do many people on here do turf?

biddy2013

oh went to near moate to collect an artic load of turf for a neighbour yesterday, neighbour is bagging it here in our shed and selling it on. I never really had anything to do with turf before but there seems to be alot of work in it, is it worth it?

hugo29

biddy2013 wrote: »

oh went to near moate to collect an artic load of turf for a neighbour yesterday, neighbour is bagging it here in our shed and selling it on. I never really had anything to do with turf before but there seems to be alot of work in it, is it worth it?

I have always asked myself that too, but in a funny way I have nothing but great memories of the bog a a young lad

Still do it BTW

porter shark

Hope d revenue doesn't call to your shed!!!

Sir Arthur Daley

Cut it every year, had to leave it in the bog 2012 couldn't dry it with the wet year, i used to smoke it as a young lad too.

biddy2013

porter shark wrote: »

Hope d revenue doesn't call to your shed!!!

ah we have great fun doing watch out that the skinflint who bought it wont catch us robbing a few buckets:D the load he got yesterday burns alot better than the small load he got delivered over xmas

sea12

Yea we still do it every year. I actually enjoy it for some strange reason. It can be allot of work though.

biddy2013

sea12 wrote: »

Yea we still do it every year. I actually enjoy it for some strange reason. It can be allot of work though.

what is the actual process of doing turf

exercise is the antidote

WikiHow wrote: »

Cut it every year, had to leave it in the bog 2012 couldn't dry it with the wet year, i used to smoke it as a young lad too.

Smoke it ? That's brave...

Sir Arthur Daley

exercise is the antidote wrote: »

Smoke it ?

Yea, we used mix it with drum when it was running low to get an extra few rollies.

epfff

WikiHow wrote: »

Yea, we used mix it with drum when it was running low to get an extra few rollies.

CUt €200 every year On our own bog about 5 miles away
Good bog about 3 hours hard Labour to save and prob 3x2 hours to bring home
KEeps house warm for winter we use very little oil

biddy2013

but would it be as warm as coal? i lnow its not as dear

Reggie.

biddy2013 wrote: »

what is the actual process of doing turf

many people have different ways and ways of describing what they do (alot like the fork/grape issue )
We get it cut by the hopper first
after a week or so once the crust is dryish we foot it (thats two sods one way then the next two the opposite to the previous sods below them)
our bank has a habit of drying turf at different inervels so any turf drying quicly gets put into big heaps (this slows down the turf drying too quickly and breaking apart)
The turf not drying too well is put into windrows (these are long narrow strips of turf built up high so the wind can blow through them to aid drying)
Then hopefully the turf is all dry at the same time and its into the trailer

Conmaicne Mara

epfff wrote: »

CUt €200 every year On our own bog about 5 miles away
Good bog about 3 hours hard Labour to save and prob 3x2 hours to bring home
KEeps house warm for winter we use very little oil

Are ye dodging the law to get it home?

moy83

I cut some for the house but I hate it . Last year was grand with the dry weather , it only needed to be footed once and was fit to come home . But on a wet year its torture and you might have to turn , foot and refoot it to get it dry .
Timber is much more enjoyable I think , if we are burning solid fuel we should all be sowing a little bit for the future

biddy2013

there are 3 colours of turf in the load a small bit of black-still not dried- brown and light brown.. what is the light brown? i am going to sound totaly thick but what does "foot turf " mean i wouldnt ask anyone that in real life as they would think i was pure stupid

moy83

biddy2013 wrote: »

there are 3 colours of turf in the load a small bit of black-still not dried- brown and light brown.. what is the light brown?

The black stuff would be the best and the brown the worst , keep pulling from the black part of the load:D

Conmaicne Mara

Our bog was cut away years ago, I never thought I'd say this but I miss it.

