The SCF has called on the Scottish Government to create more crofts throughout Scotland, and so, from the SCF’s perspective, what you are embarking on in Leith is a great example of citizens not waiting for Government but getting on and doing it for ourselves.

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People taking collective action for a more sustainable agriculture and food production, and for more equitable access to land. This is the same principle that the people of Braes and elsewhere in the Highlands and Islands upheld in the land risings of the 1880s – without collective action based on this principle, crofting tenure would never have been created in the first place.

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Your new croft on Leith Links, as well as the existence of an old croft, ‘croft an righ’, only a few hundred yards away from you, also raises the important question of who crofting belongs to.

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We have long believed that crofting is the positive way forward and that it contains the seeds of a better food and social system, not only for the Highlands and Islands but for all of Scotland. It is very good to see that view being put into action in Scotland’s capital.

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Cuir do mhuinghin san talumh – cha do dh’fhag e falamh riamh thu.
Put your trust in the earth, it’ll never let you down. – Gaelic proverb