What is Irish Peat?

Harvesting peat was a very important part of Irish culture for generations as it was the primary source of fuel for both heating and cooking in the home. In this video we show the peats being cut and dried on the bog plus we give an explanation of what peat is. We show the peat, or turf as it also known, being used to heat a home in Ireland as well as using it to cook with.
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This film was produced by John Thompson Videos Production. To find out more about our Irish Farming Videos check out www.irishfarmingvideos.com
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[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

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[@masonmaceachern1858]

What is the name of the tune I forget what it’s called

[@MrBlue-ws5in]

I remember helping my father and grandfather out many a weekend in the moss. Loaf of bread and jar pickled onions and Tayto cheese and onion crisps to eat. A bottle of 'mineral' (as Granny called lemonade) and we were set for the day. Wonderful wonderful times and it's a shame today's families can't experience it as much

[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

I had a laugh at the "Mineral", I heard that manys a time growing up! Thanks for dropping a comment, Chris

[@skipmckee6540]

Ah, indeed. The bottle of mineral and several packets of tayto, cheese and onion of course. Remember it well, though we were more dilutin orange when in the moss if memory serves. The mineral was for the potato feel.

[@MrBlue-ws5in]

@@skipmckee6540 a bottle of mineral lol usually brown lemonade, delivered too by truck, full of crates filled with bottles. The diluted orange was always for bringing home the trailer load to the shed lol

[@king_crimson8264]

I can only imagine what that would be like. Sounds great

[@user-rq5wx9xo3f]

I hv question pls

[@gutworm686]

Many a summer I spent on the mountain when I was a boy. The smell of TVO fumes drifting across the moss on a warm, calm evening cannot be beaten in my opinion. It also meant you were finally drawing the turf home so the slavery would soon end for another year! The midges on the other hand, weren’t as welcome or so fondly remembered!

[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

Oh the midges, they were particularly fond of my blood.. Thanks for the comment , Chris

[@garden_hooligan]

Thank you for posting, another good one. Family gathering had so many positives ... hard work with benefits, memories, chats with grandparents learning the stories.

[@marykategraham.205]

I can smell the burning turf with its smell of the great natural earth when staying at me Grandparents in Co.Mayo. Our Ancestors were made of BLOOD - SWEAT -@- TEARS. I'm proud to be IRISH born and bred -@- can feel the turf fire in my IRISH HEART -@- SOUL. Thank you -@- God Bless You for price of nostalgia..☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️

[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

Thanks Mary Kate for the lovely comment.. The smell is really something aint it! Chris

[@marykategraham.205]

@@VideosofIrishFarmingLife I never in a million years expected a reply thank u Chris. To me there is no Perfume on this God given earth can compete with the open - heart fire burning the turf from our beloved Bogs it's God's great Gift to us. A pot of stew hung over her - and farls of Boxty- steaming from her. A pot of Porridge with lumps init . WE WERE WELL AND TRULY BLESSED. THANK U CHRIS. God Bless You and all the comments from other people...

[@irishcountryman4866]

I'm from Mayo 😀 what part were your grandparents from?

[@kennyleung5501]

what is the peat taste in Scotch Whisky?

[@cottagemommy5116]

I know it is hard work, but they make it look so easy.

[@clxwncrxwn]

Cottage Mommy like shoveling dirt, easy but repetitive.

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

@@clxwncrxwn clearly you've never done it. The turf sods when being cut are heavy. So your first hour is ok but after 3 or 4 days you'd be fucked. And then you'd have to roll it to a flat dry spot in the bog and turn it, then foot it and then horse it all into a cart or trailer and bring it home. I absolutely love doing it, but your always broken after it

[@danielwild5229]

Even after the forest fell she gave to those who could find what remained of her.

[@Tiger-789]

You sure the forest "fell"..? or was it felled by us

[@zerofox7347]

peat doesn't actually come from forests felled or fallen. It's made from bog plants in standing water. When there's little drainage the water becomes more acidic and breaks down the fast growing bog plants then layer after layer year after year it turns in to wet peat.

[@BillSikes.]

Its not sustainable tho 🤔

[@DaiAtlus79]

tey also do this in Newfoundland's south coast around places like Lamaline, which i think was considerably irish. that music is even very similar to whats played in newfoundland

[@michaelm1053]

Whether you’re seven or 70. Love it.

[@99cachorro]

This is like the work we here get the firewood in for winter. Ours is just above ground. I guess it's like buffalo chips dried.

