Dear Editor,
My name is Katherine. I am a cancer survivor. My dad lost his fifth battle on World Cancer Day 2017, resulting in my unfinished business with cancer.
Last year I wrote and self- published my first book, Hope to Cope. I wanted to do something to raise awareness and vital funds for cancer services. I also wanted to spread a little hope along the way.
My fundraiser was featured in Irish Country Living in July, on my dad’s birthday, which was special as the fundraiser was in honour of him. Dad was a district superintendent with the Department of Agriculture, so the Irish Farmers Journal was always a big deal in our house.
The feature played an important role in my fundraiser, raising awareness, connecting people, and driving sales nationwide through its loyal readers.My goal was to raise €100,000 between World Cancer Day 2022 and 2023. It was a journey of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, resilience and hope. I witnessed and experienced immense kindness from strangers. I learned that when you open up, it allows others the space to do the same.
On 5 January 2023, I handed over two cars to the palliative care nurses at Marymount. The cars will be used by community palliative care nurses who travel all over Cork and Kerry to provide complex symptom management to patients who are at home or living within other care settings within the community. I also raised another €50,000, which I gave to The Irish Cancer Society on Daffodil Day. This money is for cancer research.
I am delighted to have honoured my goal of raising €100,000 and I thank everyone who supported Hope to Cope in any way.
Anything is possible if you want it badly enough. Take one step at a time and never give up. You have everything you need within you.
Thank you,
Katherine Dolphin Griffin
Janine Kennedy
Did you know you can make your own homemade ricotta-like cheese? This time of year, when tender green vegetables are at their best, I like to make a sort-of empanada or calzone with leftover pizza dough, green veggies like asparagus, wild garlic and spinach and homemade ricotta from the milk in our tank.
To make the ricotta, I take 2 litres of full fat milk and slowly heat it until it’s just about boiled (you can use a thermometer; it should be around 95°C). When it’s hot enough, I add 70ml freshly squeezed lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and remove it from the heat. I let that sit for a while before straining the curds through a muslin. For a wetter cheese, don’t let it strain for too long. If you want it drier, let it strain overnight in the fridge.
I mix the cheese with the fresh greens, lots of garlic, salt and pepper, fill the pizza dough, seal the edges and then fry the dough in hot oil. Served with a herby yoghurt sauce, this is one of my favourite things to eat.
with Dr Catherine Keena, Teagasc countryside management specialist
Look out for marsh marigold with striking glossy yellow flowers in loose clusters and distinctive, heart-shaped shiny fleshy leaves. Resembling a giant flowered buttercup, they grow in marshes and on riversides. The stout hollow stems have minute air spaces that allow gaseous exchange through parts of the plant above and below the waterlogged level. It was used in folk medicine to treat warts, cleaning wounds, anaemia and epilepsy. It was known as May-flower and its name as Gaeilge is lus buí bealtaine meaning the yellow May plant. On May eve, it was hung in bunches over doors to protect from evil. Marsh marigold is part of our native Irish biodiversity.
I feel that I’m strong. I didn’t think I was as strong, but I look back now on the journey I went to get Myah and I would have done anything
Different butter wrappers on show at the Butter Museum in Cork.