RTÉ - CountryWide Podcast

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A bright start to the weekend with Damien O'Reilly and the CountryWide team, featuring events, people and happenings from across the country.

RTÉ:Ireland


    • Jun 14, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekdays NEW EPISODES
    • 13m AVG DURATION
    • 1,330 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from RTÉ - CountryWide Podcast

    How to reduce farming emissions

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2025 27:49


    Two weeks ago the latest set of results showed that if business continues as usual that not only would the climate change target not be met, but that emissions could increase.

    Meet the firefighters

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2025 10:14


    There are two thousand retained fire fighters across the country, working from more than 200 local fire stations serving local communities in rural Ireland. They are looking for more members to join their ranks to provide this vital community service.

    Connecting with the ocean

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2025 8:13


    Mike Consolini loves the sea, and he also creates music reflecting on the way he connects with the sea.

    What's happening in County Meath national park

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2025 11:28


    Ella McSweeney travels to Boyne Valley to find out how biodiversity of grasslands is being improved by wildflowers for the soon-to-open national park.

    How Korean natural farming can yield delicious vegetables

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2025 6:28


    Kevin Wallace of New Leaf Urban Farmers explains how he grew award-winning vegetabes with this unconventional method.

    Fish and rising sea temperature

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2025 8:57


    Marine biologists explain how warming of the seas is going to affect Atlantic salmons.

    Challenges to Ireland's water systems

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2025 8:39


    Ahead of World ocean day, Micheál Ó Cinnéide, founder of the Blasket Island Foundation, shares his thoughts on water bodies of Ireland and increasing threat of climate change.

    Judging show gardens at Bloom

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2025 6:54


    Bloom opened to the public on Thursday, but the show gardeners hoping to win prizes have been here days in advance. And on Tuesday the judges saw the gardens for the first time. Then they saw them again on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning, Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates were awarded.

    Inside knowledge from Tidy Town judges

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2025 4:55


    From next Saturday, Tidy Town judges will start visiting the 900 or so communities who have entered the competition. They will know not the day nor the hour when an incognito judge will turn up. Dr Christy Boylan is a long standing judge and trainer of judges of the Tidy Towns, at Bloom to share some inside knowledge.

    Trade breakfast

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2025 2:28


    Under the surface there is a lot of business being done at Bloom. On the Friday morning of every Bloom, before the gates open to the public, buyers from all the major retailers have breakfast with food producers looking for shelf space for their wares.

    Killadoon Milk's first trip to Bloom

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2025 6:02


    Killadoon Milk use the milk from their cross bred jersey cows to supply a network of vending machines in the east of the country. Ella McSweeney visited Martin Donovan at Killadoon Estate near Celbridge in County Kildare in his rotary milk parlour.

    Mentoring at Bloom

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2025 14:34


    Quite a few businesses have approached a mentor for a bit of advice at Bloom.

    Countrywide Bloom Special

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2025 40:54


    Countrywide Bloom Special (For copyright reasons the full tracks performed during this programme cannot be made available in the podcast)

    Impact of dry weather on bog fires

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 7:07


    We visit the scene of a recent fire bog fire, started by fly tippers, but exaggerated by the dry weather.

    Nesting time for curlews

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 4:15


    It is nesting time for curlews in areas like that bog in Laois and the ones devastated in Roscommon. Clodagh Helen was conducting a survey of curlew nesting sites on Monday night as one of those fires took hold.

    Petrichor

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 3:24


    Petrichor is the name of the unmistakable earthy, musty scent with a hint of moss, that always comes with freshly fallen rain after a long dry spell.

    Endangered cows in Mayo

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 7:12


    We meet members of the Bó Riabhach Cattle Society, who are passionate about native Irish breeds. Picture from https://boriabhachsociety.ie/

    A French potager garden in Laois

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 7:29


    Dunmore Country School in Durrow, County Laois has created a French 'potager' garden. Picture from https://www.dunmorecountryschool.ie/

    Farm Labour

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 10:04


    Farming would grind to a halt were it not for a skilled, mobile and flexible relief workforce. But who are these men and women? What motivates them if their reward is not going to be a share in, or ownership of the farm they are working on?

    Putting the ups and downs of farming to music

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 4:42


    Keith Brennan, who regularly shares his observations of life and nature on his family farm, has put the ups and downs of farming life to music.

    Countrywide Full Episode 24.05.25

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2025 46:11


    Countrywide Full Episode 24.05.25

    Balmoral Show

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2025 8:17


    Beef and dairy farmers in Northern Ireland are enjoying the same kind of price boon their colleagues south of the border are getting. And this week just outside Belfast, the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society is running Balmoral Show.

    A visit to Coppenagh House Farm

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2025 9:19


    Countrywide visited a 60-acre beef farm in Tullow Co Carlow, which is also a one-stop-shop for everything from Wagyu beef boxes to yoga, and their own country fashion clothing brand. Visit https://coppenaghfarm.ie/ for more information.

    What is the quintessential scent of Ireland?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2025 9:58


    Ireland has an official scent, nominated by the government, for inclusion in a project to create a global archive of smells. A quarter century ago, the government decided that our official smell would be 'Burning Turf'. But we are now looking to update our signature scent. Cast your vote on https://worldsensorium.com/

    Should we plant trees on bogs?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2025 5:45


    Experts gathered this week in Ennistymon, Co Clare for the Hometree Changing Landscapes conference, exploring new ideas about nature conservation, including Junior Minister Healy-Rae's proposal to plant trees on bogs.

    Connecting Cabra Biodiversity Festival

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2025 7:18


    Connecting Cabra Biodiversity Festival starts at 1pm today, to mark National Biodiversity Week.

    Countrywide Full Episode 17/05/2025

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2025 44:09


    Countrywide Full Episode 17/05/2025

    TB eradication among animals

    Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2025 22:56


    A team vaccinating healthy badgers and culling diseased ones to try and stem the spread of the disease speak to Philip Boucher-Hayes and Minister for agriculture Martin Heydon shares details of TB eradication programme and its cost.

    Robert McFarlane on rivers

    Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2025 8:26


    British writer talks about what inspired him to write his latest book 'Is A River Alive'.

    Writer Janet Heeran on her childhood

    Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2025 3:37


    Janet Heeran, who lives in a farm on the side of a mountain in North Cork, was reminded of her own childhood after an encounter with a group of eager six-year-olds.

    Áine Ní Dhroighneáin's flower farm

    Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2025 7:51


    A teacher by profession, Áine Ní Dhroighneáin, took a sabbatical last year to focus on farm flowers. She speaks with Treasa Bhreathnach on what inspired her to make the move.

    On the banks of the Maigue

    Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2025 43:15


    Countrywide's bank holiday weekend special, on the banks of the river Maigue in Limerick.

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

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 9:06


    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.

    Citizen Scientists

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 7:27


    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.

    Chocolate making in County Wexford

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 8:57


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

    Countrywide Full Episode 19/04/2025

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 44:39


    Countrywide Full Episode 19/04/2025

    New homes for hundreds of flying raptors in Sligo

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 7:45


    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. 

    When electricity came to farmhouse kitchens

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 6:05


    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.

    Finding comfort in nature

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2025 4:07


    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. 

    Impact of Trump tariffs on Irish agriculture

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2025 16:34


    Small business-owner, who harvests seasweed, talks about how the tariffs might affect her and Farmers Journal Agri-Business Editor Lorcan Roche Kelly estimates what we might be the consequences.

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

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2025 9:23


    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.

    GAA impact in New York

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2025 13:30


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

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