Sir Arthur Daley

biddy2013 wrote: »

there are 3 colours of turf in the load a small bit of black-still not dried- brown and light brown.. what is the light brown? i am going to sound totaly thick but what does "foot turf " mean i wouldnt ask anyone that in real life as they would think i was pure stupid

Are you really that anomalous to turf?

biddy2013

WikiHow wrote: »

Are you really that anomalous to turf?

yup, only turf i know is bought in or robbed from the shed

moy83

biddy2013 wrote: »

yup, only turf i know is bought in or robbed from the shed

Thats the way to keep too ! Unless the kids are getting to the age where you can make slaves out of them for a few days :P

Bizzum

biddy2013 wrote: »

there are 3 colours of turf in the load a small bit of black-still not dried- brown and light brown.. what is the light brown? i am going to sound totaly thick but what does "foot turf " mean i wouldnt ask anyone that in real life as they would think i was pure stupid

Jaysus I'd be a harmless Offaly man if I didn't know all about turf!
Footing is essentially stacking up the sods like ya used to stack the small square bales, 2 across 2. It dries out in the footings.
Generally the blacker turf burns hotter, but can become very scrappy. The light brown stuff we used to call fuzzbawn, and its not good. I suppose a good mix, or middle ground is what ya want.
Plenty of hardship at turf. But its great stuff.

knipex

cut it.
spread it out.
Let the.top dry.
turn it so the wet part is up.
(repeat as necessary depending on weather)
foot it (on its end mind none of this lazy on the flat crap)
(repeat as necessary depending on weather)
Take it out to the road and build a reek to season it for a year.
Take it home.
put in shed (with one end open) and face it..

A shed load of work. wood is easier and less ash..

Capercaille

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Our bog was cut away years ago, I never thought I'd say this but I miss it.

Sad. You don't miss things till there gone. With the industrial cutting (Bord na Móna and private contractors) that is going on, our bogs will soon be a thing of the past.:(

biddy2013

knipex wrote: »

cut it.
spread it out.
Let the.top dry.
turn it so the wet part is up.
(repeat as necessary depending on weather)
foot it (on its end mind none of this lazy on the flat crap)
(repeat as necessary depending on weather)
Take it out to the road and build a reek to season it for a year.
Take it home.
put in shed (with one end open) and face it..

A shed load of work. wood is easier and less ash..

would you have to cover it at all?

Conmaicne Mara

biddy2013 wrote: »

would you have to cover it at all?

Some will build a stack/reek of turf on the bog road, some cover them, others thatch, most do sfa until they bring it home. Have seen it built on pallets and thatched in areas of moisture surplus.

Birdnuts

Have a few acres of cut-over blanket bog - relatives get 2 or 3 loads off it every year.

knipex

biddy2013 wrote: »

there are 3 colours of turf in the load a small bit of black-still not dried- brown and light brown.. what is the light brown? i am going to sound totaly thick but what does "foot turf " mean i wouldnt ask anyone that in real life as they world think i was pure stupid

Google "footing turf" one of the first links is a YouTube video. .

epfff

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Are ye dodging the law to get it home?

Dodging the law?
nope 3 box carts 14 x7 trailer behind tractor usually last thing in evening
I'd fill turf with any man in this country

I never foot/box stuck
Even in 2012
just move it turn it upsidedown or on its side once their is crust On it
Good bank worth a lot
If I had to be at the messing I see a lot round here at I'd buy coal

Bizzum

knipex wrote: »

Take it out to the road and build a reek to season it for a year.
Take it home.

If you done that around here ya wouldn't have much to bring home. It would be long gone!

To answer Biddy, You can reek turf outside uncovered, in a clamp, plenty do. But there's nothing like a shed.

Dubl07

Ahh, nostalgia. Up there on the bog with the heather and stuff scratching your ankles, the flies biting every inch of bare skin and even some that you thought was covered. The sunburn. The sore hands and oh, the back-ache.

biddy2013

another stupid question, i am assuming once you cut turf you cant cut the same plot again?

