Here in Ireland peat is still commonly burned in open fires. Production of peat is reduced due to recent conservation legislation that upset many farmers especially in the west of Ireland.
When we do occasionally light our open fire we typically burn peat as coal is actually too hot!
We seem to have drifted off the sycamore tree, but just to note I was sad to hear the story!
When we do occasionally light our open fire we typically burn peat as coal is actually too hot!
We seem to have drifted off the sycamore tree, but just to note I was sad to hear the story!
Answer - no. See post 95. Also lifespan of wooden ships was far longer. However due to really stupid European ship design many were lost to storms.
Halauhula - after Senlac Ridge the Engli-Saxon peasants in England were only allowed to gather fallen branches and any that they could cut reaching up. Yes the argument in Europe is academic but it's not in South America or in Asia. The destruction of the Amazon to grow soybeans and to raise cattle goes on apace and in Indonesia, parts of Malaysia and in west Africa for palm oil production, which incidentally is bad for your health. The tipping point for climate is upon us now and for fish, that happened more than 20 years ago. When fish species falls to certain levels that's it the species will become extinct. What is so crazy that fish protein, minerals and enzymes are far superior to beef but I can remember toward the end of the 60s' seeing on TV huge cold stores full of prime fish that was going to be used as fish meal for cattle - 5lb of fish to make 1lb of beef.
The thing about Macauwberism is - everything is peachy - until the moment it isn't. I'm lucky, I won't be around to see the endgame. Anyway in about 1.2 billion years there won't be any life forms left on the planet so what the hell. An essential read for realists is Asimov's work on how long space travel will take and if we can't build space craft that can travel at or near the speed of light we havn't got a chance of finding another planet to decamp to, let alone the logistics of moving ourselves and lots of nec. baggage - eat, drink and be merry because
Halauhula - after Senlac Ridge the Engli-Saxon peasants in England were only allowed to gather fallen branches and any that they could cut reaching up. Yes the argument in Europe is academic but it's not in South America or in Asia. The destruction of the Amazon to grow soybeans and to raise cattle goes on apace and in Indonesia, parts of Malaysia and in west Africa for palm oil production, which incidentally is bad for your health. The tipping point for climate is upon us now and for fish, that happened more than 20 years ago. When fish species falls to certain levels that's it the species will become extinct. What is so crazy that fish protein, minerals and enzymes are far superior to beef but I can remember toward the end of the 60s' seeing on TV huge cold stores full of prime fish that was going to be used as fish meal for cattle - 5lb of fish to make 1lb of beef.
The thing about Macauwberism is - everything is peachy - until the moment it isn't. I'm lucky, I won't be around to see the endgame. Anyway in about 1.2 billion years there won't be any life forms left on the planet so what the hell. An essential read for realists is Asimov's work on how long space travel will take and if we can't build space craft that can travel at or near the speed of light we havn't got a chance of finding another planet to decamp to, let alone the logistics of moving ourselves and lots of nec. baggage - eat, drink and be merry because
No hunting here. Lots of black tailed deer. At this point the “local” ones will let me get to within a couple metres before they bound off.
dave
Lifetime of wooden ships limited due to borers (I think they are called teredo, and they are molluscs) and barnacles.remember, this is before they discovered cladding ships with metal sheet would prevent teredos from boring into wood. Scraping hulls of barnacles also reduces lifetime of ship.
Don’t get me wrong: ship building took up lots of wood. But it pales in comparison to wood for fuel, agriculture and shelter.
My earlier analysis did not even account for wood used to support metal extraction, refining and working. Again, lots of fuel to support smelting and such before coal became available. Remember, we are talking about the Copper, Bronze and Iron ages, in part.
Don’t get me wrong: ship building took up lots of wood. But it pales in comparison to wood for fuel, agriculture and shelter.
My earlier analysis did not even account for wood used to support metal extraction, refining and working. Again, lots of fuel to support smelting and such before coal became available. Remember, we are talking about the Copper, Bronze and Iron ages, in part.
When you think of how much heat a tiny coal fire can give off with a natural draft, it's staggering to think of how much heat there is in the firebox of a Union Pacific big boy, (as large as many rooms) with a draft so powerful it can lift the coal.
Jamaica was like most of the islands inhabited by the Carib tribe that emigrated out of south and central America, hence the name Caribbean. Jamaica was one huge mainly, mahogany forest. The English slaughtered the Caribs as did the Spanish and French on other islands and we all know about the slave trade from West Africa. Sugar was a hugely profitable crop and to make sugar they used the mahogany trees for fuel. When we lived in Spain we bought a 19th century chest of drawers, the sides and top were made from single pieces of mahogany, very beautiful. I said to shop owner - when I was a boy I saw builders chucking mahogany furniture out of the windows of mansion houses that were going to be knocked down to build crap blocks of flats. This furniture was then burned. He replied the same thing happened in Spain. In Ferrol, Galicia we used to pass a timber merchants that was full of illegal rain forest timber. The Spanish make excellent furniture, they are real craftsmen,, beautiful kitchen, dining room and bedroom suites and was then at 2000+ sold at prices well below anything in northern Europe. Red cedar is my favourite.
