SILAGE!!!

Taylor has finally caught the farming bug here in Ireland. She got to go 'mowing' yesterday with William and Eoghan in preparation for silage harvesting. Once the grass grows to a certain height, they mow it leaving rows of cut grass. Then they come back through with the silage harvester which cuts up the grass into tiny pieces and shoots it into the back of a trailer. The trailer then takes the silage to the farm where they pack it in plastic for the winter. Unlike most other countries, Ireland has the ability to make the feed for the winter with all of the land they have, so silage harvesting becomes a big deal around this time of year. Apparently people make bets on how many fields they can harvest, so it really ends up just becoming a big competition between farmers. In case you hadn't already realized, silage is not as big of a deal in the states as it is here!

Eoghan, Katie, and I watching William in the mower

The rows of mowed grass ready to be harvested

Taylor, Eoghan, and William up in the tractor mowing

Also, the other day Carmel (Gillian's sister) and Claire (Kieran's sister) took us to Glenville to see their 'tug of war' team in action. (Yes, they seriously compete in tug of war here!). It was like something out of a movie. We were standing in the middle of nowhere watching a group of men pull against about a 1/2 ton weight. The weight is held up in a tripod. They use this as a warm-up exercise and then move on to pulling against each other. And I thought 'tug of war' was just something we did in gym class as a kid...

The guys pulling against the weight (the weight is now at the top of the tripod)

Claire, Tay, and I watching the pulling.. and getting eaten alive by gnats

Now they try pulling against each other!