Lifetime award for Mindful Farmer
PATRICK Mulcahy has been awarded the Rémy Martin Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 Cork Business Awards.
The former Garda, who grew up in County Limerick, is the owner of Ballinwillin House Farm in Mitchelstown along with his wife, Miriam.
Ballinwillin is the only combined organic-farmed venison, wild boar and goat farm in Ireland and the UK, and meat from the farm is used by many of Ireland’s top chefs.
The property is also home to a boutique B&B; the music festival, Indiependence; a custom-built cellar stocked with wines from the family’s Hungarian vineyard, Chateau Mulcahy; a ‘ Thinking Path’; and a beautiful, personally designed garden with areas devoted to forgiveness, mindfulness and meditation.
The accolade was presented to Mr Mulcahy by former TV presenter and wellness consultant Bibi Baskin at a glittering black tie dinner.
In her citation, Ms Baskin described Mr Mulcahy’s interests as being “closely aligned” with her own.
“If you visit his B&B you will find in the grounds the most marvellous physical expression of this way of life, a mindfulness garden,” she said.
“A sacred place which can lead you on to the path of forgiveness, of understanding, of forging a closer connection with nature.”
Known as “The Mindful Farmer,” as a child Mr Mulcahy developed a system to cope with the challenges of growing up on a small farm, and from as young as eight years of age, he was practising mindfulness, which he acknowledges helped him immensely during his work in his first career as a garda.
In 2018 he realised a lifelong dream to share his mental-health practices when he launched “RetrEAT” at Ballinwillin House Farm, a residential experience, which focuses on nourishing the body and mind.
Guests immerse themselves in the healing surroundings of the property with workshops in the garden, and they enjoy food from the farm and wine from the cellar.
The Mindful Farmer has appeared at various events such as the Theatre of Food at Electric Picnic.
This Sunday, December 1, he will host ‘Winefulness’ at Taste of Dublin – Festive Edition.
The mindful wine-tasting will feature wine from Chateau Mulcahy, his vineyard in Hungary.