Re: Lack Of Trees In Irish And British Countrysides

In article
<f4c10b77-5bae-46ed-938a-27a7c55be554@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
   Salahoona <donal25@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>

> No fridges in those days.  Anyway, I lived in such a culture and
> cannot remember eating 'meat' - lots of milk and butter though - salt
> ****t was the big treat. I cannot agree your presumption that only the
> rich and powerful could afford cattle; perhaps a political pre-
> conception on your part. Every family had a cow.

Agreed - generally for milk and butter. As there usually was no fodder
available for winter, most cattle were slaughtered and the meat was
salted. After a while it had a terrible taste and spices were used to
disguise this - hence the spice trade and the outrageous sums charged for
spices, which generally only the better off could afford. Only with the
introduction of root vegetables - turnips and the like - was it possibly
to winter cattle - which put an end to the high profit margins of the
spice trade.

> There was an old couple who lived in a remote spot and had no
> children. The Man of the house died and the Woman of the house made a
> decision. She abandoned the holding and wandered the road with the
> cow. She would visit her extended family in turn where the cow grazed
> and gave milk. I'd like to write a full account of it as Ban Aon Bho -
> much as I dislike speaking Gaelic in Christian Irish. I heard the
> story from people who knew her and were young kids at the time.

Interesting tale.

Jochen

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 Limavady and the Roe Valley
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