Hi Everyone,
I hope that you are all well. Now that we are allowed to leave our house a little further, I thought that I would put on my Wellies and go to The Bog this week.
I went to a place called Bragan Bog that is near to my house. You can see from the photos that it is a really quiet place and that it is very high up.
In the Bog the land is made from dark, wet soil known as peat. Peat is 90% water and 10% soiled material. That means when you dry it out it is great to use on your fire during the Winter.
In the old days people made turf from peat and that is a tradition that is still happening today. I thought for Welly Wednesday I would share this tradition with you and show you how turf is made.
When I was there I met Farmer Mickey and he was cutting turf. He was using his huge tractor and a machine at the back of it to cut the turf. The machine digs into the ground and cuts the peat soil into long cuboids ( they have a rectangular shape), then they lie on top of the top of the bog.
Check out the amount of wheels on his tractor. That is to make sure that the tractor does not sink on the very soft peat soil. When Farmer Mickey cuts the tuff into the lines, it stays on the ground in lines for three weeks and then he turns the turf over. This is to help the turf that has been cut dry out as the air soaks out the water from the turf.
After this usually a few people come to help - 'foot the turf'. This means they put all the pieces of turf together in a pile. This is called - footing the turf and they do this so the the air can get in around the turf to dry it out even further.
When the turf is dry they bag the turf and bring it home so they can use it on their fires.
As you can imagine you need to pick a time where there is very good, sunny, bright weather. That is why the best time to cut and foot your turf is in the warmer months of the year or when you think there will be dry weather.
I wonder if you can find out any more facts about The Bog or about turf for me? Could you draw a picture of the tractor cutting the turf?
Have a great weekend everyone.
Lots of Love,
Ms. Deery xox
