School: Cooley

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1. Churning

   

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   We have a churn at home. It is four and a half feet in height. The top is four feet in width and the bottom is also four feet in width. The sides of the churn are straight. The churn is ten years old. There are six galvanized hoops on it. It is made up of staves. There is a "lagan" in the bottom of it and an exit on the top. We churn four times each week in the Summer and twice each week in the Winter. We sell a good quantity of butter in the Summer but not so much in the Winter. The churning is done by my mother and one of my sisters. The strangers who come in at the churning help with it. The churning is done in an hour. It is done by hand. The churn staff is moved upwards and downwards. the butter is made when it is to the be seen in large lumps on top of the milk. You put in a good quantity of hot water in Winter anda good quantity of cold milk hot in Summer. The hot water goes in to help to churn it. The butter is lifted out into a wooden disk. The cold water is put into it to wash the milk out of the butter. Then the butter is salted and weighed and put into pounds or half-pounds. Some of the buttermilk is used for making

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. agriculture (~2,659)
            1. butter and churns (~3,280)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Catherine Logue

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Ballylawn, Co. Donegal

   Informant

   Mrs Kathleen Logue

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Ballylawn, Co. Donegal