A lot of the once huge oak forests of Wales was used as timber props in the coal mines there. Ancient yew trees are a real thing of beauty, be nice if they replace the sycamore with a yew.
Yems are mythical trees:
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/yew/
A lime tree would be nice too.
Hugo
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/yew/
A lime tree would be nice too.
Hugo
The sale of peat is set to be banned in Scotland, as part of wider plans to protect peatlands and reduce carbon emissions.
https://www.gov.scot/news/ending-the-sale-of-peat-in-scotland/
Apparently, peatlands cover over a third of Scotland’s land area.
I notice that the Scottish Government will be consulting with the whisky industry, which is responsible for 1% of our peat consumption.
Let's hope that in the future we will not be denied a dram of Highland Park, which is given its distinctive aromatic flavour by the densely compacted heathery peat of Orkney!
Ye canna beat a peat heat!
My favourite single malt (can't abide blended) used to be Lagavulin - you could taste the Atlantic wind and sea and the peat. Anything under 16 years just doesn't have the depth. A little known fact - the Japanese have been winning the world's best whisky for some time. Apparently Japanese whiskies age faster than Scots. I'm not really into Spey malts. If you want to try something different than whisky then try a 20 year old Calvados - you may well be pleasantly surprised. Just like whisky young doesn't cut it.
On a cold winter's morning there's nothing like a dram before a good long walk or after a fine evening meal and a meaty red wine, finish the evening with a dram of sipping malt. slainte mhath. You can say it the Scottish or Irish way - phonetic slan/Scottish or slaun/Irish - I prefer the Irish way.
On a cold winter's morning there's nothing like a dram before a good long walk or after a fine evening meal and a meaty red wine, finish the evening with a dram of sipping malt. slainte mhath. You can say it the Scottish or Irish way - phonetic slan/Scottish or slaun/Irish - I prefer the Irish way.
This damn fish farming is destroying the wild salmon stocks as well as the release of sewage into rivers and the sea in the UK Try buying wild pacific salmon, way better than the terrible farmed salmon frfom anywhere.
In other countries it is wetlands. After covering over wetlands and building on top of them, we have discovered how important wetlands are to prevent floods and more we are starting to put them back. Really hard to restore a peat bog which play a similar role.
Not stupid. Smart. Long term.
dave
I don’t drink. Except maybe an occasional glass of good Scotch (for me as little as possible and still cover the bottom of the glass). I do not like the peaty ones…
dave
Same here. Their licences ar enot being renewed as they expire and there is significant pressure to put them on land.
I went salmon fishing once. Caught a mudshark. Threw it back, it was much fatter than the one pictured.
dave
Lagavulin is a double distilled Islay whisky - just as are most Irish whiskies. And there is nothing like a Calvados in a half pint of draught cider! As for salmon (and other species) farming
very little more to it than (mainly) Norwegian fish being transported to Scotland and merely fattened and killed in Scotland. The only real profit to Scotland is employment in the post mortem phase of the production line. The real profit money is exported.
I could go on about the Scottish Salmon sold everywhere as not being Scottish but that would probably incur the wrath of DIYA moderators. I can say though that farmed salmon is carcinogenious as well as being stuffed to the gills with antibiotics and pesticides.
If interested Google has enough info to worry you!
The attached refers to the 'tingle o'er the Isles' - tingle being an odour normally of peat smoke, Atlantic salt breezes mixed with heather....now in many parts of the West Coast and its Isles you have to add the stench of the salmon farming industry.
Escapee farmed salmon are fertile and breeding with native fish...this is why I have given up fishing other than on the East Coast rivers....but they have their own troubles created by seal loving imagery in the media and Bottlenosed Dolphins intercepting the salmon and both Cormorants and mergansers - non native species - slaughtering the infant stock whilst Signal Crayfish are eating the spawn in the spawning grounds. Very little is being done to control this spiralling multi-threat to the existence of true Scottish Salmon.
Escapee farmed salmon are fertile and breeding with native fish...this is why I have given up fishing other than on the East Coast rivers....but they have their own troubles created by seal loving imagery in the media and Bottlenosed Dolphins intercepting the salmon and both Cormorants and mergansers - non native species - slaughtering the infant stock whilst Signal Crayfish are eating the spawn in the spawning grounds. Very little is being done to control this spiralling multi-threat to the existence of true Scottish Salmon.
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