MEDITATION DAY IN BUNCRANA

Day of Meditation to be held in Buncrana

A day of meditation will take place on Saturday 31st May at 5 St Mary’s Road in Buncrana from 10am-4pm. Noel Bradley and Julie Brown will facilitate the day, which will introduce you to the practice of meditation. Meditation is a wonderful opportunity to connect to the peace of your own being. It is a great support for managing the stresses of modern living.

During the day meditation techniques will be practised for relaxation and healing, becoming more aware of our body, mind and emotions and finding inner peace.

Both Noel and Julie have been meditating for years. Noel, an experienced group leader in transformation workshops explains, “I have always used meditation as an integral part of development, growth and transformation at workshops, as well as a spiritual discipline in my own life. I believe it has kept me physically, psychologically and spiritually more healthy over the years.” He says, “I really think it is important for people to learn different ways to meditate, relax, centre themselves and to access the depth of their inner lives.”

Julie has also been practising meditation for the past fifteen years and has worked with groups locally and nationally sharing the benefits that meditation has brought into her life. “Meditation is a very important practice for me and brings joy and contentment into my life. I have had many wonderful teachers in meditation and enjoy sharing what I have learned,” she says.

Booking will be essential if you are interested in taking this opportunity for connecting with your inner being before the summer holidays start. The cost of the day will be €40 and will include a light lunch of soup and salad. Please book by contacting Noel on 074-9362390 or Julie on 074-9363684

Underrated Chocolate Cake

My brother recently left on a trip to find some wild cougar that has been reported lately to be hanging around forest preserves. I was pretty excited, so I used this as an excuse to get baking as a celebration and have myself an Eatrian Odyssey. I found a bag of premade cake mix inside a box on a shelf, but when I looked at the instructions, I just wasn’t satisfied. I just had to shape it to my personal taste, so I took out the eggs and vegetable oel. Peanut butter is really great, and I really don’t like chocolate chips, so I tossed in a bunch of those. Also, I added some water, since it doesn’t work without that. You have to be an experienced chef to know these subtle factors that influence the cake. I mixed it up with a fork, and it already was looking good enough for me to eat at this point, but I decided to stick it in the microwave oven just for the heck of it. I set it to two minutes, and took it out when I felt it was right. It turned out great. I am a huge fan of things that taste good. Although I am proud of myself for this, I feel that I want to experiment and further alter the recipe next time and truly make it my own.

Tip: If possible, use Chicago tap water for zebra mussel taste.

to taste – chocolate cake mix
to taste – water
to taste – peanut butter chips

[Ingredients]
[Finished Product]

ORGANIC FARMING SEMINAR - INISHOWEN

Press release from Mary Reilly

There has been a lot of negativity in the media recently about the future of Farming in Donegal, Inishowen in particular. One local paper has gone as far as saying that farming is going to ‘the wall’.

There’s good reason for this, the price of diesel has gone through the roof in recent months, and petroleum based fertilisers have doubled in price since last year. And global warming has everybody confused!

So what’s the good news? With the introduction of the Single Farm Payment, farmers now have a certain amount of freedom to experiment and look for alternatives to exclusive livestock farming. There are lots of ways to utilise farmland. Many people are talking about growing biomass willow for alternative fuel when the price of oil goes beyond what we can afford. Forestry is always another option.

But what happens when fuel prices go so high that we can’t afford to import all the food we need? At the moment, most of the food in our shops is imported. Why can’t we start looking at ways in which we can feed ourselves?

Organic Farming is fast becoming a realistic option for many farmers seeking a way to stay on the land. Now that farmers don’t have to overstock in order to get a decent headage payment, the traditional option of mixed farming can be opted for.

There is a lot of interest among consumers in getting locally produced food, and this demand can’t be met unless more farmers start producing food for the local market.

The Inishowen Organic Group, in association with the National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS) are hosting an evening of information in McGrory’s of Culdaff on the 28th of May. Starting at 6.30pm, the evening will include a buffet meal and talks and presentations on all aspects of Organic farming, from production to outlets.

Speakers on the night will include: Elaine Leavy, Teagasc, Kevin Hickey, North West Organic, John Brennan, Leitrim Farmers co op, and Sean McGloin, NOTS. Farmers from Donegal and Derry who produce organic beef and grain will be there to talk about what they do and one to one consultations will be available free. Organic produce will be on sale from the Farm Shop, Moville and North West Organic.

Admission, including the meal is €10

For more information, go to the Inishowen Organic Group’s website http://www.iog.weebly.com/ or http://www.nots.ie/.
For information on training in organic production call Sean on 086 1728442

WHAT? ORGANIC FARMING SEMINAR

WHEN? WEDNESDAY MAY 28TH AT 6.30PM

WHERE? McGRORY’S CULDAFF

BILL CULLEN

Bill Cullen, the motivational speaker flew in to see the pupils at Scoil Mhuire in Buncrana recently. Bill is the author of the best selling - Six Steps to Success book - Golden Apples.

