The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 81

Good morning everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens. Another beautiful morning thank God. Another of a day in our life. Today I am going to talk to you about the gravest. Our harvest commences each year in the first week of June, weather permitting. We usually cut and save hay as it suits our organic type of farming and my father always said “hay is warmer in the winter time for all animals” and I believe this to be right. In the winter time when I roll out a bale of hay for the animals it is always exciting as there is a burst of flavour, wild herbs, flowers and grass. It reminds me of the opening of a nice Sauvignon Blanc and the aroma bursts out of you. That’s farming in my opinion and the excitement is the same for every bale of hay. So yesterday we cut our first crop of hay. It will take about 5 days or so and we turn it every day to dry it out then we bale it into big round bales and place them in the barn for the winter. How nice that we can bale this June flavour to be consumed over the winter months. That’s what makes Ballinwillin House Farm so special – only the best for my animals on the farm that bring me so much joy.

As I walked the fields yesterday of freshly cut grass there was a gently flow of fresh air and sun but as well as having to harvest the hay I was always mindful that I was harvesting the sounds, the moments, the history and the memories of the farm. I have been so lucky to have been taught that my first lesson for a home through the medium of nature and I was taught to walk lightly and naturally and mindfully along the land. I always say to visitors at Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens when they come to stay in the Bed and Breakfast that “The interplay between farmer and the elements is a poem without words”.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 78

Good morning everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens. Another beautiful morning and we are being blessed and showered with dazzling sunshine at this time. It is the beginning of another new month of June which could be a very deciding in our future in Ireland. We all enjoyed a very peaceful, relaxing and mindful weekend at Ballinwillin and I find peace and silence like a homecoming and it transcends all through and intellectual behaviour. Much of our own time and a lot of our mental energy is spent with work and trying to make ends meet and figure things out and when you look into your mind you see thoughts spinning round and round and you are going nowhere and accomplishing nothing. Now it is time to be still a while, control your thoughts, let a slow and warm light soothe into your mind and heart until you find that inner warmth that will spark your smile and ring that bell of being alive and in the now.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 77

Good morning everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens. Another amazing and beautiful morning – the last day of May 2020. The last day of beautiful May that we never again witness in this year, a year and a month that has brought great sadness and grief to many people but also a month that has brought great beauty and happiness to people and here on the farm, even though times are very difficult we have had great beauty in our plants, flowers, animal births and tremendous joy with our two wonderful grandchildren and again I feel I must return to the subject of nature as it is deeply engrained on The Mindful Farmers mind. I feel when I am on nature my deepest prayers are formed here and it being Sunday I believe it is appropriate on this last day of May. For those of you who believe that prayer is restricted to those only who are religious, pious or spiritual it is not so and neither can it be said that those of you who have no religion or beliefs are not in prayers. Prayer is the activity of the soul and each soul is so different and the Eternal is related to each of us in a unique way but the prayers of the soul speaks itself in each life differently and it is impossible and not right for any of us to judge the other. You may think that you know someone in society or life but we have no idea what is going on through their soul or destiny. We have no idea what narrative God is writing for us on this Sunday, the last day of May. We are all ready and in this drama of life but thank God we have not seen the script and will not and need not.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other and keep that smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 74

Good morning everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm on this fabulous May morning. This morning as I was meditation and bending my mind back to our session yesterday which I really enjoyed and thank you for joining me and I apologise again about the technical glitch at the end. I hope you got enough out of the session and I will do it again on Wednesday next. But getting back to my thoughts this morning, my mind diverted to thoughts of “solitude”. There are times in my life when I like to live in solitude, where I take time to recognise the presence, power and light of my soul. During this time I realise the shape of my soul is unique and I have a special destiny here and behind the facade of my life. There is something beautiful and eternal happening and that is my wish for all of you also, that we will all learn to see ourselves with the same delight, pride and expectation with which God sees us in every moment. That is the real purpose in life in my opinion and irrespective of our differences in religion, language or concept, there is no heart that is without this inner divine reference.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmer Daily Diary Day 72

Good afternoon everyone and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens. Another beautiful fresh morning here this morning and it was beautiful and fresh out the fields earlier. Today I would like to talk to you about “home”. It came to me yesterday after our time together on the Mindfulness challenge that I am so lucky to have a beautiful and happy home. Home doesn’t have to be modern, stately, state of the art, new architect designed building – for many, 4 walls is enough. I remember as a child our home was a very simple home but it was a home full of warmth and love. Today we have many fancy houses but how many qualify as homes? A real home is a place of shelter and love, warmth and I mean spiritual warmth. We always said at home that after a journey “there is no place like home”. I think this is one of the sweetest phrases in any language “níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin. The home is the nest where intimacy and belonging faster identify and individuality. The home can also be considered a continuation of the human body which is our original and primary home on earth as it houses the mind, heart and spirit. To be who we are meant to be we need to be home. When a place to belong is assured the adventure of growth can begin with great promise.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other. Prayers are working – no Covid19 deaths yesterday. Keep the prayers going and thank you for joining me yesterday on the Mindfulness Challenge. Continue to be mindful and we will all meet again tomorrow at 2pm.

