Many hands make a croft: The 'community currency' keeping Skye's crofts alive

He talks about the neighbour who helped them get started, the crofter who passed on their first flock of Hebridean sheep, and the people who turn up when livestock need gathered or a fence needs repaired.

It is what Jake smiles and describes as the “community currency” of crofting: not a burden, but the unwritten understanding that if someone needs a hand, you help. That spirit has been central to Jake and his wife Leaf’s journey at Dun Flashadder Cottage Croft on the Isle of Skye.

Seven years ago, their journey began with 30 Hebridean sheep and a handful of fields to graze. Today, the croft is home to around 160 sheep, six rare breed Mangalitsa pigs, an orchard of around 1,000 fruit trees, blueberries, wool products made from their own flock, a butchery and self-catering accommodation.

For Jake and Leaf, each addition has been about creating a more resilient business. "Crofting has always been about adapting,” Jake says. “For many crofters, it’s not just about one thing anymore. You have to find ways to make it work.”

It's a reality many other crofters face, with 92 percent saying additional income is needed for crofting to remain viable.

Despite everything they have built, Jake is quick to play down his own expertise. “We’re learning crofters,” he says.

The best piece of advice he has ever received is one that has shaped their approach to the challenges and opportunities of crofting.

“You win or you learn.”

That mindset has shaped how they work with the land. Rather than trying to make the land fit their ambitions, Jake and Leaf have allowed the landscape to shape their decisions.

Their Hebridean sheep suit the rough grazing available and help improve biodiversity through careful rotational grazing. Their Mangalitsa pigs were introduced to tackle stubborn bracken on steep slopes where machinery cannot safely operate.

The pigs have not solved every challenge, Jake admits with a laugh, but they have created something else entirely: exceptional pork and one of Skye's most sought-after products, homemade pork scratchings.

"Crofting has always been about working with the land rather than against it," he says. “When you think that around 10 per cent of Scotland’s land is managed by crofters, it shows the scale of that responsibility. The aim is to produce good food while leaving the land in a better place for the next generation.”

The same thinking shapes every part of their croft.

Earlier this year, Jake and Leaf took on management of a mature orchard containing around 1,000 fruit trees. Alongside it sit rows of blueberries, with plans to bring bees back to pollinate the orchard and surrounding land.

For them, it is not about creating separate enterprises. It is about building something connected, where livestock, trees, visitors, food and the wider community all play a role.

That philosophy extends beyond the croft itself. Jake talks often about the importance of “bringing people along with them”, sharing the realities of crofting through social media, school visits, workshops and conversations around their kitchen table.

As co-vice Chair of NFU Scotland's Crofters Committee, he is conscious that the future of crofting depends on recognition of its wider contribution.

"Crofting is not just about food production. It's about people, communities and keeping these places alive. And when you look at the numbers, the contribution is remarkable. Crofts generate £588 million for Scotland's economy every year, support more than 30,000 jobs, and around 80 per cent of that wealth stays right here in crofting communities."

For Jake, these figures reflect what he sees every day: crofting supporting local businesses, creating employment and helping sustain communities in some of Scotland’s most remote areas.

But these wider benefits depend on croft businesses being economically sustainable. And crofting is rarely a single income stream. In Jake’s case, the croft is balanced alongside full-time work as a self-employed insurance agent, family life and the practical demands of island living. The crofting happens in the margins of time: early mornings before work, evenings, weekends and annual leave.

When asked what it is like feeding livestock before heading off to work on a winter morning, Jake smiles with characteristic understatement.

“Yeah, it’s not very nice.”

It is a simple answer, but one that captures the dedication required. Add in long journeys to abattoirs and butchers, transport costs and the complexity of navigating crofting legislation, and the commitment behind building a sustainable croft becomes clear.

Yet what keeps them going is the same thing that helped them start: the people around them.

“If we need help, we know people will be there, and I hope they know we’d do exactly the same for them,” Jake says.

Jake and Leaf’s story is about more than one croft on Skye. It's a reminder that that behind the figures are people building businesses, creating jobs and keeping some of Scotland's most fragile rural communities alive.

It also captures the future of crofting: businesses that adapt, diversify and innovate, while never taking for granted the community currency at its heart. That is, after all, one of the greatest strengths of Scotland’s rural economy.

Many hands, indeed, make a croft.

Megan Williams is Editor of Scottish Farming Leader