Born in 1940 in Ardbhan, Kyles, North Uist, Ena MacDonald has spent almost her entire life in crofting. As a young woman, she left home to work in Glasgow and Australia, but returned in 1966 to help her father on the croft, doing everything from cutting peat to growing and selling vegetables for an income. Quickly, it became her passion.

After her father’s death, she took over the croft, played a full and active role in all crofting affairs and travelled widely as a representative of The Crofting Federation. She wrote occasional articles for the Scottish Farmer and Highland Cattle Society before her regular monthly articles for Am Paipear from 2006 to the present. In 2006, Ena was awarded the MBE for services to crofting and to the community in North Uist. Ena is respected, revered and loved in North Uist and beyond.

Ask people about her and they say, ‘She’s a legend.’