[@jaeboogie2786]

Hey another black person!! Sup? Thought I was alone 😂 ❤ from Arkansas to you and yours!

[@garenas1884]

Simple , hardworking folks !! Who lived a simple but fruitful life . God Bless

[@majidaattaplantscare4582]

So best

[@revolution2405]

So is it just mud/dirt? I mean can I do it here, in the States or does it need something specific?

[@nickthomas8400]

we have an Irish Pete working with us - he is from donegal way!

[@stroodlepup]

Is this only possible in Ireland and neighboring refions

[@RowanEl]

what is the song? thx

[@Halleys1212Naga]

Will this turf/peat get exhausted?

[@lahaine7000]

Damn, now I want to take some fine gal for a peat-harvesting date. I would cut turf and she'd put it together. Wind in our hair, the birds singing and that music playing in the background... anything more romantic ?

[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

Sounds good La Haine..

[@marykategraham.205]

Sounds Beautiful. On top of all that the wind shaking the Barley. God Bless You La Haine. Never give up on your Dream....☘️☘️☘️☘️

[@sikhpilot.]

How does one know the difference between peat and regular mud?

[@jibba1681]

I came here to know what it was and he just said they can heat with it

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

Well peat is found in bogs it also smells different. Smells like wet plant matter. It's also verner black

[@AydenVr7]

Had a weid fever dream it was winter and some guy was wiping snow of a tree he was exited and said it was a pete tree in my head I said what's so exciting about that he then said pete coal .and now here I am finding this video of something I never knew was true. Did I just dream about a past life

[@ChemEDan]

Pete trees are the source of dishes in my country.

[@TruthinLove33]

Maybe it ‘twas about a future life… 😀

[@LuukKoekoek]

Ah the good old days

[@hubertcharles6551]

C’est encore une réalité dans l’ouest de l’Irlande . . .

[@carlodinatale4363]

If you burn all the bricks how does the turf form again?

[@masonmaceachern1858]

I forget the name of the tune

[@adamk8296]

Sir, I’m not sure how to contact you directly. But if you would like, I’d be happy to discuss further an opportunity to speak more about your experience on the bogs. I’m making a short doc for Netflix. Let me know. Thank you!

[@JS-te2vj]

Just out of interest (an uneducated lad from Japan here) - this resource is finite right? How long till the harvested turf re-forms into peat?

[@hubertcharles6551]

Pour votre information, ce n’est pas du gazon, mais des mousses « sphaignes » qui repousse extrêmement lentement si les conditions sont réunies, il faut des milliers d’années pour réaliser une bonne épaisseur exploitable de tourbe.

[@jonseilim4321]

Wouldn't every inch of flatland be farmed in mediaeval times? Or is this patch the soil too marshy for crops

[@AndresSanchez-pp3ho]

Mormons have turned this tune to a type of hymn. “I’ll go where you want me to go” also “praise to the man” beautiful Irish tones

[@ThunderPants13]

.......and the peat.......aaahhhhhhh the peat.

[@sirbarongaming2138]

Is peat turf renewable?

[@aktodos]

No tottaly not 1mm of peat occurs about 1000-1500 years actually in my Country Türkiye its prohibited to harvest peat its preserved by government and most of the world preserves turf and peat has a large CO2 emission peat is youngest coal when peat get old about 700.000 years its turna into lignite and if its wait a 1 million years more its turns into coal so its not healty to use that things in rural Turkey villagers mostly uses dried cow turd and ı use that to when ı go to village its just burns like coal or peat

[@valeriealejandre4836]

I also remember the wonderful smell of burning peat😅

[@hubertcharles6551]

Parfum enivrant de la campagne irlandaise . . .

[@Anton-ji4td]

It's called peat due to the fact that the first ever person to cut it many 100's of years ago was named Peter (peat).

[@kokokoko-ws9gw]

what is smell like on fire ?

[@hubertcharles6551]

Un parfum enivrant à nul autre pareil . . .

[@nexusorbit2849]

just picture it as chocolate mousse

[@Maveraxus2.0]

U can burn dirt for warmth? Odd

[@hourz]

kinda what coal is just very old compressed dirt lol.

[@Maveraxus2.0]

@@hourz I thought coal was petrified pre burned wood?

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

It's not really dirt. It's a form of humus (very old dead matter of animals and plants)

[@skeetorretard]

Living on an island cutting it up and burning it down

[@Samiak136]

It would turn into oil in many many years woudlnt it?

