I often receive letters and emails from those who have visited Bealtaine Cottage and Gardens.
I treasure them as the words therein inspire me to keep on this busy path of sharing Bealtaine and caring for the Earth.
This evening I have taken more photographs to share with you, as I share the words penned by Christine, who visited Bealtaine some days ago.
“Thank you dear Colette for the wonderful time with you in Bealtaine Cottage yesterday.
We felt so nourished and inspired, your inspirational company, wise words and delightful home so full of beauty, vitality, and a healing presence.
Almost like a dream for me waking this morning and feeling – wow – I was actually sitting with you yesterday in your garden, stroking Jack, enjoying our conversation, my eyes feasting on the plants, flowers and trees, the sounds of the light rain, the chimes, the birds and your soothing voice…a real treat. (Of course eating your gorgeous vegan brownies too).
We all feel very grateful to you.
It’s a total inspiration having you create and share Bealtaine Cottage and being not far from us here, a ‘wake-up’ and an eye opener!
We each felt so comfortable, at ease and at home…of course many questions bubble this morn inspired from our visit.
And also some grief…some of what you shared about deep sadness for how we are living as a civilisation, how we have lived with such lack of respect for the earth, the animals and plant kingdoms and also each other.
Such disconnection…and some of that being reflected in the challenges we have to face…
We went up to the Queen Maeve Cairn at Knocknarea after leaving you…such breathtaking views…
I felt very grateful and blessed for good souls like yourself, living from the heart, soulfully, passionately, the warrior energy to follow one’s own heart-calling and live it, a real warrior path…takes courage tuning into one’s own heart, not that of the tribe or the need to be accepted and fit-in.
So thanks again dear Colette. Much love to you, to Jack and Sammy Bear and of course your beautiful space and it’s healing spirit.
Christine x (Nick and Raphael xx)”
On this night of the first new moon of Lughnasadh, I am content to be compared to a warrior.
For, in so many ways, my journey to this point has been a battle at times…not with Mother Earth, but over the twelve past years, on my own, when I have had to motivate myself to stay with the project.
There have been times along the way, when I have felt nurtured by others, the kindness of strangers on the internet who have supported me when I have needed it most.
Serendipity has played a huge part in the Bealtaine Project!
You know who you are…and my blessings are many and often as I think of you!
This year has witnessed a beautiful maturity in all I have planted and continue to love. I, in turn, feel nurtured by Mother Earth… There is a lot still to be done as we move into uncertain times.
There are important messages to share that empower us to act in support of Mother Earth, such as I share on my Twitter and FaceBook accounts…
Digging Mother Earth releases #carbon into the atmosphere…and why I don’t dig! 
Likewise…#Plants absorb #carbon from the air, through the small holes (stomata) present on the lower side of #leaves.
We are putting out double the amount of #carbon that can be absorbed by plants on Earth…Plant more!
Carbon is a gaseous food absorbed by plants…so let’s plant more!
Social Media is a powerful tool and can be used for great good in getting simple messages like these out there!
And, like all old warriors, I’ll just keep on keeping on!
Bealtaine Cottage Good Life membership is 12 euros per year and allows me a small income to continue to grow the Bealtaine Project both here in Ireland and in the hearts and minds of good people all over the world.
Please join…
It’s always a strange time when the moon is full. 
This May moon has cast it’s brightness over Ireland, presiding over an extraordinary time of growth.
All around the cottage there are flowers opening, plants growing, seemingly overnight and trees now heavy with leaf and blossom. 
Where would an Irish cottage garden be without the beautiful and traditional Perlagonium?
And, of course, every cottage garden has a little spot for Succulents…I plant these in terracotta pots and here in this old planter. 
Always lots of tasks to complete as in painting the old Buddha, so he may survive another winter!
As in all cottage gardens, famous for their mish-mash of flowers, vegetables fruit and just about everything else, edibles share potager beds with their close relations!
I have had to move many plants from pots and plant them in spaces wherever I can find them. 
The nursery bed, essential to a cottage garden, is being cleared fast, with plants going into the long beds down by the road. 
Pieris and Poppies…as always, flowers are squashed in beside the most unsuitable bed mates…the Poppy is planted in with Flowering Currant! 
And sitting in my chair on the veranda, looking up…the classic cottage garden rose. 
The all-forgiving Cottage Garden will tolerate just about everything one wants to “throw out!” Except, of course, I throw little away, favouring a good old re-purpose, as in this old, but very comfy, fireside chair! 
And…the beautiful Wisteria…tougher than it looks and essential “cottage garden!” 
Nothing pristine here! 
Even Jack…unlike Sammy-Bear! 
Oh Jack, you are a little beaut! 
I travelled to Sligo, passing along the shores of Lough Gill, to collect a very special ring, that was made for me by gifted Silversmith, Mirjam Schiller at 
Birthdays come and go and I have enjoyed sixty of them, all in the month of October, near Samhain…so this, along with a second ring as yet unfinished, marked my sixty Summers on this precious, beautiful Earth. 
I had deliberated for some time over what I should spend my birthday money on…have always loved silver and, very importantly, dearly wanted to place a much maligned symbol of the Goddess where I would always see it! 
The Great Goddess often had snakes as her symbol—sometimes twining around her sacred staff, as in ancient Crete—and they were worshiped as guardians of her mysteries of birth and regeneration. 
Bealtaine Cottage encapsulates those two energies…birth and regeneration…of Mother Earth herself, in all her wild, unstoppable beauty. 
Wildheart was the place I had to go… 
The journey back was auspicious, in that we got lost. 
And so, driving along a quiet road, we were led to an ancient Holy Well…much older than any religion…
It predates the advent of Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century. 
Its importance as a meeting place and a sustainer of life predates even our Celtic ancestors.
Tobernalt is a natural spring well that established itself in a primeval forest. 
This was where I blessed my ring, submerging it in the Spring Water that flowed from the hill, away into the mystical depths of Lough Gill and the Lake Isle of Inishfree. 
