Earshader Update (Peats) - 10th Aug 2009
Posted by John McKenna on Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Under: Crofting
In July, Elizabeth and I began bringing in the peats from our croft's designated bank (about three miles away, on the 'Bernera road' back towards Stornoway, from the croft in Earshader). Cutting started back in May, stripping a half foot depth of turf off and replanting it below the face of the peat bank (so that the heather and grass should continue to grow) before we sliced through the deep brown peat with a traditional peat iron.
the peat bank
Cutting the peat away from the bank is labour intensive but not necessarily back breaking work. Particularly the lower layers of the peat are quite buttery, with the peat iron cleanly, easily slicing through. We're talking about creating slabs 3 inches thick, approximately 12-inches square.
For several weeks after being sliced away, the bricks of peat lay on the moors drying in the sun before being placed into small stacks of five, built rather like a house of cards, leaning up on each other for support. Later, they are moved up closer to the road to create larger pyramid-shaped short stacks, built upon wooden pallets to keep the nearly dry peat bricks off the ground.
peat pyramid (short stack drying on the moor)
Once essentially dry, they are dense, lighter and considerably smaller than when cut. A bank is apparently 80-90% water and the peats (after cutting) lose some 40-50% of their water content.
bringing in the peats
Alas, peat burning is not particularly environmentally beneficial. A peat moor is a CO2 sink, and all of that is released when removed. The Finns burn peat to fire electricity-producing plants and claim that it is a "long-term renewable". Though peat moors are formed more quickly than coal veins and oil pools in the ground, it is hardly renewable except in terms of hundreds of to one-thousand years.
Yet, its use is certainly part of the culture and tradition of the Outer Hebrides; harvesting it is a part of the annual cycle of crofting life. If extracted solely for personal use, dug and sorted by hand, and burnt in concert with fuel from sustainable woodland, it is a lesser of all potential evils.
beginning the peat stack (at the cottage)
And damn, it smells good burning on the fire, too.
Cheers, Barry
eerie light on loch roag at earshader (25 June 09/10.23am)
the peat bank
Cutting the peat away from the bank is labour intensive but not necessarily back breaking work. Particularly the lower layers of the peat are quite buttery, with the peat iron cleanly, easily slicing through. We're talking about creating slabs 3 inches thick, approximately 12-inches square.
For several weeks after being sliced away, the bricks of peat lay on the moors drying in the sun before being placed into small stacks of five, built rather like a house of cards, leaning up on each other for support. Later, they are moved up closer to the road to create larger pyramid-shaped short stacks, built upon wooden pallets to keep the nearly dry peat bricks off the ground.
peat pyramid (short stack drying on the moor)
Once essentially dry, they are dense, lighter and considerably smaller than when cut. A bank is apparently 80-90% water and the peats (after cutting) lose some 40-50% of their water content.
bringing in the peats
Alas, peat burning is not particularly environmentally beneficial. A peat moor is a CO2 sink, and all of that is released when removed. The Finns burn peat to fire electricity-producing plants and claim that it is a "long-term renewable". Though peat moors are formed more quickly than coal veins and oil pools in the ground, it is hardly renewable except in terms of hundreds of to one-thousand years.
Yet, its use is certainly part of the culture and tradition of the Outer Hebrides; harvesting it is a part of the annual cycle of crofting life. If extracted solely for personal use, dug and sorted by hand, and burnt in concert with fuel from sustainable woodland, it is a lesser of all potential evils.
beginning the peat stack (at the cottage)
And damn, it smells good burning on the fire, too.
Cheers, Barry
eerie light on loch roag at earshader (25 June 09/10.23am)
In : Crofting
Tags: peat croft crofting
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Barry Shelby, American-gone-native-Scotsperson, Journalist , Photographer, Author and....Crofter located now at Earshader on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Barry, based for years in Glasgow, is now with his wife Elizabeth on the Islands off the North-West Coast of Scotland.
