Are you still using turf?

Graces7 · 15-07-2019 7:40pm

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Of course not.

But I don't think we should be comparing the Dublin metropolitan areas or the hinterlands of Cork city with isolated rural settlements where people build houses in the front field, and draw turf from their own bogs. It's a completely different demographic.

I've just been looking up population changes in my own homeplace around Borrisokane and surrounding villages. They're either pretty much constant or falling.

Can't find anything on settlements smaller than 50 people ker sq km, but those are visibly shrinking in my experience.

These guys are seeking uniformity for their stats not the wondrously untamable exuberant reality of Ireland . we don;t fit into their rigid ideas

Graces7 · 15-07-2019 8:57pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Ok I've changed my mind. Rural Ireland and our cities are prime examples and excellent planning that other countries should strive towards, and we should continue on as is. I'm going to sell my house and buy a mansion down the country and drive to work. Peace out.

why move? Stay where you prefer as we will do

awec · 15-07-2019 9:47pm

Graces7 wrote: »

The same old idea of let us preserve the past as it was. Or as they think it was.
Leave is as a sterile wasteland rather than the thriving and developing resource it is. a holiday resort not a living space

A wasteland is certainly an odd way of describing rural Ireland (proper rural Ireland that is, not the bits covered with mcmansions and poxy dormer houses).

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 15-07-2019 9:58pm

awec wrote: »

A wasteland is certainly an odd way of describing rural Ireland (proper rural Ireland that is, not the bits covered with mcmansions and poxy dormer houses).

Am I to take it that the premise is a cut bog is better than an undisturbed thriving ecologically vibrant bog? Or that a spate of one off houses and sceptic tanks is preferable? A strange concept.

So we shouldn't preserve the wild flowers and fauna of the natural countryside in favour of stripped bogs and housing?

This thread has veered a long way from 'are you still using turf'.

mgn · 15-07-2019 10:14pm

Well i haven't cut turf in years but with all these new taxes on oil and coal coming in to make Leo look good in Europe,It won't be long before i start cutting again.

Thelonious Monk · 15-07-2019 10:18pm

Graysen Chubby Spice wrote: »

So we shouldn't preserve the wild flowers and fauna of the natural countryside in favour of stripped bogs and housing?

No we should keep building ribbon development and one offs so people will be living there to preserve the countryside, or something

[Deleted User] · 15-07-2019 10:21pm

Graysen Chubby Spice wrote: »

Am I to take it that the premises is a cut bog is better than an undisturbed thriving ecologically vibrant bog? Or that a spate of one off houses and sceptic tanks is preferable? A strange concept.

So we shouldn't preserve the wild flowers and fauna of the natural countryside in favour of stripped bogs and housing?

This thread has veered a long way from 'are you still using turf'.

This curious obsession with weighing up urban versus rural living is redundant. Discussion of declining population in specific parts of the countryside is a lament for another thread.

Back on topic, my grandmother's cottage was located on the fringes of the Bog of Allen. As a child, we enjoyed our summers footing turf and stacking for drying. Seems like a lifetime ago. Ethically, I wouldn't harvest or purchase turf today.

Marcusm · 15-07-2019 10:21pm

mgn wrote: »

Well i haven't cut turf in years but with all these new taxes on oil and coal coming in to make Leo look good in Europe,It won't be long before i start cutting again.

So long as you do it by human labour and not some turf sausage machine, i’d Congratulate you.

Marcusm · 15-07-2019 10:25pm

IK09 wrote: »

We had a machine for cutting turf when we were younger. His name was John and he was a beast of a man.

Ours was called Tommy Mellotte supplemented by my father as secondary cutter and my brother and I as spreaders at Easter. Turning a month later then footing at Whit. I must secure the slean before the house is sold.

Marcusm · 15-07-2019 10:27pm

cgcsb wrote: »

Burning turf is illegal in Dublin.

It’s only the marketing, distribution and sale of smoky products which is banned not their use for burning!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 15-07-2019 10:34pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Back on topic, my grandmother's cottage was located on the fringes of the Bog of Allen. As a child, we enjoyed our summers footing turf and stacking for drying. Seems like a lifetime ago. Ethically, I wouldn't harvest or purchase turf today.

This is the crux of the matter. I have always had access to turf but, likewise , won't cut nor burn it now, for ethical reasons. Having seen the impact on the flora and fauna locally over the decades, I can't justify it any more. It's laughable that some people are boycotting products with Palm Oil, because of it's impact on bio diversity abroad, but will try to justify destroying what is a rare environment here at home for cheap fuel.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 15-07-2019 10:36pm

Marcusm wrote: »

It’s only the marketing, distribution and sale of smoky products which is banned not their use for burning!

And, believe it or not, Bord Na Mona Peat Briguettes are classed as smokeless fuel.

Mississippi. · 15-07-2019 10:40pm

Are you still bringing home the turf?[/quote]

Brought them down this evening.
240 bags , bog and cutting €190.

mgn · 15-07-2019 10:50pm

Mississippi. wrote: »

Are you still bringing home the turf?

