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Food, largely home produced, although occasionally monotonous was
usually sufficient. Rep famine is seldom mentioned in Shetlandic history. The
crofter's livestock provided milk, butter, cheese, eggs, bacon, meat and, of
course, wool, hides and tallow. His land grew bere (barley), black 'Shetland'
oats, potatoes, turnips and some vegetables while the sea provided not only fish
but lamp oil, driftwood and seaweed for manure. Items such as tea, sugar,
wheatmeal, soap, tobacco, and occasional luxuries such as sweets, coffee,
biscuits and raisins could have been purchased from the local shop. Fuel, in the
form of peat, was cut and dried on the rough grazing on the hillsides above the
villages.
Meal Making
The convenient
little opening in the back wall of the barn allowed the sheaves to be thrown
directly from the yard onto the threshing floor. Flails were used for
threshing until quite recently. Some straw was selected for thatching, but
most of it was eaten by the animals in winter.
The grain, after cleaning and winnowing, would have to be dried in the kiln
until sufficiently hard for grinding on the mill. It would then be 'hummeld'
(broken up by shovels or the feet) and further processed through sieves and
'wechts' (fans). After grinding the meal was sieved to remove 'sids' or
husks, before it was ready for baking. Bere was usually dried in a kettle on
the fire and then ground on the hand mill such as the one you see in the
barn here, to produce a very fine meal called bursteen. This was a quick way
of preparing meal. Beremeal proper was ground on the water mill.
 
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Wool from their own sheep would have provided much of the family's
clothing. Yarn would have been spun and much of it used for knitwear while some
would have been made up into woven fabrics such as blankets, by the local weaver
(wubster). Only their best clothes would have been made of imported cloth,
broadcloth, serge, linen and velvet.
Money for rents, school fees, imported clothes and the few luxuries
consumed, would have been earned at sea. The sale of surplus knitwear, yarn,
wool, also animals, brought in some ready cash.
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