[@hourz]

probably coal most likely but that's millions of years.

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

No. It would remain peat. For a millenia

[@RetreatfarmFarmvilleVirginia]

We have peat bogs here at the Easternmost point in North America in Lubec, Maine but they are off-limits and protected by the Government. They won't let anyone have any of it. Sad

[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

Its getting that way here in Ireland now too, each year more become off-limits.. Thanks for the comment, Chris

[@Six_slotted]

Sad they deciding to leave the carbon in the ground :P

[@michaelballinger6419]

Yeah the bogs are an essential part of the eco system though, and while the old ways of cutting and burning turf are wonderful, something that takes thousands of years to create, ripped out by machines and burnt doesn't make sense in the long run. Once they're gone you can't get them back.

[@brucedownunda7054]

Not too clued up on peat but is this NOT very fertile landscape thats being harvested? A type of deforestation.?

[@willieclark2256]

What you're looking at is an INCREDIBLY fertile landscape. The fertility is built by the long wet winter laying down and decomposing the lush grass year after year. There were never very any trees here, hence the reliance on peat for fuel as opposed to wood

[@szymongorczynski7621]

Except that the land is extremely boggy and nothing grows on it except for rushes and gorse bushes.

[@Joseph-tf4lg]

The landscape is refered to as bog land. Soon after the last ice ages all of ireland was covered with forests. But the watertable rose and for various reasons the bogs took over the forests. For thousands of years plants died, but couldn't decompose fully in the acidic oxegen poor peel. The partially decomposed peet grew deeper and deeper over the centuries. Many bog plants are carnivorous, they trap and digest insects because the roots can't reach the mineral soil. Today, most of Irish bogland has been converted to pasture or forest, or harvested so not very interesting anymore. But old undesturbed bogland is incredibly cool. One can dig out burried wood in the bogs that is thousands of years older than the pyramids! Or find treasures hidden by monks for the middle ages, old Norman or Viking or Celtic artifacts. Sometimes mumified people from the middle ages.

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

Goarse and bogland is very fertile. Its just so wet only Indegenous plants grow there

[@Hazztech]

SEEKSDAY HAURS

[@peternolan5632]

thats the coal house i used to say

[@leesagrrl]

I was in Scotland for a couple weeks ago, a few years back. I loved every second. I never selpt that good in my life. The streams that were everywhere were this gorgeous Orange Color because of the Peat. One of the most beautiful places in the World... but... Peat is a very dirty, highly carbon-inefficient fuel, more so even than coal.

[@animemicheal]

(im canadian so im a little in awe and confused af) So, peat is soil mixed with vegetation that decomposes and you can use it for fueling fire?

[@Jack-us6wl]

It's ancient vegetation so its basically on it's way to becoming coal

[@orgazmatron3080]

You think they run out of it by now

[@aktodos]

No man

[@skipmckee6540]

So, who has fallen into a moss hole then?

[@bartolochavez3611]

60 Rs seems like a long time 😂😂😂

[@maranathasos3381]

Just watched a show about this on TG4. The EU wants to force country people to stop cutting turf without providing them any alternatives. Does the abuse of Irish people ever stop?

[@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344]

We'll never stop. Because many elders in rural communities will die in winter without turf

[@Pinkie007]

@@deaganachomarunacathasaigh4344 Yes. Many houses are terribly insulated and fairly run down. Especially farm houses. Turf/peat is our only option.

[@BillSikes.]

​@@Pinkie007 Why not fit oil fired heating? You could then get heating oil or red diesel powered heating probably cheaper too

[@Don_Dries]

What are you gonna do when all the peat runs out, Cry in a corner? Insulate ur houses and use electricity or something, tis the 21st century for god's sake 🙄

[@Pinkie007]

@@Don_Dries People just can’t afford it right now. Step 1 of saving the planet: make poor people richer.

[@BioHazardCL4]

Facinating and such history but terrible to think of the damage done to these bogs and the amount of CO2 released.

[@hubertcharles6551]

Hé oui certes, mais c’était le seul moyen de se chauffer. . . .

[@schlookie]

Co2 is great for life!

[@BioHazardCL4]

@@schlookie yeah but not too much or it destabilises the climate. Plants can't photosynthesize unless there's no rain.

[@Martin-iv6lq]

Simpletons

[@carlodinatale4363]

If you burn all the bricks how does the turf form again?