School: Tomena
- Location:
- Gortullaghan, Co. Cavan
- Teacher: T. Mac Uidhir
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0963, Page 465
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- XML School: Tomena
- XML Page 465
- XML “Churning”
- XML “A Story about Churning”
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- We have a churn at home. It is a kind of barrel widened at the bottom and narrowed at the top and middle. It is twenty years old. The names for the various parts of the churn are, the lid the dash and the dabler.Milk used to be churned every day in the summer before the creameries started. If a stranger comes in when churning is in progress he must take a brash in order not to take the butter off the churn. Churning takes about an hour.The dash which has a long handle is worked up and down with the hands, through a hole in the centre of the lid. The dabler is saucer shaped and it slides down the dash to cover the lid and prevent the milk from splashing out of the churn. The churning is finished when the butter has collected on top of the milk and when no grains remain on the dash.
It is said '' Too long churning makes bad butter '' '' If you want to insult a woman do not eat her butter ''
- A story about churningOnce upon a time there lived an old woman in a house in the middle of a wood. One day she started to churn and the churn was near(continues on next page)
