The Mossbank
In this film the Hanna brothers explore the tradition of digging turf from a bog to keep the house warm throughout the year. They also explore how the role of the traditional bog is shifting, becoming an important element in preventing climate change.
The Hanna family has worked the same bog for generations. The annual task of cutting, wheeling, laying out and turning turf in the bog was a whole family affair, in order to cut and dry enough fuel for the winter. It was part of the rural calendar for all families in Ireland and having enough winter fuel depended on an intensive period of work and a sufficiently dry season for drying. It was common practice to have a full year’s supply of dry turf in reserve in case of a wet season, which would mean peat didn’t dry sufficiently for burning.
It was said that turf warmed you twice – the first time when it was being harvested because the work was so tough and secondly when it was burned as fuel.
The Hanna family plot is in a ‘raised bog’ – formed over tens of thousands of years as vegetation decomposed and accumulated in a post-glacial lake. This type of bog is less common than a ‘blanket bog’ which forms on hills as a result of deforestation by man thousands of years ago.
Peat bogs are fragile habitats and are vital stores of carbon dioxide. In relatively recent times machines were introduced which harvested peat on an industrial scale for fuel and garden products.
The industrialisation of turf extraction has had a detrimental impact on these environments and this practice has now been stopped in many parts of Ireland.
Cutting turf by hand is very labour intensive and doing it for sale not economically viable. This film is about preserving ancient skills of hand cutting peat on a very small scale and to connect with our rural past, at the same time respecting the vital role that these special places have as natural environments and habitats.