have to leave that, I'm sorry.

With only a few minutes before their prize ponies

go under the hammer, things are looking bleak for Frank and Jem.

We're not hitting anything, nobody is bidding on them.

100...

100 guineas! 100 guineas...

110, 120...

But suddenly the bidding starts to pick up pace.

250, 280, 300,

300 bid...

At 300 bid, 300 bid...

Eight, nine, ten, 11, 12...

The bids are coming in thick and fast.

660 on the market she goes...

660, last chance, on the internet now.

660!

We've had a pony go to Texas,

we've had another one go to Norway,

maybe one or two go to Sweden,

and several go to the south of England.

There's a lady who's phoned up there,

a lady in Romney Marsh in Kent, she's bought two ponies.

-Good luck then.

-OK.

Showtime for Sula.

She needs to sell, and at a good price,

if Frank and Jem are not to make a loss.

40, 50... 100 guineas to start.

100 guineas to start, 100 guineas to start...

100 bid, 100 bid, 100 bid, 100 bid, 100 guineas...

120 bid, 150.

150.

150, I'm bid 150. I'm asking for 180.

150 then, 150 bid, 150 bid, 150 bid,

150 bid, 150 bid, 150 bid, 150...

150, 150. 180.

180, 200, 200 in the room.

£200. Internet out.

200. Going to sell...

£200, last chance.

200.

Frank and Jem manage to sell their three remaining ponies

for a total of £565 - they've only just broken even.

There's quite a lot of them in there that didn't even get a bid,

did they? So...

We could have been taking them all home, sort of,

so it's good that way.

Knowing that Sula is going to a good home nearby

has made the emotional wrench that much easier for Frank.

I'll look after her.

OK, love.

Yeah, I'm delighted Jen got her,

that's more important than any money that you're going to get.

Oh, absolutely delighted, really.

She's the only one at the sale that I had my eye on.

Normally when you fancy something like that, you can't get it.

She's everything. She's a nice pony, nice colour, lovely temperament.

I think Frank will come down and see her,

or he'll see her at shows and bits of pieces like that.

He'll be keeping his eye on her.

Back on Unst at Mother Mary's hermitage,

a special visitor is arriving to join in her first service.

The blessing of the icon St Sunniva at her newly built chapel.

Good to see you here.

-Well, here we are.

-Welcome.

-Thank you.

And the DIY and heating are instantly appreciated.

-You're actually the first person to see it at this stage.

-Right...

Ah, yes!

The warmth...

and the smell.

The smell!

Yes. Isn't it wonderful? Wonderful.

The plinths here are driftwood from Fetlar.

Right, you found them on the beach?

-I found them on the beach.

-Yes.

-And the sand here that the candles go into is from Fetlar.

-Right.

And this is a traditional method of holding candles.

Standing them in the sand.

-So it's not just my idea, this.

-Yes.

I'm admiring St Sunniva here.

She's patron saint of Bergen.

I think she should be patron saint of Shetland.

-Well, perhaps of Haroldswick.

-Of Haroldswick!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

The Eastern Orthodox Church

is the second largest Christian denomination in the world,

after Catholicism.

Your saints we venerate as being your image and likeness...

Today, it is more prevalent in Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia.

..Holy this icon to your glory,

in honour and remembrance of your saint, Sunniva,

in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

In the name of the Father...

..and of the Son...

..and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Have you got time for a cup of tea?

Would you like a cup of tea, coffee?

Coffee would be lovely, that would be very welcome. Yes, thank you.

Come through.

Which room for the coffee?

-Ah, let me show you. Through here.

-Ah!

What was striking for me

was that I worship in buildings of a certain austerity,

but here was colour,

and the candles,

it's a joy and a privilege for me

to be able to share in something like this.

Well, I think for Reverend Cooper, it was a new experience for him,

but it was lovely to have him there,

and I think it's enabled our relationship actually,

that we have now shared each other's traditions,

so I definitely feel that we're a bit closer.

In a sense, it is a sense of achievement,

but I really do feel that God works through me,

so the thanksgiving is to God, rather than to me.

I just pick up the hammer drill and the sander and do it.

On Unst, as dusk begins to fall on one of the last days of summer,

Mother Mary has one final act of worship to perform.

It's just a personal prayer that I do.

I'm just heating charcoal, which will...

..carry the incense,

it will heat up the incense in this small hand sensor.

It's just a prayer calling for God to bless the local community,

and protect them,

and sometimes I find myself thinking how lucky we are

to live in this peaceful environment.

The coming of winter marks the end of the busy tourist season on Unst.

Accommodation in some of the island's hotels will now close

between September and May,

the Boat Haven Museum and Heritage Centre will shut its doors

for these eight months as well.

Britain's northern-most cafe, Victoria's Vintage Tea Rooms,

will be open for special events only,

and the restaurant at the old Air Force base at Saxa Vord

will be shut for most of the winter.

After seven years working on Unst,

minister David Cooper knows all too well

the enormous changes that the island faces over the months to come.

We make the transfer from having hours and hours of daylight

to having a very short day.

It's the last chance to make sure that everything is literally

fastened down for the winter.

In the roughest of weather, the ferries will run when they can,

so it will no longer be normal timetable,

it'll be when there might be an hour and a half's gap

between one rough patch and the next.

n the depths of winter,

if you've got three hours of daylight, you're grateful for it.

It means that folk are used to persevering.

There's always been a known struggle to survive.

Here, folk just have that built-in coping mechanism.

It's there from generation to generation.

I wouldn't want people to think only of the difficulties

that have to be faced living in a remote island.

People here are intensely loyal

and have open minds to a world perspective.

Unst is an island above all others.

We're the top island in Britain.

The sea,

the land,

the weather,

the variety.

Where else to be?