Successful applicant of the Creative Shetland Commissioning Fund, Aidan Nicol, has written a fantastic blog post about her project, O Da Bog, in celebration of World Bog Day.
Bog Day is "an annual event, in celebration of bogs, fens, swamps & marshes is an opportunity to raise awareness of peatlands – the benefits they provide, the threats they face and the ways we can all help protect them".
It felt very fitting to share this blog post on the same day!
"This World Bog Day (27th July) we wanted to tell you a bit about our Shetland Arts Creative Shetland Commissioning funded project ‘O Da Bog’!
‘O Da Bog’ is an edible-art, film and sound collaboration offering a tasty and interactive experience of the cultural and environmentally significant features of blanket bogs in Shetland.
Filmmaker/creative producer Aidan Nicol and storyteller/baker Jenny Watt are leading the project and will be heading out on seasonal field trips throughout the year with sound artist Daniel Clark, filmmaker Logan Nicolson, textile artist Harry Whitham and musical/production support from Alice Ritch and Jonathan Ritch with the support of the Shetland Amenity Trust, Bigton Collective and RSPB.
Taking inspiration from these field trips, the artists will create short films, textiles, soundscapes and edible-art pieces (cakes) which playfully communicate the unique environment, big picture climate science and special landscape features of bogs in Shetland - translating dense scientific data into digestible narratives.
The created artworks will be showcased in an immersive installation at Hymhus (28 - 30th November) and a ‘bog themed’ Sunday Teas (30th November) at the Bigton Hall – where you can sample all the bog inspired cakes and enjoy performed stories o da bog!"
"Our project, O Da Bog, got started in April when we visited the Amenity Trust’s peatland restoration site at Girlsta with Sue White and Ash Tavener, Shetland’s Peatland Action Officers (read more about their work: Peatland ACTION | Shetland Amenity Trust).
With our wellies on, we got to measuring the depth of the peat at the site. At 6 metres down we were still going, which means this particular area of peatland has been layering up for over 6,000 years!
Sue and Ash introduced us to some of the many mosses that make up the eco-system of the bog at this time of year. Sphagnum is the star of the show, with its ability to hold huge quantities of water, exceptional carbon storage abilities and its antiseptic properties, which has even seen it gathered for bandage dressings. Is there anything this moss can’t do?
The array of unusual and exceptional plant life found in blanket-bogs, as well as the textures of the habitats we walked across, will be the inspiration for cakes created by Jenny (Food with Filska) who also spent time on our field trip foraging for edible seasonal plants and berries. Marshmallow sphagnum moss treats are sure to be on the menu!
This July, for our Summer field trip, Sue from the Amenity Trust took us out to Tingon in North Mavine, another of Shetland’s multiple SAC bogs (special areas of conservation). Joining us was Daniel Clark, sound artist, who spent his day fishing for noises in the networks of bog pools. Daniel will create a unique soundscape o da bog using sounds gathered, including some strange underground laughter we heard on this trip (Trows surely), that will surround you at Hymhus.
In the Summer, the blanket bog was teeming with tiny Sundews – red, sun-shaped plants that trap insects in sticky-syrup – and butterwort (Ostin gorse), which has been used to make soft cheese or skyr, and is known as a good luck charm.
Filmmakers Aidan and Logan spent a lot of time crouching, lying down, and getting eye-level with the bog to get their cameras up close to the intricate patterns and textures, which were often reminiscent of under-water corals.
The most amazing thing we’ve uncovered so far is how much colour and life can be found in these inner landscapes of Shetland, and equally how fragile these habitats are. Sue explained that even a footprint in the bog can take up to 25 years to recover. Although peatland only makes up about three percent of the world's land mass, it holds a third of the planet's carbon – twice as much as all of the world's forests!"
"As we’ve been delving into the cultural significance of bogs in Shetland, we’ve come across ways in which crofters made use of the bogs’ high acidity to preserve dairy, which was highly valuable and even used to pay taxes, so we were inspired to try burying some bog butter of our own.
With permission from crofter Steve Johnson, we set about burying 6 bundles of Shetland Dairies Butter at the Girlsta site, all wrapped in cotton cloth donated by Loose Ends and wool donated by the Shetland Wool Company. Following our research, we were aiming to get the butter 1meter deep, but our arms could only reach so far… and this was messy work.
We planted the butter in locations of varying acidity at 700cm (700 years!) depth, with marker buoys tied to them to avoid the age-old problem of losing your buried butter.
We’ll uncover these in November to taste-test and see the results. Don’t worry - it’s not likely this butter will make its way into our Sunday Teas spread!"
"Next up for O Da Bog is a final Autumn field trip out to Lumbister in Yell, before we start to bring all of the footage together for editing and get going in the test kitchen with our recipe ideas!
Getting to know a part of Shetland we’ve not spent much time in has been a privilege, and exploring this through our creative mediums has given us a whole new perspective on these amazing habitats.
We hope by joining us in November, you might see bogs in a new light too!"
You can follow the latest project updates on Instagram: @foodwithfilska
Thanks to Shetland Arts' Creative Shetland Commissioning Fund, Bigton Collective and Shetland Amenity Trust for supporting this project.
