In farming, there are always unexpected issues and this past month has been no different. Between heavy snow and now the worst storm to hit us in many years, there’s certainly no way that people should take Mother Nature for granted. I heard the term ‘generational storm’ being used on the radio on the morning prior to when Éowyn was expected to hit and I thought to myself that if the forecaster was using that phrase then we were in for something more extraordinary than a bit of wind and rain.
In farming, there are always unexpected issues and this past month has been no different. Between heavy snow and now the worst storm to hit us in many years, there’s certainly no way that people should take Mother Nature for granted.
I heard the term ‘generational storm’ being used on the radio on the morning prior to when Éowyn was expected to hit and I thought to myself that if the forecaster was using that phrase then we were in for something more extraordinary than a bit of wind and rain.
Anyone who scoffed at the red warning over the entire country was quickly quietened when the gusts started. For us, like a lot of the country, the power went out Friday morning and we’ve been told it may not return until Wednesday or Thursday as many lines are not only down but snapped in numerous places. It’s the first time I’ve had to search for a place to write this column as it’s usually done in comfort at my kitchen table with a hot coffee to hand. Instead I find myself in the local community centre trying to desperately charge my phone at the same time.
With no power, it means no heating, no water and no ESB, which is all very well and good for a few hours, but it begins to get a little tedious after a few days, hauling water to cattle and working with torchlight, not to mention wearing more layers than I’d need on a skiing holiday.
I certainly feel for dairy farmers these days if they’re calving down while having to cope with the added pressure of needing a generator to do the milking. Travelling anywhere on the roads shows just how severe the wind was. There are fallen/broken trees everywhere and buildings damaged. For ourselves, our last old hayshed was ripped asunder as though it was made of wet newspaper, and it had been standing for perhaps 100 years (though like Trigger’s broom, how much of the original building was left is unknown as bits were constantly replaced or reinforced).
I live only a few metres from where it stood and I thought my cottage was coming down when I heard all the crashing from outside.
Polytunnel
Dad’s beloved polytunnel is also gone, even though we had thought it was sheltered by the slatted shed and silage bales. We are left with a skeleton frame, so we might be able to repair it once we find all the jigsaw pieces in the fields to put it back together again.
For now, all we can do is grin and bear it, while we all get fed up eating what we can salvage from our slowly defrosting freezers. The only one living the life of
Riley at the moment is the cat who thinks all his birthdays have come at once with dinners of fresh meat each evening. Luckily, I’ve always kept a gas cooker in the house for occasions such as this so plenty of tea and hot food is available which is sorely needed in a house with no heating.
On the Thursday before the ‘event’ (I’m sure if I mention the ‘S’ word again in this column you’ll all be as fed up as me) I had the chance to meet and speak with the new European Commissioner for
Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, in Dublin as part of the Women in Agriculture Group. While many different and difficult issues were raised, he came across as a person who is genuinely interested in issues brought to his attention. Hopefully he will live up to the positive impression he created in the room and be proactive in his new role.
So as a lot of us are back in a time before modern time-wasting appliances, I’ll finish with a John McGahern quote which seems apt: “There are no days more full in childhood than those days that are not lived at all, the days lost in a book”. And while most of us are out of childhood and have other more pressing obligations, there is something to be said for a fully stocked bookcase which doesn’t run out of
batteries on a dark winter’s night.
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