The decision, once made, gathers energy and slowly, slowly begins to move…like a baby discovering it can crawl!
And so it begins…the first small movements of the Forest of Bealtaine, barely perceptible, but felt and experienced.
The Forest of Bealtaine is emerging through seed…seeds collected, saved and sown into pots of Bealtaine compost, that will travel with them, to their final destination, here, somewhere, in Mother Ireland.
Where in Mother Ireland I do not know, but, somewhere on this land bereft of the comfort of cover and canopy, open to the growing harshness of rain, that once fell soft like dew…for the changing weather patterns and climate are taking their toll!
And so She grows!
Today the rain falls heavy and my visitors from Dublin have gone.
The heavy rain assures me we need forest…for we are the rocky outcrop of a failing empire
There is no mistake in that word…for it is She with a capital letter, She with a need to grow and nurture.
The land we have collectively failed…our governments collecting carbon taxes whilst fracking the bowels of Mother Earth! 
The failing Empire of the EU paying Irish farmers to rip out trees, so land can be mapped out for Google Earth Maps!
And all so politicians and bureaucrats can peer and measure and post out cheques…
But what use is money to a people living on a land being ravaged by Climate Chaos?
But here at Bealtaine, the Goddess, the Mother, our Earth is nurtured for in her womb is cradled Eden, waiting to be birthed.
And Bealtaine is one of many birthing places, for the Mother is us and we are her…there is no separation.
And in these little pots of hope, She grows, and slowly, barely noticeable to visitors, the magic begins to manifest.
She stirs, awakens and is…
one day i will post photos of the plants grown from seeds i got from you…nasturtiums and peas are up…some aren’t planted yet as i must leave for a month and couldn’t tend them…lovely seeing Her hand in your gardens!
May the seeds you have sown and grown bring abundance and lots of seed for the future too XXX Lovely to hear from you XXX Blessings
Hi Colette,
Your little pots of magic look amazing, so healthy! But please can you tell me how are you keeping the little slugs and snails from eating them? They are having a party in my garden and munching my raspberry leaves and broad bean leaves. I have everything in containers too.
Simple…
get clean jam jars, half fill with cheap beer, sink in the earth near precious seedlings and the slugs will all turn up at the bar, crawl in, get drunk and…die happy!
I then empty the contents into the hen run in the morning and laugh as the girls wobble about for most of the day!
I use beer traps too; they’re great.
I love your garden. You have wisteria, one of my favourite plants. I tried to grow some up an apple tree but it didn’t like it there plus it kept getting damaged by something/someone.
I would love to grow a forest too so I’m getting vicarious enjoyment from following your journey. It’s exciting. Thanks for sharing.
If you have a source of used plastic drink bottles, you can cut the tops off, poke some small holes in them for air, and push them down into the soil an inch or so over your seedlings. Very effective barrier against slugs and snails, until the plants outgrow them. I’m going to try Colette’s suggestion of beer traps. Funnily enough, the raspberries are untroubled by slugs and snails in my garden, presumably because they have thorny stems.
I have been reliably informed by a friend that yeast and water will work as well…I shall test this one out tonight!
Blessings X