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| Milking the Cows by hand. |
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| Waiting to go to work or maybe the bar to open? |
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| The Threshing Machine. |
Friday, 16 March 2012
Farming Like They Did In The Old Days.
These are a few pictures we took when we visit Muckross Traditional farm in Killarney, County Kerry, last year. It's a farm that's been constructed to show how people used to farm in the 1930's. There is a small farm, a Labourer's Cottage, a Medium size farm and the Large farm. You can walk about the farms and farm building and meet the farmer's and their wives going about their everyday tasks. I walked into one farm and there was a woman dress in old fashioned aprons (a bit Hilda Ogden me thinks) and she was making Soda bread. It took me back to my grandparents farm in West Cork in the late 1960's. They also grow potatoes and make hay and keep pigs and hens and ducks and good old moo cows.
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Pure nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see that threshing machine at work.
Isn't it just Cumbrian? I love watching the Victorian and Edwardian Farm series. Perhaps the future for the small farm is to make them into 'working traditional farms?' I believe (have read) that Ukraine is still a country of peasant farmers who farm traditionally and help each other. That's another thing about the old farmer's. Everybody helped each other in return for some stout and a bite to eat. Can we invent a time machine and go back to those days?
ReplyDeleteYes mate, I enjoy watching the Victorian and Edwardian farming programmes. It's amazing what they acheived with very basic tools and limited technology.
ReplyDeleteAnd a tardis would be nice.
Have a nice St Patricks Day.
Happy ST Patrick's Day Cumbrian. Wouldn't it be good if we could go back to James Herriots Yorkshire in the 1930's? My favourite time travel programme was Good Night Sweetheart. It was one of the cleverest programmes ever made by Auntie Beeb.
ReplyDeleteJames Herriots Yorkshire, the scenery and settings are reminiscent of the Lake District, similar landscape and farming methods. A lot of it hasn't changed here for decades due to restrictions on development and the remoteness of some of the high fells farms.
ReplyDeleteAnd like James's small farmers, they struggle to make it pay, I don't know how some of them survive, not much grows on the fells, and Herdwick sheep don't make much much money at auction, the demand for their hard-wearing fleece isn't there any more, and they don't make a very good butchers carcase.
And reading the books, some of the sayings, attitudes and manner seem very similar as well.
But Yes, it must have been nice to live in an age and environment that wasn't so rushed and accountant-orientated, even if it was bloody hard work.
I have talked about Jim Wight (James Herriot)with a vet here in Ireland. He told me that the characters are exactly the same everywhere it's just the accents and landscape that's different. I think the remoteness and difficult times and inclement weather gives the farmer a pragmatic and stoic approach to life.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Cumbrian it must have been nice to live in an age and environment that cared about 'All creatures great and small'. It must have seemed like they were pessimistic slaves to the soil but I reckon that they must have been happy really.
Thanks for your thoughts!