Why I feel I’ve lived in three centuries

Dear Friends,

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM

(01:24) Reflections on my work with organized Labor;
(20:46) Why I feel I’ve lived in three centuries;
(39:27) Ten years of climate activism;
(54:25) September Garden Q & A, with Kathy Byrnes Fallon.

First, a reminder about the annual Harvest Party. The weather is looking to cooperate. Hope you can come.

What’s this about me feeling like I’ve lived in three centuries? I’d like to tell you that I’m older than I look, but that would put me at a minimum of 125 years old, and no one’s buying that.

I was blessed (and occasionally cursed) with a matriarchal Irish grandmother, who arrived in New York in the 1920s. She made sure our family on both sides of the pond remained well connected. In 1966 at age eight, I made my first of a couple dozen trips to Ireland. All told, I’ve spent about two years of my life there.

We still own the land and house where my grandmother was raised. It’s around 25 acres, much of it now planted in oak trees (see photo below).

My uncles Tom and John in front of their home in County Roscommon, with me (middle) and my two brothers. (Photo: Shirley Fallon, June, 1966)

Rural Ireland in the 1960s and 70s was more like rural America in the late 1800s and early 1900s. During my earliest trips to stay with my uncles in rural Roscommon County, there was no electricity, no running water, no bathroom, no cars.

We drew water from a nearby well.

The great outdoors was our latrine, which my mother absolutely hated.

When the car my dad rented wasn’t available, my uncle’s horse-drawn cart hauled us into town five miles away.

Hay was made using a scythe, wooden rakes, and pitch forks, and built into haycocks. As a teenager, the first haycock I built leaned so hard to one side my cousin Joe insisted it be rebuilt.

Every family had a big garden — and an especially huge potato patch. Every day, dinner consisted of three things: a small bit of boiled pork, a large serving of boiled cabbage, and a half dozen (or more) boiled potatoes. (“Every day” is not an exaggeration, though we were sometimes fortunate to have lamb on Sunday and maybe boiled carrots, parsnips, or turnips as well.)

I loved everything about it. Over time, the amenities of modern life arrived, gradually at first, then in rapid succession with Ireland’s entry into the European Union.

I’ll leave it at that, and encourage you to listen to the second segment of this week’s podcast for a fuller account of my experience.

Of course, I hope you’ll check out the rest of the program as well, especially my discussion of the importance and resurgence of the Labor movement.

Thanks for reading, listening and taking action.

Ed Fallon

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