Lighthouse Letters
By Sharma Krauskopf




This is an article by Sharma Krauskopf from Michigan who fell in love with Scotland - and decided to buy a lighthouse keepers' cottage at Eshaness, a remote location in Shetland, in the far north of Scotland and live there each winter. These pages were previously part of the "Scottish Radiance e-magazine Web site which was created by Sharma.


The Window Gardener


Before I lived in Scotland at the lighthouse I always wondered why everyone had so many plants in their windows. Now I know - especially if you live at an exposed place like a lighthouse. The reason is simply that the weather is so unpredictable. If you want to grow flowers the safest place to grow them is on the windowsill.

When I moved into Eshaness the only place I had for pots of flower was on the shelf above the kitchen sink. It was not too long until I had that shelf full of herbs, my lemon, and apple trees that I had grown from seeds.

Because the walls of this David A Stevenson engineered lighthouse are three feet thick if you can get a board across the recess you have a natural spot for flowerpots. It was not too long until I had placed shelves in the main room and my office. This gave me plenty of flower space - or so I thought at the time. Pretty soon I had those windows full of all kinds of things. I then moved to putting small pots on the little shelf where the two parts of the windows came together.



Now with all the possible windows space containing something growing on it, I am no longer a frustrated gardener but a successful window gardener. The plants I am the most proud of are the spring bulbs I forced by putting them in the refrigerator for a couple of months and then on the shelves and my rosemary, parsley, chives, and dill grown from seeds. You can see these in the pictures provided.

Just in case my flowers die, the lighthouse caretaker got us beautiful tulips with fairy lights in them so I have beautiful flower all year round. I have placed them in the front window to greet all visitors.

Sharma


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