Bees are declining all over the world, for multiple reasons.
The most serious one in my estimation is habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation…in other words… Homelessness!
This is not a problem at Bealtaine Cottage, as Bee habitat and food source creation was implemented in the early years of the Bealtaine project.
As a direct consequence of this, the gardens at Bealtaine Cottage are thriving!
This is a part of the new Lughnasadh Garden, created especially for the bees and butterflies.
One only has to plant it and they will come! One only has to be a little untidy and they will create a home!
Sadly, many gardeners are not aware of the ways in which habitat and food source can be secured and managed for wildlife. Here I’ve planted Blueberry bushes, and heaped mulch around them…a possible habitat! The flowers are pollinated by bees and in return I get masses of fruit!
However, some time spent observing Nature can be very empowering and planting near the cottage means I get to sit and watch the bees and butterflies as well as discover more about their feeding habits.
In planning and planting this new garden, I observed a quiet respect for “nooks and crannies,” …stones, logs, small mounds…all areas of potential habitat. When cutting back the Jostaberry, above, I stacked the cut wood underneath the bush as potential habitat. Some species of Butterflies can over-winter, (leaf piles are particularly good!) and guess what…I got to see two butterflies in the garden at the end of March!
The sight of new and first butterflies in spring is a joyful, reaffirming vision of hope.
Water availability, layers of plants, trees, shrubs, a succession of flowers for the majority of the year…and much more was taken into the planning and planting of the garden. Habitat and food are the main drivers in my planning and planting.
The trending emphasis, when it comes to bee-decline, seems to be on bee-keeping rather than bee-habitat…the latter being something that each of us can do something about.
For my part, I don’t keep bees…they keep me…and all are wild and free!
A Cottage and Three Acres…the book, available now.
The cost of the book is 21.00 euros, plus 5.50 P&P for addresses in Ireland, 6.50 P&P the rest of the world.
Thus books posted to Ireland, total cost 26.50 euros
All other countries worldwide, total cost 27.50 euros
I am happy to inscribe and sign your copy.
To order and pay, use this button…
As the thousand and more trees and thousands of plants of the Bealtaine Project grow taller and more dense, so it is the once barren land seems more and more as it is…an Ark for Earth, set into a monoculture landscape of Cash-Crop-Forestry and animal grazing fields. 
This summer witnessed the most Bees, Butterflies, Pollinators and Birds ever! 
The wildlife in search of home are migrating to the oasis of Bealtaine Cottage. 
They know where the food, shelter and ultimate habitat is to be found! 
So, I thought to myself, what if those with gardens, allotments, smallholdings etc., pledged to devote a percentage of what they tend or own to wildlife?
We are talking Arks, where wildlife can not only survive, but thrive! 
This takes the presumption that one cannot make a difference and turns it on it’s ridiculous head! 
For one can make a difference! 
Two can double that little Ark for Earth…hundreds can create a huge difference and thousands…well, thousands can begin to stack the odds in favour of Mother Earth! 
Now don’t get me thinking of hundreds of thousands or even millions, for my head will almost explode with possibilities…but you see where this is going, don’t you? 
And as for Guerrilla Gardening…oh joy!
What about seed bombs chucked out of the car window onto the motorway verges? 
We are creative people who care…if you’ve landed here on this website you most certainly are! 
So let’s get to it! 
Oh, and the Lughnasadh Garden is being worked on little by little, with a grand opening and dedication ceremony next Bealtaine (May 1st)
…the Ark is being extended…
…One Garden At A Time
and…it’s going to be mighty!
I say woodland, because, as you’ll appreciate from the video, that is what it now is. 
The transformation has happened and it is wonderful to behold! 
Many of you have recently bought seeds from the website…I want to say a massive thank you and blessings! 
Most of the energy we use at home comes from burning fossil fuels. 
Using less energy means burning fewer fossil fuels and putting less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 
When first planting the forest gardens it was important to keep the paths open, so mowing once a week during the growing season was a huge task! 
That issue is now almost resolves as the trees have shaded the paths…
and dropped lots of leaves to create quite a dense mulch. 
I am now tackling the long grass area that is the frontage of the gardens onto the road. 
Planting is diverse and from my own Nursery where I grow trees, flowers, shrubs, herbs and vegetables. 
It has always been important to me to keep this neat and attractive as it is an encouragement to passers-by to consider Goddess-Inspired Permaculture in a positive light! 
This is the stage I am at today. I simply strip back some grass and turn the sod upside down behind the strip…then plant! 
The end result will be that there is about half the amount of grass to mow…so half the amount of fossil fuel used! 
That’s what I call a result!
