Turf Cutting and Bogland on Achill IslandPart 3 - Drying TurfSpreading The Turf To DryThese 'sods' of turf are 'spread' and left to dry in the wind and sun of April, May and the summer months - though the wind, in fact, is better at drying the turf than the sun. Then they are turned so that the wet underneath is allowed to dry out also. Spreading turf is very important. If pieces of wet turf are left lying on top of other wet turf there is very little chance that the turf on the bottom layers will ever dry. The turf cut by machine is automatically spread and left to dry but turf cut by hand must be spread by hand. I actually spread the turf as I cut it and although that is a very slow process my intention is to enjoy working on the bog rather than making it hard and strenuous. There is another method of drying out the turf. When the sods are beginning to dry some people group about 6 pieces of turf together, on their end, meeting at the top (like a wigwam) so that the wind can blow through them drying them out faster, also cutting down on the amoung of contact with the wet ground. I don't bother to do that but sometimes I build a small square structure which has the same effect. I put down 2 pieces of turf about 6 inches apart and paralel to each other. Then on top of them I put another 2 pieces of turf - at right angles to the ones below. I build it up to 3 or 4 levels high. This means that most of the turf isn't touching the ground and there are gaps so the wind can blow through them. Sometimes the turf begins to break up into very small pieces, and will ultimately end up as dust, if the sun is too strong (the darker the turf is the more the sun breaks it up). It generally takes three to four months or so for the sods to thoroughly dry out. As the water evaporates a hard skin forms on the sod of turf on the exposed side and begins to shrink. When this happens the turf has to be turned so that the soft wet underside is exposed to the wind and the sun so as to also dry out. Usually this activity is enough to dry the turf to a level whereby is it suitable for burning. There is a tradition of building a small structure of about 6 to 8 pieces of turf each standing on end leaning against each other with a sod of turf on top to help speed up the drying process by allowing the wind to blow through the mound and to have as little contact as possible with the wet ground. Bagging Or Lumping The TurfWhen the turf is dry it is either bagged or 'lumped' - ie gathered into small mounds about 3 foot high (90 cm). Then either the bags or the mounds of turf are loaded onto trailors and brought home to be used in the fires and cookers at home. If the turf is not in bags and it is not going to be stored in a turf-shed there is a tradition of building up a 6-8 foot high (2 metre) mound of turf, called a clamp of turf - but it is not as simple as that - it is never as simple as that! In order to encourage any rain that may fall during the winter months (and other seasons also!) to flow off the clamp without prenetrating into it, and thus soaking the turf, the outside layer of the clamp must be built with care, with the turf laid like slates on a roof. A well constructed 'clamp' of turf is a very pretty sight to see and is a work of art in itself. And why all this work? Well, in the winter months, with the storms, gales and lashing rain outside one can sit in front of a roaring fire, smelling the wonderful natural fragrant scent of the turf burning and enjoy the results of those hard days' work in those far off warm sunny days of spring and summer. Personally, I wouldn't swap a turf fire for anything. It is part of the tradition of Achill island. Sadly, it is being supplanted by oil-fired central heating. Hopefully, turf cutting, especially by hand, will never become a dead tradition. Updated: 9th March 2012
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