Brought them down this evening.
240 bags , bog and cutting €190.[/QUOTE]

You won't get any fuel cheaper than that.

Mississippi. · 15-07-2019 10:54pm

Definitely not, a trailer of logs and about €350 of kerosene with them heats my 1800 Sq foot house for the year

Graces7 · 16-07-2019 8:01am

"My" fuel this winter will if all goes well, cost under E150. I am very careful needfully. Cost matters to many of us. the difference between any comfort in winter and being constantly cold. turf it is .

Graces7 · 16-07-2019 1:19pm

Mississippi. wrote: »

Definitely not, a trailer of logs and about €350 of kerosene with them heats my 1800 Sq foot house for the year

if i had logs i would burn logs! the nearest I will get is some broken old fence posts.. oh and some dried seaweed....

Church on Tuesday · 17-07-2019 1:06pm

steves2 wrote: »

My family use turf from my fathers bog, he can still cut it but only a matter of time before it's stopped.

The smell of a turf fire is something from my childhood and even adulthood that I'll always love but God I'm glad I'll never have to empty out a fire in my house (no chimney, gas boiler).

I think it should be consigned to the past, our ancestors used to go around on donkey and cart but we gave that up didn't we?

Even just to protect the bogs and the wildlife. It doesn't have to be doom and gloom, theres good reasons to do it and should be supports to help reluctants to switch over.

I can't understand this TBH.

It's been done for centuries and the Bogs and wildlife are all still there; it's a natural and cheap way of obtaining fuel for the winter months.

I'm no fan of the bogs by any means having been worked to the bone in them as a kid but I think it's sad that there are now diktats prohibiting something which is so natural.

Thelonious Monk · 17-07-2019 1:13pm

47% of peatlands in Ireland have already been destroyed by peat extraction

Cut away, but surely if we keep going it'll all be gone sooner or later?

the_pen_turner · 17-07-2019 1:31pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

47% of peatlands in Ireland have already been destroyed by peat extraction

Cut away, but surely if we keep going it'll all be gone sooner or later?

Yes and most of it by bord na mona making brikkets for people in towns and cities to burn. They have taken the top of the big for a few feet but left all the good turf behind. If they had managed there part properly there would be a lot more left

Graces7 · 17-07-2019 2:26pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

47% of peatlands in Ireland have already been destroyed by peat extraction

Cut away, but surely if we keep going it'll all be gone sooner or later?

over how many hundreds and more of years?

Thelonious Monk · 17-07-2019 2:33pm

Graces7 wrote: »

over how many hundreds and more of years?

I don't know... but what I'm saying is it's finite. We used to have forests in Ireland, they didn't come down overnight.

Ush1 · 17-07-2019 2:37pm

This is starting to sound vaguely like climate change denial.

gozunda · 17-07-2019 3:12pm

Ush1 wrote: »

This is starting to sound vaguely like climate change denial.

Its heresy I tell you - heresy! Hang them all... arrrghhhh*

*runs off naked down to the bog with a slean to kill the unbelievers!

Meanwhile in our capital city - the current topic of interest is & wait for it ...

CocaCola Slushies and how far I need to drive to get one!

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057997290/1

Church on Tuesday · 17-07-2019 3:13pm

Ush1 wrote: »

This is starting to sound vaguely like climate change denial.

People where cutting turf in the country (this is a country issue after all) many many years before humanity started pumping all kinds of **** into the atmosphere on an concentrated industrial scale.

Graces7 · 17-07-2019 3:16pm

Ush1 wrote: »

This is starting to sound vaguely like climate change denial.

who by? Not me. My life is pared .... the folk who heat by oil and coal do damage. we all do damage. Turf has always been the poorer folk's fuel .

Graces7 · 17-07-2019 3:17pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I don't know... but what I'm saying is it's finite. We used to have forests in Ireland, they didn't come down overnight.

and are being replanted.

Thelonious Monk · 17-07-2019 3:24pm

Graces7 wrote: »

and are being replanted.

They're not really, we have the lowest tree coverage in the EU

https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-tree-planting-3862740-Feb2018/

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 17-07-2019 3:50pm

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

They're not really, we have the lowest tree coverage in the EU

https://www.thejournal.ie/ireland-tree-planting-3862740-Feb2018/

And trees are not the answer. The first couple of feet of an uncut bog is a unique habitat containing flora and fauna not found on cut bogs nor amongst trees. It's the constant whittling away at bogs that has reduced it to the poor state it's in. Yes, Bord Na Mona are the biggest culprits but individuals have for centuries been cropping bogs into near extinction. And all in the name of cheap fuel. Once a necessity but no longer.

jem · 17-07-2019 5:06pm

By any chance is the amount of peat for grow bags etc that is being shipped out of the country every day and also being sold so the nice people in nice houses can have their nice flowers doing more damage to the bogs than locals cuting turf for the fire.
Somehow I would sugest the former is far more damaging than the latter

Are you still using turf?

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