23 April, 2020

footing the turf

was a back-breaking job and involved placing five or six sods of turf upright and leaning against each other. Finally, the turf was brought home and stored in sheds or ricks. In the midlands and the West of Ireland, the tradition of using turf or peat as fuel has continued in many homes.


35 comments:

  1. Interesting, I´ve never heard of this! Just what did we learn at school? Nothing!
    Thank you for finally teaching ;-)
    Another sunny day here, have a good one, Bill!

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  2. I didn't know if they are dehydrated you can burn it in the stove!
    Thank for sharing!
    Have a nice day, Bill!

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  3. And the turf is still in use?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, there are some folks that still use it and do this work every year.

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  4. That's a job I'm happy to leave to someone else!

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  5. That's a big job and I've heard of it being used as fuel.

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  6. I've often wondered how well peat served as a fuel.

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  7. I have seen that on our trip of 2014.

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  8. ...something that I've heard of, but have never seen.

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  9. Good plan, burn the earth. Let's have a little more pollution. Maybe throw the sewage out the window too!

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  10. Backbreaking work indeed!
    Thank you for sharing Bill...I am amazed that this is still a way of life for some ☕

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  11. More history caught in photos. Well done, Bill.

    God bless.

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  12. Seems like a good alternative to wood burning stoves, which are still used here in the mountains, and somehow the trees for this purpose aren't ever missed. Now the ones cut to make toilet paper...another story.

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  13. Gosh that looks like hard work Bill 😱

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  14. I wonder how efficient it is a s a fuel source, Bill?

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  15. There was a lot of work involved in getting peat. Wood was also a lot of work. we are fortunate that we have it easy to keep warm in our house.

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  16. I've heard of this before but I guess I didn't realize that it was still being done in some locations.

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  17. Goodness!
    That does look backbreaking.

    All the best Jan

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  18. I think it is good that they use turf to warm up houses.Do they use them on the roof as well?!I quess it smells very Nice of Earth!And keeps them warm in Winther(time flyes away soon it is that time again)

    Wish you all good and thanx for sharing!

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  19. I'd never heard that term before! I was fascinated at the peat harvesting we saw while in Ireland in 2017. I really enjoyed the peat fires, too, in the b&b in Sligo. We burned wood for years. A lot of work and mess, but even now that we have free gas, we still use the wood-burning fireplace regularly. There's just something about a wood fire.

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  20. In the past peat was used everywhere here to warm up houses.

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  21. Surprising that turf is still used as fuel. It has a distinctive smell when burned, a bit like coal, but more organic. This fuel source goes far back in history. Interesting photo.

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  22. Never knew that turf is still being cut.

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  23. I'd never thought of the work involved in peat harvesting. I wonder if there's any concern about there being adequate supplies.

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  24. We watched them do this on our walking trip in Ireland. Very interesting and hard work!

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  25. I have strong memories of knowing we were approaching rural towns by the smell of peat fires. We once rented my great grandfather's house in the pastures between Ennis and Kilrush and the choice was peat or chill.

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  26. We also had turf mining not far from here
    but they have stopped now with it for many years

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  27. Hi Bill.

    Lots of work Bill.

    Greetings from Patricia.

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