Every pair of hands were a blessing in the bog - the whole family would head to the bog to foot the new turf. They procedure was to face the wet sides outward to allow the sods to dry by air and sunlight.

This photograph has been much loved my fans of Old Ireland DVD over the years. Is it the sight of the cows observing the horses at toil? Maybe it is the sturdy plough in the hands of the capable farmer? What are your thoughts?

The two horses are opening the drills for sowing. First they split the ground with a plough to be able to plant potatoes. Straight after the potatoes were planted, the soil was split again to cover them.

In the month of May the sowing of the turnips took place. The turnip crop was not generally lifted until November or December and was an important vegetable in Ireland of this time.

A vital part of rural life was for the wisdom of the elders to be passed down to the young. This was achieved with practical example and encouraging chat. Here we have Tara and her brother Gearoid making their first stack of turf.

The entire family plays a part in the working of the bog - however it is not all work and the children have a great time trying to catch wild frogs and collecting the many flowers around the area.

This is the most famous tractor in the world, Henry Ford's 1932 Model N Tractor - a blessing to so many farms.

This is the rewarding stage of the work - when the turf is being loaded into the wheel barrow and is saved.

The turf was cut in March, and often in very cold conditions. The bog by it's very nature of being a flat area offers practically no protection from the elements. How lovely it must have been to take your cold,hardened hands over to the flickering fire and warm up for a few minutes.

There really was no retirement in Ireland of these decades. Both men and women worked to sustain their families and hopes until their passing as much as they could.

Before the invention of the corn drill imagine the farmer used to shake out the clay with his bare hands. What a welcome addition this invention must have been, allowing the horse to do the work for him.

Covering a house with a roof of straw, reeds or heather is a tradition that has existed in Ireland for 9,000 years. During that time it has evolved into an art form that is appreciated by all, and the Irish thatched cottage has become one of the features of our heritage that is most photographed and most loved. In spite of the reduction in the number of houses now using thatch, there is still a demand for thatchers and they continue to command respect wherever they ply their trade. The half-door was a great way to be in the home and still keep up to date with all that went on in your village!

There were many stages to making a corn stack. You cut the corn, you stooked it, which meant that you put six sheaves up against six other sheaves leaning against each other at the top and then you probably hutted it which was kind of a round stack. Then you just sloped up the sheaves and split one at the top to make a kind of thatch and the next thing there had to be carted and then built into proper stacks where they remained. They were thatched and remained there for the winter until they were needed to be taken in and threshed.

The addition of a threshing mill to a farm was a massive step towards modernization and increased productivity.

An intricate job to make sure the haystack is able to withstand rain and wind.

On November 3, 1938, Harry Ferguson demonstrated the Ferguson System to Henry Ford on the grounds of Fair Lane, the Ford family estate. On November 8, 1938, Harry Ferguson entered into an agreement with Henry Ford to produce and market a new tractor. The agreement between Henry Ford and Harry Ferguson began an era of innovation in small tractor technology, an era than began with the production of the "9N" Ford tractor in 1939.

The self sufficiency of the Irish Farmers was both huge and necessary. This fantastic picture shows the men sharpening the tools on the grinding stone. They are making a wheel for the barrow.

Up until the 1920's steam engines ruled supreme. Marshall’s turning out a large percentage of steam tractors known as plowing engines as can be seen in the photograph. However the introduction of the internal combustion engine in farm machinery and the onslaught of the economic depression saw a great decline for the demand of such large and heavy machines.

The first David Brown/Ferguson tractor was produced in 1936. We see such a model here pulling a chain harrow over the soil.