Here’s the video…enjoy!
…except, in Permaculture gardens, little is naked, most is covered, yet the earth beneath the green mantle warms just the same.
April has set Spring firmly in place, with early sunrise and birdsong to lift the dullest spirit!
The boys awaken to the sunshine…
Ribes sets the bees buzzing…apparently the Bumble Bee is losing numbers here in Ireland, as well as the UK, but certainly not at Bealtaine Cottage…the place is abuzz!
Amelanchier is coming into flower…yet more of the succession planting for the bees!
The playhouse is being transformed into a hen house…an upstairs~downstairs hen house to suit the due pecking order!
I’ve been busy with the brush and wood preservative, making sure that this little house sees another 10 years!
Chard has over-wintered well in the tunnel and will keep producing right up until the newly sown Chard is ready to pick…so very easy to grow!
Photinia, Red Robin has opened its new leaves…a burst of red!
Perennial Poppy has weathered the frost well!
Quince is in flower against the barn.
These gigantic shells have been moved to hang on sticks driven into the earth, making a contrast to the emerging green!
Spring is bursting forth into a riot of greens, as the first Cuckoo of the year heralds its summery arrival…earlier than last year!
The Fairy Wood is a mass of lime green Spurge!
The Lavender-painted Barn takes on a new look, making a wonderful backdrop to Spring.
Newly painted benches are ready to withstand another year of crazy Irish weather!
Primroses emerge in places where birds have dropped seed!
And the warm earth, no longer naked, continues to push forth magic!
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The Ivy hangs in 3-4 metre tendrils on a tree in the Fairy Dell…Quite Magical!Euphorbia…this wonderful perennial comes up more lush every year and transplants easily…I started with a stolen cutting and now it dominates the April/May/June garden and beyond!
Angelica, now at least 7 feet tall and with a massive spread. Medieval herbalists called it ‘Herba Angelica,’ meaning ‘Angelic Plant.’ Traditionally it is supposed to flower on the 8th of May, which is the feast of Michael the Archangel. needless to add, Angelica possesses protective qualities. The seeds add flavour to Chartreuse Liqueur!
The way up out from the Fairy Dell…
Orchids continue to emerge all over Bealtaine Smallholding. I was asked by the Census Enumerator the other day if I used any chemicals here…where that came from is interesting! However, I simply told him to look around…there is far too much growing evidence of NO CHEMICALS HERE!
Sunlight dapples the grass under the Blackthorn trees near the tunnel. The light dances on the ground as the Fairy trees gently sway in the breeze.
Working in the tunnel this morning I heard the first Cuckoo of the year calling from the hill behind Bealtaine. This is extraordinarily early to hear the Cuckoo…usually in May, or at the earliest, very late April…the seasons are coming earlier here in Ireland.
The flowers on the first Wild Orchid of the year are opening. I noticed a second Orchid beginning to open further along the bank.
Biodiversity is more than an elastoplast sticking plaster on the skin of Gaia…it is the CURE!
I would go so far as to say that it has been the introduction of biodiversity here on the 3 acres of Bealtaine Smallholding that has allowed such incredible harvest of food to manifest.
Permaculture plantings aim to create and sustain as many food webs as possible, as this gives stability and strength to the environment.
The structure of an ecosystem is represented by food webs and the more cmplex the ecosystem, the greater the stability. It is unfortunate that even Organic farms are not home to complex enough ecosystems, as many of the crops are grown in a monoculture, uniform row, type way.