Hazel nuts ripen on small trees near the orchard at Bealtaine Cottage.
Many of the Hazel trees were planted at the beginning of the land conversion to Permaculture and some have been planted on a fairly continuous basis since, being eight years in total.
As a Vegan, nuts are important in my diet, and as Hazel Nuts are indigenous to Ireland, these would be the most compatible to the diet.
Nuts are easily added to food and form a tasty part of any home-made burgers and roasts.
The Hazel is a small, deciduous tree and is native to Ireland.
They take up little space and are suitable for coppicing, as the wood can be used in different projects, especially for pea supports and woven fencing.
Hazel has always been regarded as a ‘magical’ wood, with the stems used historically as ‘wands’.
William Butler Yeats used the Hazel as imagery in some of his poetry and writing.
“I went down to the hazel wood, because a fire was in my head…cut and peeled a hazel wand…”
The hazel tree in Celtic Mythology is associated with wisdom, intuition and creative energy.
It is no surprise then that the Hazel Wand has such magical connotations!
After heavy rains here in the west of Ireland, the sky has cleared to reveal a beautiful sun rising in the East.
The colours of Autumn are like a technicolour display of Nature at her best.
As the moon wanes in the evening sky and the earth cools, mists encroach on the morning air.
The past nights have been clear and bright and very cold.
Even the waning moon has shone bright.
The Celts respected the moon and rather than speak openly of it, alluded to it instead, calling it ‘gealach’, meaning ‘brightness’.
The Celtic calendar was based on the lunar cycles, in that a month began with the full moon.
The Celts believed in circular, not linear, time.
Maybe, just maybe, that is where we have gone astray…