I've been lucky enough to visit Barra regularly over the years but the most recent visit, to celebrate my birthday, was unusual in that it took place in mid-summer. Cue fresh langoustines, oysters, monkfish; foraged cockles from the famous beach, made into a bisque; fresh eggs from a neighbouring smallholding; broad beans, courgette flowers, fabulous salad leaves; herbs and flowers; homemade sourdough bread - and more. Some of it we foraged ourselves, some we purchased at the community store Buth Bharraigh, or from the community gardening project in North Bay and we got our langoustine and monkfish from Barratlantic. (We did go foraging for razor clams but couldn't catch the tides.) Here I've put together a visual record of my photographs from the most southerly of the Outer Hebridean islands to save you listening to me further waxing lyrical about the joys and possibilities of self-sufficiency...

Ice-cubes made with foraged borage flowers