The tale of the Shetland kale

Happy, healthy Shetland kale, growing in Norfolk.

Shetland kale is a type of cabbage that has been grown in Shetland for generations. I’ve found various references to it having been grown since the 17th century and even some sources that say it is, “the oldest known Scottish local vegetable variety”. Although the seeds are not generally sold commercially, crofters and gardeners grow it and then save the seeds.

Some Shetland kale seed has been collected and is held at the UK Vegetable Genebank in Warwick and at the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA) as part of the Scottish Landrace Protection Scheme.

Not only has it been grown in Shetland for a long time, but a particular type of shelter (the plantie crö or planticrub) was used as a nursery bed for growing Shetland kale. These were built of stone to withstand the wild weather and if you visit Shetland, it’s likely you will see them or traces of them in the landscape. (You’re also highly likely to spot the popular modern version – the ‘polycrub’ – used for growing all sorts of things.)

The photos below were taken by Jon Dunn – the planticrub on the right is still in use.

Planticrubs in Shetland. Thank you to Jon Dunn for the photos.

Auld Maunsie’s Crö

If you’re curious about the Shetland dialect – or if you know it – I’d recommend you have a read or a listen to this beautiful, poignant and gently funny poem about a kale crö, written by Basil R Anderson and read here by John J Graham – Auld Maunsie’s Crö.

In it, Old Maunsie builds a crö that becomes a local landmark – something people use for navigation when at sea, something to tell the time by (and to berate people for their tardiness: “The sun is by Old Maunsie’s Crö!”), and even the animals are grateful for the walls they can shelter beside.

When Old Maunsie dies (“as all of us must do, whether or not we have a crö”), the walls of the crö crumble away. As the years pass (“the winters white, the summers green”), Maunsie is eventually forgotten and the mark of the crö on the landscape is referred to as a ‘fairy ring’.

There’s so much I love in this poem – the dialect, the clever turns of phrase, the descriptions of ordinary working life in Shetland’s past, the unintended consequences of the building becoming a landmark, and the fact that it disappears with barely a trace.

Shetland kale meets Norfolk soil

One of the last times I was in Shetland, I didn’t quite make it home ahead of some weather. I ended up spending a day with friends of my Mum, on the next island to home. They were wonderful company and of course, we got to talking about growing things. I mentioned that I’d love to try growing Shetland kale.

A few weeks later, a card arrived with a small envelope of seeds! They had been gifted kale plants by a neighbour and had passed some on too. The person they’d passed the plants on to had saved seeds and passed them back – some of which they were sending on to me.

I could not have been more delighted!

The seeds were duly sown and have grown happily here (they are not in a plantie crö, but they are in a borrowed brassica cage, which keeps the pigeons away). I hope they’ll feed us through the winter. A little taste of home.

From tiny seeds, mighty kale plants grow!