Thursday 30 October 2014

An Interesting Stock Proof Fence On The West Cork Rural Roads. Snails in me Tunnel.

We came home from Kerry via one of the many meandering rural roads down to Bantry, this afternoon.  We had been buying net curtains up in Tralee.  Gosh don't I have an interesting life?  Somewhere near Ballingeary we stopped to check the load.  No we weren't carrying a load of net curtains.  Although they were incredibly cheap - 36 Euros to be exact for 7 windows.  I ("I, me, Myself and I") found them for sale on ye old T'web and Tinternet..  It was a 'proper' shop, not my usual car boot bargains.   The staff wore uniforms and they even had a  clothing section for extra large folk.  And here's me having a complex that I am over fourteen stone.  The woman behind the counter asked us what pattern of net curtain we wanted?  We both said:

"The cheapest".

So she gave us the 'Toronto' pattern.

Any road.  We stopped to check the cement mixer (eh?) hadn't moved on the back of  the pick up.  When we noticed the concrete fence in front of the rock face.  There must of been a gap of between 6 inches and the fence and the rock face.  What creatures are they trying to keep in?  The Furze bushes on the left and right and old mother nature are busy camouflaging the concrete fence.  Do you think the fence is a good job or was it carried out by over zealous county council workers making a 'proper' job out of it?  Well it made me smile!
A 'proper' job.


When we got home.  I checked the poly-tunnel and a family of snails had taken up refuge on the inside of the plastic cover.  So we spent ten minutes hand picking them into a plant pot and I threw them (and the pot) into an hedge.  No doubt they will be back in the poly-tunnel tomorrow.  Any ideas how to get shut of them?

22 comments:

  1. Funny how you find a fence like that and think what on earth is it doing. We see them around here only when people what to make a point about a boundary and what is on the other side is there's whatever. What was the cement mixer doing on board the pick-up or have I missed something?


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  2. You have beaten me to it Rachel, first question do you not have shops where you live that sells net curtains and secondly do you often take your cement mixer out for a trip, I've heard of taking dogs out, but a cement mixer? Has it got a name?

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  3. Have you been on the poitin again Dave or have you omitted the paragraph about the a cement mixer ?

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  4. Snails? Eat them? Well they do here in France, and they even sell dishes with obliging little indentations on so the snails don't fall off the plate and roll onto the floor before they can be eaten. Or feed them to the chickens, although we would have to shell the snails first as our hens seem to be getting picky about they eat. And our pigs would most surely relish crunching on them. These ideas I pass on to you.........
    Hope the cement mixer enjoyed the ride. Nothing like a bit of fresh air to perk things up, even cement mixers!

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  5. Hi Rachel. Yeah you're probably right. Never thought the fence could have been constructed over a boundary dispute. The cement mixer was with the tractor wheel rims and the winter onion sets and the Spring cabbage plants. We always make it worth our while when we go anywhere. Thanks!

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  6. Hi Anne. We stayed up in Kerry for the night and the curtains were unbelievably cheap. The cement mixer belongs to my brother. No it doesn't have a name. I do have names for our tractors. Thanks Anne!

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  7. Hi Mr Heron. No I haven't. They call it the 'white lemonade' down here. Do they make it near you? The reason why I mentioned the mixer was because it was only checking the straps that we saw the concrete fence. Thanks!

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  8. You have served your apprentice with the cement mixer on your kitchen floor, Vera. Travel does broaden the mind and takes away the blues. Can you eat the common snail?

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    1. Define common snail, all snail are edible some are better than others, can you post a picture of it , maybe we can identify them for you.
      If you fancy eating them I will give you a recipe,. They are low fat and high protein. Unbelievably, up until the 1930's the Wills tobacco factory in Bristol used to give their workers snails as part of their wages!

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    2. The snail is just the small snail with the brown shell. It's not the Limnea Truncatula (Fluke snail) that causes so much damage to livestock.

      Why did they give the Wills tobaco workers snails, Anne?

      Are there snail farms in Ireland?

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    3. Apparently TB was rife for workers in the factory, snails were believed to be a remedy against TB.
      Yes, there is one snail farm In Ireland, it's in Carlow set up by a Polish couple for export to France and Italy. If you google snail farming the article should come up.
      When we first moved to Ireland there was the Irish Snail farmers association based in the North they were experimenting with inside production. although we were interested we never got any sense from them plus where we were living at the time was not suitable land. When we farmed them In Wales I enjoyed it, they are lovely and very interesting to work with. If I find snails here even on the veg I can never kill them, I relocate them, now slugs, that's a different matter, new ways are found weekly of how to wage war on them.

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    4. Hi Anne. I believe they use to use the slime from snails for eye drops. Homeopathic medicine seems to have a lot of uses for snails.

      I looked up the Carlow snail farm. It looks good and they only use an acre of ground.

      There must be some way of creating rural jobs. It's sad to so many young people are emigrating from rural Ireland. My father left Ireland in the Fifties, then there was the recession of the eighties and now it's happening again. It saddens me how many empty and derelict houses I see around Ireland.

      Thanks!

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    5. The people of North Somerset eat the Mendip snails after there has been a sharp frost because it takes the poison out of them.

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    6. Never knew that, Heron. Wonder what they taste like. Wonder if they would be like Mussels?

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    7. They are cooked out of their shells (no idea how they do that) and are drizzled in a garlic and thyme oil and taste a bit like lamb . I have eaten loads of them -yum!

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    8. No Dave, nothing like mussels apart from the sauce, they have no particular flavour other than what you have cooked them in, they are slightly chewy but not as chewy as whelks if you have ever tried them. One of the nicest way I have had them was in puff pastry, the snails ahd been cooked in parsley and garlic butter first then put into the pastry cases, yummy.

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    9. Very interesting, Anne. There have got to be other ways of making a living on a smallholding. The cattle trade is very depressed at the moment. I wonder if there are too many cattle or people don't eat much beef these days. Think that would make a good blog post. Thanks!

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  9. I wish I lived closer... I would pop down and take you out for a pint or two

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  10. Believe it or not. I once lived on the outskirts of Chester, John. We use to go to the car boot sales at the rugby club in Chester, the Countess hospital car park and to the one at Chirk air strip all the time. I liked Chester and North Wales very much. It would have been good to have a pint or two with you. Thanks!

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  11. Never knew snails tasted like lamb, Heron. Perhaps there is a market for snail farming here in Ireland?

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