This summer we had hoped to fill up our oil tank to run our winter heating on, but the price of crude oil has inflated beyond our purse yet again. So a few weeks ago back we went to the "moss" to turn and stack our cut of peat fuel. Wood heat is not an option here in Northern Ireland, where there is a conspicuous lack of trees.

The Slievenanee Mountains in the Glens of Antrim are rich in peat. For generations, local families have had peat cutting rights. However, such ideas are largely a thing of the past. The many stone crofter houses in the mountains sit empty in favour of more modern bungalows nearer the conveniences of the towns with their gas, electricity, telephones and (more importantly) jobs. These crofters would have lived very simply with a few sheep, perhaps a cow and a few cattle. They might also have mined iron up in the hills. Peat dug and harvested entirely by hand would have served them for all their cooking and heating needs. Swallows and sheep now inhabit these crumbling houses, with their roofs falling in and grass growing from the chimneys. Mile upon mile the empty hovels can be seen by the road sides. Sheep huddle from the searing winter winds behind the ancient inset "walls" of peat, like scars on the hill sides, created years ago by the locals as they chopped down deep with their specially-made Ballymena peat spade or "slean."

To open a new "cut" of peat the top layer or "sward" had to be removed. This sward was used exten sively in roofing as a base layer for thatching over. After its removal, the rich peat underneath, which appeared like a moist chocolate cake, could be cut into with the turf spade. These spades looked similar to a regular spade, but were long, thin and flat with a metal fin at a right angle at the base. The rectangular chunks of peat were cut vertically and tossed up onto the bank to dry.

Peat itself has no odour and is very dense and moist when cut, with fibres of grass running through it here and there. Surprisingly it appears to contain almost no insects or worms. It lacks oxygen, being so dense and wet. As it dries it forms a hard shell at which point it is stacked for drying (or "castled"), but it cannot be bagged and harvested until the centre is dry. Peat burns without spitting and produces a wonderful aroma. The fine ash, which is plenteous (indeed, this must be its biggest drawback for daily use), is high in potash and so is applied straight to the garden. One advantage to peat burning is that if left on the fire, the fuel continues to glow and produce heat right through the night. The ashes can be scraped together the next morning for some quick heat for cooking, or to re-light the fire.

There are a few peat-cutting men around today, but most of this fuel is lifted by machines now. It is harvested on the mountain tops and then extruded in long "sausages" further below, where the customers can purchase what they need.

Indignation has been aroused nationally over the decimation of Ireland's peat bogs which are homes to endangered species. This may be a reaction to the huge machines employed in the southern lowland peat bogs, which extrude on a very large scale for the commercial markets. Peat from these bogs would be burned to produce electricity or sold as "Irish Peat Moss" to gardeners. In fact, large scale machinery on these bogs can destroy them in a matter of a few weeks.

Up on the Northern mountains the extrusion of peat is on a far smaller scale. When the "cut" has been purchased it must be chopped into sections, dried, turned and castled in square stacks or stacked in wig-wam shaped groups so the wind can dry it thoroughly on all sides. Sometimes a whole cut can be lost due to a wet summer, but usually it dries sufficiently to be bagged and brought down by August. If not it can be stored in a peat shed which has slatted walls to allow the air in. It is not unusual to see whole families up on the "moss," as it is called locally, turning and stacking all day long. Potato boxes, which could hold a ton of potatoes, are hauled up on the back of ancient tractors and the filled bags are loaded. As they bump away down the hill on which we are working, we wonder how they manage to keep going without the whole cargo toppling over into the brook which has to be forded in order to reach the road.

Curious things have been found in the peat; ancient remains of human bodies dating back thousands of years. Locally, pieces of 3,000 year old fossilized trees have been uncovered, and on one occasion a very well-preserved cheese in a woven bag. It was common for locals to bury their food on hot days in the cold moist turf until lunch time. One wonders how this cheese could have been forgotten - surely it would have been missed? No doubt much labour had gone into its preparation.

Oil heating may be more convenient for our busy life styles, but the reasonable cost and reliability of a locally-produced fuel, with little price variation over the years, is very attractive to some of us. I think we will get just a lick of oil though - to stop the tank from blowing away.