Farming is a way of life that teaches agronomy practices, environmental conservation, and the care of animals. Ever since mankind domesticated animals and settled down we have been using the land to grow and cultivate food for all to eat. Ireland is laden with agriculture. Sometimes it seems that that is all you see, fields and fields of crops for various uses. At the Johnstown Castle, in Co. Wexford, there is the Irish Agricultural Museum. Taking you back in time to ages of horses and plows to the Irish Famine and into a more modern era, but still date a few decades back.

Irish Agricultural Museum

The museum shows the history of Irish Agriculture and Life through displays with authentic props. Each area showed a different part of Irish Agriculture. There were four areas that were of particular  interest to me: Lawn Mowers, Mini-Scale Tractors, Milk Production, and the Irish Famine. 

Lawn Mowers

This one is obvious. I loved seeing the different mowers and how early style mowers are very similar to the current ones, just without the bells and whistles. I saw early reel mowers, both walk-behind and riding, the first rotary blade push mower, and an early Fly mower. 

Mini-Scale Tractors 

Machines used on farms are large and would be hard to fit into a museum of this size. There is an area with some tractors to scale that show what they would be like, just smaller. Brought me back to my days of playing with my toy tractors and barns. 

Milk Production

Back home I have worked on a variety of dairy farms. Free stalls, stanchion barn, and milking bucket are normal to me. I was very interested in seeing the display. In the display the history of milking is shown and the way milking is done is explained. The first milk testing in Ireland was shown. Before milk testing there was no way to know exactly how much milk a cow produced and its components. With the advent of milk testing farmers could choose the better animals and sell the ones of lesser quality. Back then quality depended on the amount of milk a cow produced. I also saw the different milking machines used and the bottles milk came in.

Check out #7. Got Milk?

The Irish Famine

The final area highlighted is the Irish Potato Famine. Much of Irish history revolves around the potato famine as well as other countries. Especially the United States, which saw millions of immigrants from Ireland during the 1840s and 50s. In this display you get to see how the Irish lived and farmed up to the famine, during the famine, and after the famine to today. What was impressive to me was the amount of potatoes the Irish ate every day. Children ate 4.9 lbs, women 11.2 lbs and men 14lbs of potatoes every day. I always heard about the large amounts of potatoes eaten in Ireland, but did not have a visual to see what that amount was. Now I do! Also, I enjoyed seeing the history of the discovery of the Phytophthora fungus causing the potato blight. 

Check Out Those Potatoes

Johnstown Castle and Gardens

Some pictures of the beautiful grounds and gardens of the Johnstown Castle

Kilmore Quay

Rounding out the day we stopped at the coastal town, Kilmore Quay, for a quick view of the sea and the Memorial Garden "To Those Lost at Sea".