Bealtaine Cottage, Ireland
One Woman, Three Acres.
As early Lughnasa transforms the permaculture gardens of Bealtaine Cottage into a colourful abundance and the harvest continues, the early days of an Irish autumn unfold. 
The berries on the Hawthorn are turning colour and the magic of a warm autumn fills the air!
These mushrooms are growing today near a clump of Birch trees in the woodland gardens further down from the front of the cottage. 
The willow archway here has closed in on either side as the summer growth has cast even more shade in the new woodland. 
Bamboo and Dogwood have almost merged to close this path. As you can see, the leaves are beginning to drop.
The entrance to the Fairy Wood is closing too…there is a lot of work ahead this Autumn as the cutback begins!
Here are the new beds by the front door of the cottage. They are filled with home-made compost and planted with Birch and Cotoneaster, both grown from seed.
I love the simplicity of creating gardens around an old cottage…fuss-free and free!
One of the evergreen trees originally by the front door has been planted in the corner. It had grown far too big for the terracotta pot.
I love the way the silvery autumn light changes the way the sitting room of the cottage looks. This is my best-loved season!
I have just returned from the wedding of my son, held over three days at Markree Castle in Sligo. My beautiful grandsons are here with me in the picture. 
The flowers were grown here at Bealtaine Cottage and all the guests were gifted with bags of seeds.
Here I am with my eldest daughter, Cara.
And yes…the bride wore yellow wellies!
The pictures are beautiful, the Wedding sounds perfect, and your flowers on the table. How wonderful for you all. Blessings to you
Carole
Ab-soul-lutely delightful in every way! Congratulations to you and your family, and thank you for sharing such loveliness with us here on your blog.
We’re feeling hints of Autumn here in Northern Indiana, too. I’m heading up a local fruit tree planting project and we may need to wait to plant until the Spring to give those trees a better start than trying to rush everything through and then leave them to overwinter without sufficient roots. It’s so exciting to learn how many people in this town (Goshen) are excited about planting fruit trees! Dozens of people have stepped up, and now the Parks and town planners are getting excited, too. Step by step. Thanks for the continual inspiration. I will be planting a few of my own fruit trees in the next couple weeks and nursing them through the Fall and Winter, regardless of how long it takes for the town project to “come to fruition.”
Many blessings,
Laura
What wonderful energy…it’s almost tangible!
Blessings to all planting trees and preparing to step away from the destruction of our beautiful planet. This is inspirational, Laura…more power to you all!
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Hi Laura – your project sounds great. I think the usual advice for trees is to get them bare rooted, and plant them in the winter. As long as the ground isn’t frozen solid and you can get them in, they should be fine. They should cope better with being transplanted in cold weather when they’re dormant, than when it gets warmer in the spring and they’ve started growing again. Don’t take my word for it though – get some advice. Good luck!
John.
Thanks so much X
Thanks, John and Colette! Fortunately, we have a lot of local and nearby tree resources and we’re an official Transition Town, so we will be well-informed before we plant. Lots of hoops, bells and whistles to jump through and ring for town projects, but they’re also really great to get so many people involved.