CountryWide

On Easter weekend five years ago, at the start of the pandemic we played a recording made by Ella McSweeney at the farmhouse kitchen table of the Kentucky farmer and poet Wendell Berry. It was of his poem about finding comfort in nature in uncertain times.

Duration:00:04:07

When electricity came to farmhouse kitchens

When power arrived into farm kitchens, they were transformed, and that is a subject that caught Rosemary Hartigan Hayes' imagination some years ago. She is giving a talk next week in the Agricultural Museum in Johnstown Castle in County Wexford.

Duration:00:06:05

New homes for hundreds of flying raptors in Sligo

For the past 25 years the Irish Raptor Research Centre in Sligo put on daily displays of eagles, hawks, falcons and vultures. But now the centre is set to close.

Duration:00:07:45

Countrywide Full Episode 19/04/2025

Countrywide Full Episode 19/04/2025

Duration:00:44:39

Chocolate making in County Wexford

Bean and Goose is a bean-to-bar chocolate company in County Wexford, founded by Natalie and Karen Keane.

Duration:00:08:57

Citizen Scientists

With 73,000 kilometres of rivers, measuring water quality is a large exercise for the EPA and the Local Authorities. UCD decided to enlist the help of citizen scientists, supported by LAWPRO, the local authorities water programme.

Duration:00:07:27

FarmBioNet, a new knowledge network focusing on nature on the farm

Thirty people have already signed up to participate in FarmBioNet, a new knowledge network focusing on nature on the farm, including dairy farmers’ James and Rachel Creighton. Brenda Donohue visited them on their farm on the Wicklow-Kildare border.

Duration:00:09:06

Eurovision writer Larissa Tormey from Kilbeggan

One of the writers of this year’s Eurovision entry is Larissa Tormey from Kilbeggan via Russia, first heard many years ago on Countrywide singing to her cows.

Duration:00:09:09

Cows on the bank of the River Slaney

Last Monday seemed like another ordinary lunch break for Sharon Callaghan in Enniscorthy. Taking a break from her job in Revive and Thrive shop, she came face to face with a number of cows who had escaped their field and sauntered onto the banks of the River Slaney.

Duration:00:06:59

Environmental Innovators programme

This week, the finalists of Agri Aware’s and BiOrbic’s Transition Year programme Environmental Innovators have been announced.

Duration:00:08:31

Spring is here!

A montage of spring sounds recorded in the last few weeks.

Duration:00:03:47

Roscommon's Ballydangan Bog

Ecologist David Fallon is one of the people behind what is recognised as one of the best community conservation projects in the country, on Ballydangan Bog in Roscommon.

Duration:00:06:40

When lambing and wildfire season collide in Donegal

In Donegal last Saturday, 5000 acres around the Barnesmore Gap in the Bluestack Mountains went up in flames. Niall Bryson’s sheep were out on the commonage at the time and his flock got cut in two by the flames. He hasn’t seen them since.

Duration:00:08:02

Macra elections 2025-2027

Brenda Donohue captures how the results for the Macra elections unfolded at the Irish Farm Centre in Bluebell.

Duration:00:07:25

GAA impact in New York

How has GAA fostered a strong sense of Irish-American community in the United States that goes beyond the sport.

Duration:00:13:30

A 6,000-year-old farming calendar in Sligo

Farmer Leo Lyden, talks about a millennia-old dolmen he found on his farm on the Maugherow peninsula in Sligo that lines up with the rising sun on both the spring and autumn equinoxes.

Duration:00:09:23

Impact of Trump tariffs on Irish agriculture