The Bogs
One of the fundamental elements of the Irish geography is also at the forefront of climate change concerns: the bogs.
We are planning a fund raising event to help showcase the terrible damage that is occurring due to the destructive business practices of Bord na Móna and the actions of the Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais. It just happens to coincide with Jah di Morne’s birthday, so she decided that she would be happy to receive birthday gifts in the form of gift baskets to be auctioned at the fundraisers event to benefit this cause. In addition there will be a silent auction featuring gift baskets filled with made-in-Ireland products. If you can’t attend the fund raiser we will also set up a website where you can actually purchase an online gift basket of Irish goodies. With a variety of styles and price range you are sure to find gift baskets appropriate for birthdays, baby showers, get well, romance, funerals, sympathy, and anniversaries. More than 80% of the profits will go towards the fund. The gourmet gift baskets are sure to overflow with tasty gourmet Irish treats including a wide selection of biscuits, Irish oatmeal, marmalade, smoked salmon, Batchelors Baked Beans, Taylo Crisps, the finest Irish soda bread, black and white pudding, sausages, teas, and candies. We also plan to include craft items, Celtic jewelry, Irish sweaters, and woolens for which Ireland are so well known. There also will be some gift baskets that will have some bottles of Guinness Stout tucked in among the other goodies.
Hidden in one of these gift baskets will be a gift certificate to a jewelry store online focused on sterling silver that sells rings made from genuine sterling silver and ornamented with crystals of cubic zirconia. In case you are not familiar with this stunning synthetically made gem, zirconia offers the look of genuine diamonds without spending loads of money. Although affordably priced engagement rings, there is nothing cheap or shabby about them. Just like diamonds, cubic zirconia exudes a timeless beauty, versatility, and sparkling elegance. Zirconia jewelry is stylish and fashionable. It is perfect to wear in any occasion. Zirconia jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, pendents, brooches, and necklaces also may be purchased with the gift certificate. Only 1 person knows which gift basket has the gift certificate, but we are sure that whoever wins it, he/ she will be delighted.
Finally, we will raffle a “Ten Day Tour of Ireland” gift basket that includes visits to Ireland’s stately homes and castles which run the gamut from Gothic to Georgian. You will see the largest private home in Ireland, as well as fabulously grand castles and country estates. This gift basket, we believe, is the most exciting prize of our fundraising event. Whoever wins the gift basket raffle will travel with a guest of their choosing, from Dublin to Kildare, to the eastern midlands and then onto Tipperary and finally the lovely city of Cork. You will stay at the loveliest hotels and bed and breakfast establishments Ireland has to offer as well as eating all your meals at well known pubs and restaurant.
Please plan on attending this worthy cause. You can only participate in the gift basket raffle if you attend.
Throughout the past 8,000 years or so, peat bogs have been both a bane and a blessing, as are so many of the characteristic features of the Irish experience. On one hand, swallowing unwary travelers…on the other, bringing them warmth and wood.
87% of this peatland has been lost from the mid-1600s to the mid-1900s; in fact, the vast majority has been exploited beyond recovery in the past half-century. Much of the blame goes to Bord na Móna, whose injudicious large-scale peat harvesting has not only robbed the land but allowed the Bord Soláthair an Leictreachais (Electricity Supply Board) to do more than their share to contribute to the current climate crisis.
There are more fantastic points to follow on the pages to come.