- The third one day workshop of the year at Bealtaine Cottage is happening on Saturday the 24th of June.
- There will be a maximum of four people only accepted for this day.
- The day will begin at 10am and finish at 4pm.
- Tea/coffee and home made vegan cake in the morning and afternoon, with a full lunch in the middle of the day.
- This workshop will cover all aspects of sustainable and regenerative living here at Bealtaine Cottage. We will also look at planting and maintaining a Food Forest. You will have the opportunity to ask all the questions you have about this lifestyle.
- The cost for the day is 75 Euros, payable when booking.
- To book your place, use the link below. (Workshops at Bealtaine Cottage are filled quickly, so early booking is essential to avoid disappointment…the second Workshop was fully booked by 4.30pm on the day of posting!)
- Once payment is received I will confirm with you.
- PLEASE email first to ensure there is a place available on the day!
- coletteoneill2010@hotmail.com
- “Working with Nature to create a seamless environment where everything is connected.” ~Colette O’Neill, A Cottage and Three Acres
Sunday 14th May Update: 8:30am: 2 places available only.
Monday 15th Update: All places now taken. Workshop fully booked.
To book and pay, use this button… but please confirm with me first to secure your place! coletteoneill2010@hotmail.com
Another five days.
Bealtaine.
The beginning of Summer.
This Bealtaine is the celebration of thirteen years of the Bealtaine project.
A project once considered the silly dream of a ridiculous woman.
Against all financial advice it was conceived and against all horticultural wisdom it was planned.
Planned, planted and grown!
This land is both resilient and regenerative…it can grow abundance without me.
I am now free to observe and delight, potter and sit, all the while simply ensuring the gentle maintenance of the edges and paths, free to harvest and raise plants for the Potager Beds which provide some of my food and much of my pleasure.
I have embarked on writing my second book, happy with the good reception of the first, 
I recently read this quote by W. H. Murray and found it to be true to my experience at Bealtaine Cottage over the past thirteen years…
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. “
Wise words…live your life!
Click here to purchase the book… 
Bees are declining all over the world, for multiple reasons.
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!
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!
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.
For my part, I don’t keep bees…they keep me…and all are wild and free!
Last year i grew lots of Blackcurrants from seed saved right here at Bealtaine.
I used compoost from the bins to give them the very best feed for the coming growing year. This is two years old and sweet smelling compoost.
I also planted a Mulberry tree in the corner.
Near the bottom of the path was planted the other Crab Apple.
I added a shallow dish to the Lughnasadh Garden so Bees and Butterflies may drink water without drowning…it is such a sad sight to witness! The area to the right is simply cardboard and chippings from the garden shredder.
This gives a fantastic heat and is great for baking when I need higher temperatures in the stove.
As I walked I thought about my Mother, my Grandmother and some of the women who have influenced my life, as Mother’s Day approaches…
Mary Robinson, the first woman President of Ireland was certainly one of those women!
“The Irish presidential election of 1990 was the tenth held in Ireland and the first to include a female candidate. Independent politician Mary Robinson would go on to hold office for the next seven years. In the 1990 election, the Labour Party let it be known that it would run a candidate for the first time and nominated Robinson, a former Labour Party senator, and liberal campaigner. The renegade had been involved in the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform and is widely regarded and respected as atransformative figure in Ireland for liberalizing and revitalizing what was a conservative and low-profile political office. She was a remarkably popular president.” ~ 
My own questions formed around the environment in which I lived, most importantly the Earth and our relationship with her.
I felt empowered by Mary Robinson, as many women at home and abroad felt and continue to feel empowered.
The opportunity to fulfil my dream came over a decade later, when, throwing all caution to the wind, I embarked on what was to become known as the 
The book, “
I was not the only one though, for many, many others were embarking on a similar path all across Earth.
I spoke with all who visited Bealtaine Cottage about Mother Earth, when few people seemed to recognise her plight.
There was a distinct sense of energy rising from the very Earth herself…a form of communication at the most deeply intuitive level.
After years of feeling outcast because of what I sensed and felt, there happened a mighty shift in perception.
As I began to write and photograph what was happening at Bealtaine, so many of you tuned in…often in the most serendipitous of ways!
But, it was not accidental, for all is connected and often in ways we do not understand.
And so the website began reaching people all over the world.
What began as an impossible dream, became a reality of hope for many…that nothing is impossible!
That the doors of perception are not locked and barred!
We are all, each and every one of us on an incredible journey, each one unique, yet deeply connected to all and everything.
We are beautiful souls experiencing a human journey with the greatest Mother of them all…our own Mother Earth.
I received a delivery from my printers in Dublin, of my book, “A Cottage And Three Acres”. 
It is three years since I put the first chapter on the website and waited for feedback from you, dear supporters of what has become the Bealtaine Project.
I recall being both surprised and elated at the positive response to my writing and your encouragement to continue writing the book.
I decided to follow permaculture ethics and have the book printed here in Ireland.
I also decided to post the book from Bealtaine Cottage, making full use of my local Post Office which, like many rural Post Offices here in the west of Ireland, is under threat of closure!
This way, all the benefits of my effort, go to support rural Ireland, a place I love and care for!
One’s decisions in life have rippling effects on all one cares for…and evident that Permaculture can make a difference…
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.
Now that I have come this far, I feel confident enough to accept pre-orders!
2 cups organic wholemeal flour…spelt flour makes for a lighter bread!
Now cover with cling film and set aside for 3-4 hours in your kitchen…room temperature is good enough!
Pre-heat your oven to 450F and put your pan with lid in to heat.
When hot, remove from oven, sprinkle a little flour into the bottom of the pan to prevent bread from sticking, pour in mixture, cover with lid and pop back in oven.
Remove loaf from pan and leave to cool.
As many of you know, I am in the final stages of completing my first manuscript and so have been busy since early December in preparing this book for the printers in Dublin…no tax-dodging Amazon corporation for me!
As I began this final incubation, I was reluctant to venture into the world of news, website or indeed have my attention diverted.
The communications have come mainly from the U.S. and have been most concerning to read!
I am not interested in politicians, nor do I have any respect for them or what they peddle, so there is no need for me to use the T word more than in the title of this blog, nor do I want a comment list oozing the “T” word…no thank you!
Have you not noticed the endless war on a noun?
I googled the word “Fear” and it came up with 547 million results!
For as long as power-seeking individuals have existed, their energy has fed of fear, each one of them a version of Nosferatu, be them less or more acceptable! 
We must, each of us, decide how we come to terms, if any, with a most disagreeable and at times, painful system that appears to control our lives. Fear and loathing changes little.
“I don’t think that anything happens by coincidence… No one is here by accident… Everyone who crosses our path has a message for us. Otherwise they would have taken another path, or left earlier or later. The fact that these people are here means that they are here for some reason”…”
The wisdom in what James Redfield had to say, translates to me in this way:
