The past week has been challenging for much of Ireland, especially Cork and Kerry where snow levels haven't been seen in nearly 100 years. At our farm we were fortunate to only have about 20cm (8 inches) of snowfall over a few days, but friends in Rockchapel had over 45cm (18 inches) and were without power for several days. Temperatures dropped to -8C (17F) which is the lowest we have recorded at the farm. Newly added heavy pipe insulation was not enough to keep some lines from freezing, and some of the timed water valves burst inside the poly tunnels. The main snowfall was Sunday, 5-Jan with smaller amounts on Monday and into Tuesday.

We checked on a couple elderly neighbours to ensure they had sufficient food and heat. Thankfully our area did not lose power or water, but nearby communities were badly impacted. The road into town to the south goes over a railway bridge and then has a steep, curving hill that several people got stuck on and had to be pulled out by tractors. In the other direction is the old bog road which is mostly flat, but in very poor condition due to snow and ice.

It was lovely to call in for tea with our neighbours several times, and we sat by fires at night to keep warm and watched some movies. I did a bit of clean up and organising in the big tractor shed, but could only stay out there for 2-3 hours at a time because it was so cold even during the day. The Myford lathe has been removed from the stand once again and feet of the stand cut off in preparation for adding support channel to the bottom and then mounting to a mobile base with lifting wheels (more on that in another post).

On Wednesday it never got above 0C (32F) and our supplies were getting low so I drove our 4 wheel drive Kioti tractor into town. The local Supervalu market had shorter hours, but were getting deliveries and had most shelves well stocked. In town the road was good having been scraped and gritted (sanded), but the bog road and down to the station road were challenging even in with the tractor. The trip took over 30 minutes in each direction (normally about 7 minutes), and we were able to pickup supplies for our neighbours.

We even had some icicles hanging from the curled snow leaning over the tractor shed and cottage roofs...

Thursday afternoon the Kioti was used to scrape snow out of the farm yard and clear a path for our van to get out since I had to drive up to Maynooth on Friday. I really sympathise with the staff and farmers who had to do hours of road clearing. It's hard, long hours in the cold. Our yard only took about 3 hours to clear, but toes were cold the entire time and insulated boots are on the shopping list.

Next week's forecast is 10C-12C (50F-54F) and a bit of sun most days so hopefully all the snow will melt and folks can get back to regular schedule...