I don’t understand people’s fascination with snow.

Coming from Co Wicklow I grew up with the stuff and all it ever meant was misery, for man and beast.

Frozen water pipes, milk that couldn’t be collected and dangerous roads and farmyards are what I associate with snow.

So, when it started to fall at home on Sunday afternoon I wasn’t amused.

We don’t get much snow in west Limerick and when we do it’s not inclined to stick.

But this stuck and froze hard, so on Monday morning the place was like a skating rink.

Instead of heading for Dublin at 6.15am I left it until 9am as I knew there wasn’t a chance our road would be salted.

I skittered up the lane and faced into a couple of kilometres of packed ice and snow – all downhill – to the main road.

Luckily there wasn’t another car on the road as I inched my way along. I tried to stay in third gear and keep moving as I was afraid if I stopped at all the wheels would spin and I’d be stuck.

It was with some relief that I reached the main road.

As I travelled east, there wasn’t a trace of snow, it was like a different world.

I checked rainfall figures for the Shannon region and in November 125ml of rain fell versus an average of 94ml, in December it was 134ml versus an average of 104ml and in January it was a massive 197ml versus an avreage of 102ml.

After months of continuous rain and now snow melt, everywhere is sodden. If things don’t improve fast, this is going to be one very expensive winter for those farming heavy or marginal land.

Women and Agriculture Awards

Turning to something much more cheerful, it is with great pleasure that we bring you the Women & Agriculture Awards, which are generously supported by FBD Insurance.

This will be our fourth set of awards and in the past we have unearthed some wonderful women who are doing great work to maintain the sustainability of the family farm.

And it’s not just our awards that have recognised their great work. Thanks to the support of the Irish Farmers Association, our winners have gone forward to the European awards, which are organised by COPA, the European farm organisation group of which IFA is a member.

Irish nominees have had great success bringing home the top accolade on two out of three occasions.

So do you have what it takes?

Or do you know someone who has but would never dream of putting themselves forward.

Now is your chance to let them shine. Full information and entry details are in the read more section below and the closing date is 20 March.

Those shortlisted will be visited by the judges and that visit will take place during the week beginning 26 March. So, good luck to everybody.

Finally, I was very sorry to hear of the death of Rose McBride, wife of renowned country singer Big Tom.

I met Rose on a few occasions and found her to be a charming lady. Michael Commins knew her well and on page 37 has some lovely things to say about her.

Our sincere condolences to her husband, family and wide circle of friends.

Read more

Mairead Lavery: Parenting in a world of technology

Mairead Lavery: We need to rethink how we teach languages