Early Life Stories and Memories - Accounts from Sonny O'Brien , Co. Wexford.

Recorded by Michael Fortune in Grantstown Day Centre, Grantstown, Co. Wexford on the 8th of April 2024.
This recording was made as part of a folklore collection recorded and
produced by Michael with the support of the Grantstown Day Care
Centre and the Arts Department of Wexford County Council
under their Creative Communities Scheme.
List of Contents
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00:00 - Working for farmers and moving to England for work. The difference in money and wages was striking.
01:27 - Killing a pig when he was younger. Salting the pig as they didn’t have a fridge.
2:02 - Talks about making hay with a buckrake. Talks about ‘twirl wind’ in the fields.
2:24 - Talks about his small farm and what they grew. He talks about his father trapping rabbits and selling them to Murphy’s in New Ross.
3:16 - Going to school and walking 3 1/4 miles to school. He talks about walking to mass and not being bale to afford two pairs of wellington boots and swapping them in turn with his sister.
3:59 - Cutting corn with a scythe. Opening the headlands. He remembers a farmer picking up the corn heads by hand as they were so valuable. Talks about threshing and paints the scene.
5:44 - Houses with clay floors and hens and chickens inside scraping up the clay floor looking for something to eat.
6:04 - Throwing sand on the clay floors. The sand kept the clay in place.
6:41 - Remembers the hens setting and setting 12 eggs under a clucking hen. Setting inside. Getting clay for the hens.
8:10 - Remembers father trapping rabbits. He tells a really funny story of giving his father a nettle to wipe his backside when they were out hunting. Didn’t end well for father or Sonny.
8:48 - Trapping foxes and bringing them to Garda station for the bounty.
9:31 - Eating rabbits. Spring rabbits and making soup out of them. Couldn’t afford meat. Killed a pig, salt it and gave a bit to the neighbours. Shared milk and food and gave a hand to neighbours.
10:41 - How life is different now.