5 MINUTES WITH - AIDEEN DOHERTY

Aideen Doherty lives and works in Carndonagh. Her job as the Area Manager (Inishowen and Letterkenny) for Community and Enterprise with Donegal County Council brings many interesting projects to Inishowen, such as the making of the film Dead Long Enough, directed by Tom Collins. The film went on to win a prestigious award at the Cardiff Film Festival. More recently Aideen has been involved with bringing Diarmuid Gavin to the peninsula to work on the Barrack Hill Park project in Carndonagh and the filming at Malin Head of A Shine of Rainbows, a film by the Emmy award-winning director Vic Sarin's. Aideen is married to Joseph McDermott and they have two children.


What music do you like?
I am listening to classic 60’s 70’s and 80’s Mowtown at the moment. Al Green, Aretha Franklin and Barry White all produced fantastic summer sunshine music. I also listen to Bruce Springsteen; he is a great live performer. I am also a huge fan of Kylie - she has such spirit!

What would you never throw away?
I have a small collection of paintings that I adore. They are mostly by local artists and would be irreplaceable. I will try to recycle nearly everything else.

What book are you reading?
I am reading The Goddess Guide written by Dublin-based journalist Gisele Scanlon. She has spent years writing lifestyle, fashion and travel pieces, and has rounded up the information to produce a book full of tips from how to get biro marks off your bag to the chic places to eat in Paris, New York or London. It teaches you how to be a Goddess!

What was your favourite childhood game?
I was one of the Famous 5. The five were myself, my two sisters, Dervla and Nuala our friend Maeve Gillen and Toby the dog. We were given a packed lunch in the morning to take with us, and then headed off into the wilderness to have great adventures. We would make our way home when we heard the church bells ringing the Angelus?

Have you been to the cinema recently, what did you see and was it any good?
I went to see Maid of Honour recently, starring the fabulous Patrick Dempsey. The content of the film didn’t really matter as long as he was in the scene!

What section of the newspaper do you turn to first?
I usually turn to Current affairs, politics and local news.

What is your idea of a good night out?
I enjoy a dinner out then off to the pub with friends.

Have you a favourite TV programme?
I am not watching much television at the moment, there is too much to do on these light summer evenings. In winter I would make Greys Anatomy an essential part of the week. Mainly again because Patrick Dempsey is in it as a character called Dr Derek Shepherd!

How do you relax?
I do disco dancing in the garage. It’s great exercise!

Where would you like to go for your holidays?
I have enjoyed a lot of holidays in many parts of the world. Now we tend to go for holidays destinations that will suit both adults and children. This year we are going to Italy as the area is very child friendly. When the children are happy, so are we!

Your idea of heaven?
This shifts with my mood! I am tired at the moment, so a lie in on a Saturday morning would be heaven enough.

Your idea of hell?
I don’t like the idea of being closed in. We were stuck in a tunnel last week on the Stanstead Express train line. We were there for 45 minutes until we started moving again. It was nearly as bad as being stuck in a lift.

What famous people would you invite around for dinner and why?
What is Patrick doing this week?

Favourite animal?
I love horses. They are so majestic. They seem so liberated and riding gives you a real sense of freedom.

Biggest fear?
Frogs! Horrible slimy frogs. In fact anything that is slimy or scuttles around on the floor. I am not good with anything like that.

Biggest thrill?
The Shine of Rainbows locating to Inishowen. They came through a scout from the Irish Film board.

The world’s most irritating invention?
Large exhausts on cars. Try getting a baby settled with those things making a racket.

Personal philosophies?
Keep positive. Get your feet on the floor and keep dancing and - Get over it and get on with it!

Biggest disappointment?
These are only moments in time, so you can turn a disappointment into a challenge for something positive.

Which period in history would you most like to have lived through?
America in the 1940’s and 50’s. I love the big cars and flamboyant clothes.

World’s most useful invention?
The electric kettle, cups of tea made easy!

Any chance you would move from Inishowen?
I did think that I would like to retire to a city; there would be plenty of things to do! I am very happy where I am now though, it is important to have family close by.

More pics of filming A Shine of Rainbows at Malin Head

See Inishrahull island where the Shine of Rainbows filmed the seals

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 17

The tiger and the fox

A man walking through the forest saw a fox that had lost its legs and wondered how it lived. Then he saw a tiger come through the trees with game in her mouth. The tiger had her fill and left the rest for the fox.

“God is surely good” thought the man. The next day, the tiger came back with more meat and again the injured fox did not starve. The man continued to contemplate God’s greatness and said to himself, “I too shall just rest in a corner with full trust in the Lord and he will provide me with all that I need.”

He did this for many days but nothing happened. He was almost at death’s door when he heard a voice within say,
“O you who are in the path of error, open you eyes to the truth! Follow the example of the tiger and stop imitating the disabled fox.”

BIODIVERSITY WEEK

The organisers and speakers included Father Maningi from Tanzania. He spoke about the use of solar panels improving the lives of people in Moshi near the mountains of Kilanmanjaro, Tanzania.

Biodiversity week 17th -25th May 2008

The Living Foyle started things off with a day in Moville. First to the beach then talks.

For more information:

Loughs Agency

Notice Nature