A stand-off between Coillte, a landowner and a local community in the heart of the Coolea Gaeltacht on the Cork-Kerry border has left some of those involved saying "it's like something out of John B. Keane".
The six-week-old row centres around plans by two women to plant trees on 33 hectares of marginal rock and bog mountain land in partnership with Coillte.
Ms Máirín Bean Mhic Ruaidhrí and her daughter Anne Marie live in Co Donegal, but the land at Scrahan, for which they are seeking planting permission, was inherited from Máirín's brother, the late Diarmuid Twomey.
A number of public meetings have been called to protest at the tree-planting and over the last few weeks, gardaí have been called to the scene to prevent a breach of the peace.
Names have been taken and one man, neighbouring farmer Mr Seán Lucey, ended up in hospital having injured his leg in one of the protests.
Now a court injunction is to be sought preventing interference with the planting of the 22 hectares of forestry. The Mhic Ruaidhrís have volunteered to cut back on the planting and will not now plant in front of two houses.
Three acres have been cordoned off following the discovery by Coillte archaeologists of pre-historic field stones in cut away bog.
Planting to the sky line, a turf cutting rights area and a question over a right of way are the main issued involved.
Local people say they want a full archaeological survey of the area and that the community in Coolea has enough forestry and trees.
The first they heard of planting plans was when the machines moved in, according to Mr Tomás Mullins, a neighbouring farmer and one of those involved in the stand-off.
Mr Lucey says deer and badger from another neighbouring Coillte forest, which already encloses half his fields, destroy his crops and interfere with his animals.
Friends of the Earth, an environmental organisation, has recently joined in support of the protesters.
Ms Mhic Ruaidhrí married a Donegal man and is now a widow and lives on Tory Island.
Her daughter Anne Marie is in her early 30s and works in promoting the Irish language in Donegal. She wants to move to the dusky pink farmhouse of her ancestors for "sentimental reasons" as much as to earn a living from the land. The income from forestry is a vital part of her plans.
Anne Marie feels she and her mother have become scapegoats and says everything they have done is within the law.
Other farmers in the area have planted recently without a murmur and more will do so again, she says.
In early May, four men travelled the 300 miles from Scrahan to Tory Island to talk to her mother. Mr Lucey says he visited Tory because "we felt she didn't realise how much was being planted".
The whole thing has left a sour taste in the women's mouths.
"We are losing a lot of income in agreeing to scale it down. No one is compensating us for that," Anne Marie says.
"It's like something out of John B. Keane. Maybe they thought we lived so far away we wouldn't be coming back."
Coillte is one of about four forestry companies active in the area which has three saw mills within a 20-mile radius. Thousands of acres every year are sourced for forestry.
Forestry creates employment and income for farmers and is a sustainable resource for the area, local Coillte officer Mr Pat Mungovan says. "The basic resource has to come from somewhere."