School: Loughill, Longford

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1. Churning

   

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   We have a churn at home. It is 4 feet 6 inches tall and 40 inches in circumference. The sides are round. The parts are, the churn itself, the lid, the dash and the cupan or jogler. The makers name is Patrick Brady is on the bottom.
   Butter is made at an average of 3lb a week because at times the cows have a good deal of butter and others none. My Mother does the churning and we help her. When strangers come in they take a brash for fear they would take the butter with them. It takes one half an hour to churn. It is done by hand, and to make it easier to churn the swing the dash from side to side.
   When it is done it is the size of grains of wheat it is churn. Water is poured in according to the temperature of the weather. Hot is poured in, in Winter and cold in Summer. The lid is lifted then the dash, and the sides of the churn are rinsed down with cold water. The butter is gathered together and lifted out with the spades. Then it is washed with spring water and salted in a wooden dish. Then it is made to lb bars.
   There was a woman in the Parish of Killoe who missed her butter. She could churn for hours and still have no yield but bubbles of stink rising from the milk. She wondered what was the cause but she told the priest. He came and examined it and found everything was kept clean. He also said her butter was been taken and he would speak about it at Mass the next Sunday. He said they, who too the butter were not strangers. A son of this woman was going to (Mass the) on a message to a neighbours house but he did not go in go in with the fright of what he saw. The woman of the house had a queer black hand and she was dipping it over the churn saying 'gather together far and near'. The Priest said it was her who took the butter

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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

   Kevin Doherty

   Gender

   Male