Saturday 4 August 2007

Turf


Dr A was wondering about turf cutting. Well, for all you city folk out there, here's a photo (possibly the dullest photo ever taken) of a turf bed. Peat/turf was the major source of fuel in Ireland for hundreds of years, with the result that about three quarters of our peat bogs are now gone. Some people still like to burn turf fires - they do smell wonderful - though anytime I've spent an evening in front of an open turf fire I found that when I got up the next day, my hair looked something like this.


11 comments:

dr. adder said...

???????????

blueboat said...

i know, pressed the wrong button...

blueboat said...

I should have known the internet police would be watching!

dr. adder said...

I'm not the only sarcy bugger it appears !!!!

dr. adder said...

Here's my answer to your comment on my post - just thought I would copy it here in case you missed it.
I was being very very sarcastic - but was really wondering what the hell turf cutting has to do with modern life. I don't think there is much turf cutting still going on in rural communities. (I could be wrong - it has been known on occassion)

Janet said...

Well, your link photo is anything but boring!

Kate said...

Seamus Heaney has written lots of great poems, and some of them contain turf/peat/bog images.

Don't undrstand some of the previous comments, tho.

Anonymous said...

One step above burning dry buffalo chips—great progress. These old bogs are where they sometimes find bodies that are preserved like leather. I think National Geographic did one called Bog Man or Peat Bog Man.

Abraham Lincoln
About Abraham Lincoln

dr. adder said...

Kate this Sesame Street and turf cutting may explain some of the above. The question marks are because I happened to catch blueboat's post at an unguarded moment i.e. minus one photo.

blueboat said...

Thanks for visiting. Seamus Heaney is from a farm south county Derry - one of the boggy areas near the river Bann. (I well remember studying his bog poems for A level english.)

WichitaKsDailyPhoto said...

Now that was funny - made me look!