School: Carrickerry, Árd-achadh (roll number 11281)

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1. Churning

   

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   Up to six years ago my Paternal grandmother used to make butter both for our own use and for sale. When she had the cows milked, she used to strain the milk and put it in keelers on a stilleen in the dairy and leave it there until the cream would be well set generally one day. Then she would skim the cream off the top of the milk with a timber skimmer shaped like a saucer made of beech. When she would have about one gallon of sour cream she would scald the churn and then put the cream into it. She would then put the churn staff into the churn and put the lid on. She would pull the churn staff up and down until the butter would be made. This would take about a 1/4 of an hour in the Summer and 1/2 an hour in the Winter. Then she would take out the butter with a "skimmer", and put it in a peck and wash it in three clear spring waters, She would put about 1/2 pound of salt to every eight pounds of butter and put it into a fircin.
   Whilst the churning is in progress everyone must take her turn of the work. Even strangers or passers by had to do so. The belief was that if you didn't you charmed away the butter out of the churn. But my grandmother said this custom was a means of making the work of churning much lighter. My grandmother O Sullivan used to coir with my grandmother O Grady and my grandfather O Sullivan used to carry the fircins of butter on the horse on cart to the Abbeyfeale or sometimes to the Athea butter markets. He used

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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