Reggie.

biddy2013 wrote: »

would you have to cover it at all?

best thing you can do with turf is build a channel out of pallets. Maybe 2 pallets wide and as long as required. tip up the turf into the channel and cover the top. the cover on top keeps the rain off and the wind can blow through the heap cos of the pallets



Tell ya what if ya ask nicely ill let ya come down and help me this coming year.......just think of the experience and you ll never wonder about turf again :D:D

biddy2013

Reggie. wrote: »

best thing you can do with turf is build a channel out of pallets. Maybe 2 pallets wide and as long as required. tip up the turf into the channel and cover the top. the cover on top keeps the rain off and the wind can blow through the heap cos of the pallets



Tell ya what if ya ask nicely ill let ya come down and help me this coming year.......just think of the experience and you ll never wonder about turf again :D:D

i am sure your oh would be delighted for a bus load of whelans to arrive at your gaff

Reggie.

Bizzum wrote: »

If you done that around here ya wouldn't have much to bring home. It would be long gone!

To answer Biddy, You can reek turf outside uncovered, in a clamp, plenty do. But there's nothing like a shed.

was just gonna say that myself, a good few cases of that around mullingar last year. A few lads left a few "surprises" in sods to discourage the robbing in the end :D

epfff

Bizzum wrote: »

If you done that around here ya wouldn't have much to bring home. It would be long gone!

To answer Biddy, You can reek turf outside uncovered, in a clamp, plenty do. But there's nothing like a shed.

+1
Few sad stories everyyear here
often Off the bank

Reggie.

biddy2013 wrote: »

i am sure your oh would be delighted for a bus load of whelans to arrive at your gaff

if it gets her off the bog she would even give ya tae but alas i think she is knocked off the workforce for this year

epfff

biddy2013 wrote: »

i am sure your oh would be delighted for a bus load of whelans to arrive at your gaff

Ye would be welcome any fine evening end of May early June in my bog no-one will turn Ye away there would be lots of families doing their turf
kids are equal to adults in the bog

biddy2013

Reggie. wrote: »

if it gets her off the bog she would even give ya tae but alas i think she is knocked off the workforce for this year

ah i rememeber ny sister asking me what did you do while you where on maternity leave.... i think she was shocked at the answer

Reggie.

epfff wrote: »

Ye would be welcome any fine evening end of May early June in my bog no-one will turn Ye away there would be lots of families doing their turf
kids are equal to adults in the bog

ah the bog where no ageism or sexism exists, everyone is equal (a lacky )

hugo29

Do ye lads still foot it, we just turn it and then into the trailer and home

Jayus biddy you could bring the barbecue and the bulmers,

epfff

There would be a matcho thing in my local around turf time about how much you can do in short time
On my stag we knew we were going to be going through a bog and the plan in the pub before we left On the bus was if there was any guy out footing turf we were all getting off the run in split the hoppers between us do it and back onto the bus without ever speaking to the guy
Would have fairly confused him
t it came wet and no-one was On the bog

moy83

I never ate an onion as nice as the onion I had one day on the bog !

rs8

when you live near ballivor your never short of turf

biddy2013

moy83 wrote: »

I never ate an onion as nice as the onion I had one day on the bog !

Reggie.

rs8 wrote: »

when you live near ballivor your never short of turf

sure that place is sinking into the bog out there

Reggie.

biddy2013 wrote: »

everything tastes better on the bog during tae break

feartuath

Still cut some here ,machine cut but there is still work to get it home ,it saves on oil as usually light stove in evening and the stove takes over.
Years ago in the bog with dad and others cutting with slean or a wing slean and using a hay knife to skin the bank,they cut turf from the cellar and we spread it out on the banks .
I remember they spoke of wiggy turf and sads as big as small childer
We had an old tvo with twin wheels to get it to the road
Slave labour I thought at the time.

The Gride

I do turf. Well to tell the truth, my brother in law cuts it and rears it and then I help myself to lots of it for free. Its a tough life.

wotzgoingon

knipex wrote: »

Google "footing turf" one of the first links is a YouTube video. .

He is not very good at footing turf.

moy83

biddy2013 wrote: »

It was a saying on one of the d'unbelievables videos a few years ago !

biddy2013

moy83 wrote: »

It was a saying on one of the d'unbelievables videos a few years ago !

oh text to say pat short was the guy that that was loading him