School: Carpenterstown (Templefanum) (roll number 5415)
- Location:
- Carpenterstown, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: Mary Smyth
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0722, Page 118
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- XML School: Carpenterstown (Templefanum)
- XML Page 118
- XML “Churning”
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- (continued from previous page)Then the churn is washed down with cold water. Then the buttermilk is washed out of the butter three or four times. Then the salt is put on it and mixed up with the butter-spades. Then it is washed again. It is made into pound or two pound rolls.
Other people have churns called "End over end". They are shaped like a barrel and are worked by turning the handle round and round. There is a stand where the churn is placed. The lid is screwed to the churn with four handles. There is a plug in a hold in the side of it where the buttermilk is let out when the churning is finished. There is a vent on the lid to let the air out. In some houses the churning is done three or four times a week during the summer months as cows give more milk when the grass is green and long than in the winter when there is very little grass.
It is an old custom that a person who comes in during the churning takes the handle and fives it a few turns. That person is said to put luck on it. Some say when taking the handle "I must put the weight of myself(continues on next page)
- Collector
- Rose Farrelly
- Gender
- Female