God bless you all

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 66

Good morning everyone once again and welcome to Ballinwillin House Farm and gardens. Another beautiful May morning. As I was leaving my morning meditation my mind angled towards what I would be doing before Covid 19 at this time of the morning. I would be going towards the kitchen to help Miriam organise breakfast for our guests. That’s something I really miss at Ballinwillin House Farm – our wonderful guests every morning and we are really looking forward to having them all back once the new normality returns and it will. So what I would like to speak to you about this morning is hospitality, what we Irish once perfected but then it faded. That is my honest opinion, especially during Celtic Tiger times, OK you might say I am being OTT but am I? How many houses today can you walk into without prior announcement? Question answered I think. The hospitality I am going to talk to you about is what we do here at Ballinwillin House and what I was brought up with in West Limerick. The open house. Hospitality is love, it is openness to the unknown and the unfamiliar, it is being open to the complete stranger and to that what frightens us and to what we may not like. It is being prepared to accept people with different views and perceptions because as we all know, people differ in many ways. We can start all enthusiastic but sometimes it is difficult to remain open when we come up against our own insecurities and that is why the spirit of hospitality needs to be cherished, fostered and cultivated. It is well worth it in the long term because as we well know at Ballinwillin House, hospitality, as well as being challenging, is live giving to many great people. True hospitality reaches the inner depths of people and carries across continents. It can be the love that clothes people on their journey homeward. It surrounds them and will never leave their memory, yearning once more to return.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 45

Good morning everyone and welcome to another new day on the farm at Ballinwillin House. Yesterday we had quite a busy day on the farm, fencing, post driving and wire erecting and cutting up an old tree that had fallen on the fences. Some of these trees are nearly 300 years old and it is sad to see them go but the storms in January and February were just too much for them to bare anymore. But we have planted new ones in their memory, just think how much will happen in the world in the next 300 years and what changes we will see. That’s what fascinates me about nature and the farm and how nature and the farm welcomed our change to organic status going back the years and also how the trees, land and nature welcomed the change to farming deer and wild boar on the farm. It all seemed to fit in a rhythm with nature and evolved seamlessly when we decided to do so back in the 1980’s. My father used to say that every beginning opens up the gifts of growth that are stored up for us and to refuse to begin and take that risk can be an act of self neglect. Wise words? I think so. Risk can be our greatest ally. If we are to live a truly creative life we always need to look critically at where we presently are, have we become stagnant? When I decided on this farming venture the beginning of course was innocent and I had no full idea of where it would lead me but it led me all over the world and back here to the farm seduced into growth and saluting the challenge to begin. Never be afraid to begin.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 41

Good morning everyone and welcome to Ballinwillin House Farm. Another beautiful day on the farm. I was watching The Late Late again last night as all people of my age do and I had a great laugh at the Fleming family from Kerry on the show, they were really having fun dancing in their kitchen and it reminded me a little of my life bit in a more serious and practical side. They provide laughs for people - very important, I provide solace and mindfulness for people as they struggle with Covid19. I was thinking that what I do is the early stages of laughter for people, the baby steps, the inner baby steps. This is a time for you all to be excessively gentle with yourself, we have travelled a long way over fast ground and how Covid has come to take us back. It is trying to take our souls back but this tyranny has not worked in the past and it will not work now. Take refuge in your senses and be prepared for the small miracles that are on the way.

We must draw alongside silence until calmness can claim you. Stay clear of vexed spirits and learn to linger around those with an easing and calm personality.

Gradually we will return to ourselves, we will have learned a new respect for our heart and the joy that dwells deep within a slow soul.

Continue to pray, bless and heal each other.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 37

Good morning everyone, The Mindful Farmer Patrick here. It is a beautiful morning here this morning and all the animals seem to be convinced that spring is now in full swing as they dance in the fields. I say my animals, or my animals  me. We are as one and always, and they bring me joy, but it is more their farm than mine but for today we will agree to share the same space. The joy for me in developing this farm and moulding it into the beautiful habitat for wild animals into a domain of aesthetic shelter and nourishment for them and for me. It is important that the animals and the earth are able to trust the intention of the farmers hand, cultivating it, moulding it and nourishing it. My job is to produce healthy green grass during growing season and then in harvest time I gather the golden honey scented hay into the barn for their winter feed. This harvest feeds all the animals through the darkened heart of the winter but they don’t mind, their minds are easy and nearer to the earths heart, deeper within its silence. Animals know this world in a way we never will.

Continue to pray, bless and be kind to each other.

Have a great day!

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmers Daily Diary Day 34

Good morning everyone, The Mindful Farmer Patrick here. A fine soft morning here, that’s how they describe it in rural Ireland anyway. Beautiful, soft rain dropping  easily from the sky and all plants opening up joyfully to rescue its nourishment. A friend asked me to speak about rain last evening and also darkness and one of the messages on the Thinking Path says “when it rains look for rainbows, when its dark look for stars”. Well you know, I could see no stars in the sky last night but I know they were shining. I could not see any rainbows yesterday but was I blind? Where did my eyes linger? What dreams did I create? What differences did I notice in the ones closest to me? What and who did I neglect? What visitations did I get from the past and the future and there are many other questions where I would have failed and the final question is why was I given this day? My answer is as follows:- hope is daring and couragous and it has the audacity to reach a hand into darkness and come out with a fist full of light and convincing me and you that all will be well and all will  be well and all manners of things will be well but you must have that belief. This morning as I walked through the fields spring was in the air and in the fields I found a new courage for the day ahead, a new hope and I was able to pray. But if you are too angry to pray, sometimes it helps to turn to nature, for in nature we can find release that renews hope. Dream with the sunrise. Continue to breathe. Be the best you can be and you will be fine.

The Mindful Farmer Patrick sending sending hope and energy to you all.

God bless you all

The  Mindful Farmer

Patrick