Madden’s Rain-Soaked Harvest
Cathal Ó Conchubhair’s surviving account book and diary offers an unusually close view of 1738. Written in Irish, it records work, weather, crops, animals, rents and household concerns in the practical language of a working farm. It cannot stand for every district of Ireland, but it gives firm dates and a vivid sense of how weather shaped daily decisions. In April he noted the preparation of old potato ground and recorded that all his potatoes had been planted by 18 April. Potatoes were already an important crop in many households, but they were part of a mixed economy of oats, barley, wheat, livestock and turf rather than a sole source of food.