Summer Time

I'm sitting in a hospital currently, don't worry nothing serious, just routine stuff. It looks like I'll be waiting around for a while which means I've time to do a Hive post.

I was flicking through my photos and I realised that I never did a post on this back in August. My wife's sister, husband and three daughters were over to visit and we had a barbecue and as the sun went down, we stuck on the firepit.

Soon the air was rich with the unmistakable smell of burning turf. @blanchy @niallon11 @trucklife-family @killerwot @deirdyweirdy @littlebee4 and @ammonite will know what I'm talking about. You'll all know the smell but only some will know the hardship of saving turf, something I've done every year since I could walk!

For the non Irish among you who don't know what turf is, it's the brown stuff burning below.

For hundreds of years Irish people have burned it to heat their homes, although that will likely soon change, as turf production has been curtailed in recent years, as it is a fossil fuel like coal.

Peat bogs form over thousands of years in wetlands where trees, branches, leaves and vegetation build up over centuries.

These wetland areas are then dug up manually with a slane or using hopper machines or Lilliput machines during the summer. It dries out over the summer months and is turned, footed and saved. It involves a lot of hard work, but anyone who has seen it burn and smelled it will know how worthwhile it is.

Here are some photos of what bog land looks like for those of you who don't know.

Now let's take another look at the sight of turf burning. I wish that you could smell it too. Our ancestors survived for years thanks to the heat it provided to their weary bones and it cooked their simple foods over the hearth which was at the centre of every humble dwelling.

Another use for bogland is for windmills and forestry like you can see below which is a much more sustainable land use, although you can't smell a windmill! It can keep you warm though with to the energy produced sustainably.

Wait there's smore

And the winner of worst pun of the year goes to....

That's right our children and nieces toasted marshmallows on the turf fire and made super tasty smores. Mmmmmmmmmm in case anyone doesn't know a smore = chocolate biscuit + toasted marshmallow+ chocolate biscuit. Utter deliciousness!!!

So where can you find all this turf and smores, windmills and more?? Ireland my friends and more specifically Ireland's West coast. I live just outside Galway on the edge of Conamara and if you visit Ireland, make sure that Galway and Conamara are on your itenary. Don't forget to let me know and you can drop in for a nice hot mug of tea. Give enough notice and I'll get the good biscuits in and I might even put on the firepit again 🔥🔥🔥

Well that's it for now folks, laters....

The images used throughout are all my own captured on my Samsung Smartphone

Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.

Peace Out