If I were to take the easy option to encapsulate the essence of the 'Old Ireland' DVDs (Part 1 & 2) I would be tempted to simply quote from the opening narration, the famous Joseph Campbell poem, 'I Will Go With My Father':

"I will go with my father a ploughing
To the green fields by the sea
And the rooks and the crows and the seagulls
Will come flocking after me." Etc, etc.

However, that would be far too easy and the danger would be that 'Old Ireland' might be at a distance or somehow removed from our psyche. Yet, however hard some may try to blot out the hardships of rural life of the 1940's and '50s, our early experiences are part of what we are and what we pass on to future generations. On the other hand, the romantics among us see rural Ireland of that period through rose tinted glasses, and, I suppose, somewhere in between lies the real 'Old Ireland'.

The 'Old Ireland' DVDs, in a realistic way, take us, season by season, through the transition from the farm horse to the tractor; a transition that largely took place in Ireland in the period mentioned - though the horse was still King on many farms right up to the early '70's and beyond. 'Old Ireland' gives us a detailed glimpse at the annual labours and joys of the Irish farmer of that period: tilling and sowing, cutting turf (Ah! - The day in the bog), shearing sheep, saving hay, harvesting corn, potato picking, etc, etc. Then, of course there was the threshing!

Threshing the corn was the 'Thanks Giving', if you like. The neighbours gathered - the young and the old worked in harmony to the rhythmic drone of the threshing mill. Orange squash and bottles of stout were in abundance, all treated with due respect in anticipation of what was to follow - the Harvest Ball of it's day, the House Dance - the turf fire, the fresh baked soda-bread, the singing, the storytelling and, of course, the dancing.

Need I say more - go on, it's all on 'Old Ireland' Part 1 & 2.

"And I will sing to the weary reapers
With the wren in the heat of the sun
And my father will sing, the scythe song
That joys for the harvest done."