The Mindful Farmer's Daily Diary - Day 20

20TH OF APRIL IN THE YEAR 2020, IS THIS DAY A TURNING POINT?

Good morning to you all and welcome once again to Ballinwillin House Farm, home of The Mindful Farmer & family. You know when this year began 2020 I had a great feeling about the year 2020’s round figures, the scene was set, the business was booming and then bang! We are now on day 20. Is this our peak?

 I hope so. Last night I was watching Miriam O Callaghan on the late late show and she interviewed Joe Wicks and his amazing fitness regime. It is a great help to all now if we could get his followers to say a daily prayer as well as exercising – what a difference that would make to the world. 

Then a little later on the show Gavin James sang some wonderful songs but the amazing coincidence here is that he headlined here on our farm at Indiependence 2019  just like Bifi Kiro, Hozier, The Coronas and many more great bands all headlined here on the farm over the past number of years as did Mary Black and Brendan Grace back in 1995 and Boyzone before that.

There are a lot of memories and history flooding in. I often wonder how all this happened from my childhood in West Limerick to my living an adult life in north Cork. I put it all down to prayer and destiny in Nature.

Nature – it is a great motivation, it has gentle motherly movements with soft whispering winds, soft sprinkling rains, warm sunshine, buzzing bees and floating perfumed petals from the 105 rose bushes in the garden. But alas nature has another side, it has incredible power to harm and hurt like earthquakes, thunderstorms, flooding just like what I spoke to you about on the farm yesterday. Nature also spins you in a constant cycle of death, pain, and disease just like Covid19 now.

When I sit here this morning frightened by this awesome power of nature and yet its gentle and loving side also instills in me the belief that we must live in it and behave within it and not invoke its anger.

Does nature reflect our own potential for gentleness and also our ability to be destructive? Is this the message of Coved19? It is now time for us to fully live in nature. You will live in harmony and peace will come dropping but maybe slowly.

The Mindful Farmer’s heart is very very heavy and thus I hear my beautiful granddaughters voice in the thinking path, I am a new man.

Talk later out in the fields. Continue to pray, bless and mind each other. We are near that turn on the road.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmer’s Dairy - Day 19

Good morning from The Mindful Farmer.  A bit of a change in the weather here this morning, a little sprinkling of morning mist that scents from the earth with a clear spring smell that I remember from the fields of my childhood. I did a gratitude meditation earlier this morning as the neighbour food orders and online meat orders are building and it is great to get out and meet someone like-minded in the food industry but observing all protocols.

Today I have been asked by one of my daughters in exile in Abu Dhabi to talk to you all about another farm pet, our collie named “Foley”, he got his name from the great rugby player Anthony Foley as we collected him on that faithful day Anthony Foley died. He was a super rugby player and probably one of the greatest back row players in the world but our “Foley” missed out completely when all or any common sense was being distributed but, he is one of the family and that means he is in the fold for better or worse!

As I sit here now I can see the holes he has dug in my lovely lawn. Inspire of all his failings he will accompany me each morning when I go out to feed the animals. He is loyal and when man or beast shows unconditional loyalty they are a friend for life. So Elayne you will be happy this morning when you see me live and of course you have also coerced me to introduce you all to the bane of my life the puppy that you and Sheena selected, our golden retriever Marley and you want Mondays to be referred to as “Marley Mondays” and all of you out there know only what daughters do to their Daddy’s because we love them unconditionally.

I would also like to say a special thank you to our firstborn Sheena who has been working diligently for her school from home and afterward looking after her niece and nephew each day. Also a very special “hello” to my new daughter “Laura” for nearly 3 years now she is married to my son John. Laura is working on the front line as a medic and we pray and bless her every hour that she is kept safe and well and will return soon to her husband and her two beautiful children when all this is over and who misses her dearly. 

I urge you to continue to pray for all the front line workers as they face and fight the war against Covid19. We commend their loyalty to their country and their unquenchable spirit that will turn this darkest destiny towards early dawn. So this morning’s message of loyalty be it an animal or human form may they both never fall out of belonging with each other. Continue with the prayers, continue to bless each other and smile smile smile.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

The Mindful Farmer’s Daily Diary - Day 18

Good morning all and welcome again to Ballinwillin House farm on this the 18th day of lockdown on our farm.

We are delighted to get some meat orders out today at the Watergrasshill Neighbour Food platform and today we will also be joining the Limerick neighbour food delivery programme. It is a small step but a step forward none the less, it is difficult to be working hard every day maintaining the land, the herd and your stock and no outlet, no income but this is a great help psychologically, mentally and physically.

Now to my message for today, it is about friendship. May you be blessed with good friends and of course be a good friend yourself. Friendship to me is where your journey to a place where your soul embraces the soul of another and where there is love, warmth and true feeling and this may be in the distance and maybe in silence but never the less it will change you.

It will melt what is cold, negative and distant in your heart. It will bring you to a place where passion and kindness belongs. May you treasure your friends. Be good to them and be there for them fostering them through the challenges they face in life and may you guide their feet with an everlasting lamp of love to where they and their soul needs to be and during nightfall may the warm embrace of mutual love wrap around you in a heavenly blanket.

Continue to live outside where possible and in nature, eat healthy food, draw beautiful clean oxygen into your bodily cells to fight this virus. Say the prayers, bless all around you and keep mentally strong and let your smile change the world.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick

We may meet later on the farm. Sorry about yesterday, most of my plans went out the window due to some animals misbehaving, but that is farming life.  Hope to talk later regarding the competition.

The Mindful Farmer’s Daily Diary - Day 17

Good morning all.  Another beautiful morning at Ballinwillin House Farm.  I would like at the outset to thank you all for your prayers yesterday and up to now on the 25,000 people in the nursing homes lockdown.  I was delighted to hear last evening that the government is going to commit more resources to this worthy cause now, which proves to us all the power of our prayers and prayer comes in many forms, thoughts, actions, good deeds and many more. 

All can be in the form of prayer. We must now also have courage as in many homes the light around us lessens and your thoughts are darkening and fear turns cold as stone inside you. We must steady ourselves as a nation and see that it is our own thinking that is darkening the world. We must feel that we are not alone and that this darkness may have some purpose and through our eyes, we will find again the gift of true life, which may have been hidden in the kitchen of our hearts. 

Close your eyes now, gather warmth around your heart and this warmth will spark a nourishing flame that will cleanse this darkness that is a festered fear presenting as COVID 19. Nourish your body cells to fight this fear, live in nature, eat with nature and pray and bless in nature.

The Mindful Farmer

Patrick.

Light & Earth

This morning as I burrowed by body into the earth like one of my wild boar to make a comfort connect with the earth, this sudden flash came into my mind.

Imagine your body as a circle of clay.  Then draw a circle around your circle of clay and fill the space with light, heat and soul.  This is your soul circle.  Then draw another circle around your soul circle.  This is your spirit circle.  Now draw in a very deep breath and inhale the spirit circle into the soul circle and then into your clay body circle.

This process will draw healing and enlightenment into your mind and body.

Now breathe out slowly releasing any darkness and sadness you are experiencing in your life.  

Repeat as necessary and then relax.

Have a beautiful day.

The Mindful Farmer

The Stranger

Many years ago in Connemara, I had a chance meeting with a stranger.

We got on well and over a period of time became great friends. Recently we were walking mindfully admiring the weather and light and scenery.

That evening when I returned home and later had my mindfulness session, this thought ran through my relaxed mind – every day we meet complete strangers that walk in and out of our lives, but every now and then someone would leave an imprint in our heart forever.

“ Could this stranger be you?” 

Walk mindfully

The Mindful Farmer