moving to Ireland?

[isenhand]

I remember something about people saying that Ireland was a good place to be post peak. Can?t remember what thread that was now but maybe those who like Ireland would be interested in this:

http://www.thevillage.ie/

[skeptik]

I remember something about people saying that Ireland was a good place to be post peak.

Low population and climatic advantages - mild weather, not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter, plus it rains a lot. So long as you dont get potato blight you should be ok for homegrown veg without irrigation.


"The Village"...sounds. um.. interesting... "I am not a number, I am a free man"

How many screens does their multiplex have? I cant seem to find that on the website. And how far is it to the nearest decent offie... man cannot live by home grown organic carrots alone. For sanity's sake the occasional bottle of Sauvignon Blanc is required.

[grinu]

Soils are very poor. Even before the potato famine, ireland was overpopulated. Potatoes were the only food source that grew proficially enough in the conditions to support the population as a staple food source.

[aisling]

I would not agree that soils are very poor. In some parts of the country yes, notably the west coast, where the tourists go! The east, midlands, south have lots of lush land. Unfortunately some of the best land is around Dublin which is being eaten away by urban sprawl. As an aside, lots of stuff grew here before the famine, it's just the Irish people were not allowed to keep any of it. At any rate the population now is half what it was before the famine.

[snow hope]

Poor soil? Not to my knowledge.... We are not called the Emerald Isle for nothing. It really is green and lush over here - when everything in the SE of England is yellow/brown. No problem with water. I would imagine Scotland and Wales would be pretty similar though.

[grinu]

I always thought Ireland would be a good place, but I read a couple of books on the potato famine recently and apparently a lot of the more fertile land has been built over, and even back in the days it was heavily over populated (I do realise the population is currently just over half what it was back then). It did say the most fertile land was in the south and east.
Ireland's history seems to have been marred by continual poverty - and whilst some of it will have been due to the english, a large part was to do with the wet climate which made it difficult to store food, acidic peaty soils across most of the country which could only support a certain selection of crops, and lack of natural resources.

I'm still planning to head over there, mainly cos I have lots of family there and my other half is from there.