Remembering…

As the days grow shorter and the evenings longer there is a quietness in the gardens and around the cottage that is rather haunting.

Much of what I do now is centred around preparing for the Midwinter Feast and the continuing festivities of Yule.

Family and friends will be arriving from as far away as Canada.

A house has been rented for the days that are in it, for Bealtaine Cottage is small!

Baking is underway in the kitchen, making full use of the hot oven in the even hotter Stanley stove that is burning constant to keep the cottage warm.

Cakes and bread are then being moved to the freezer in the barn and will be ready to assuage the hunger of visitors and guests alike. The cake stand has been dusted off for the festivities.

I am transforming the Lodge into a big dining room, moving beds and other furniture out and a huge extending dining table in.

This was brought over from the tunnel where it had been in use for years as a potting table, but a good clean down and polish, followed by the adornment of a starched table cloth, has lent the old table an air of noble gentility.

Candlelight will soften the decrepitness of the piece and even add a touch of shabby chic!

In the event it isn’t really about grandeur or showing off, but about coming together to celebrate…something we have almost forgotten how to do.

The remembering that less is more…that a pot of well made soup and home baked bread is unique to that day and all who partake of the feast.

It is not about shop bought, ready-made food, or flashy decorations that will still be intact in the landfill when you are long gone from this sacred Earth.

My little bathroom has had a coat of paint applied and a polish-up!

Remembering the importance of gathering and celebrating…this is real civilisation!

The Other Website… https://bealtainecottage.com/bealtaine-cottage-good-life/

A Life in the Country ~ The Bealtaine Cottage Girls are having a Bath!

Posted November 4, 2011

Filed under Birds, Country Living, hens, Permaculture, Self-Sufficiency

The hens are having a dust bath in the barn!

I caught them unexpectantly as I was passing…

This is one of the best aspects of keeping hens…getting to see what they’re really like…and liking them even more for it!

Keeping hens is very little work if everything is done well from the start. That means a solid hen-house and enclosure for when they cannot roam in the gardens and this can be, for example, when friends with dogs visit…I once had a beautiful cockerel savaged by a friend’s dog…we fell out afterwards!

So here are three very happy girls…enjoy!

Permaculture at the Cottage.

Posted July 5, 2011

Filed under Autumn, Earth, Eco-Living, Ecology, Gaia, Garden, Inspiration, Ireland, Leitrim, Permaculture, Permaculture in Ireland, Roscommon, Sligo, Smallholding, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized

SWEET JOE PYE

A perennial, growing near the apple tree pictured in previous blog, it grows tall and flowers quite soon as you can see. Otherwise known in Latin as Eutrochium Purpureum is a clump forming plant. it can grow to 2 metres high…wow, indeed it does too! The leaves grow to 30 cm (12 in) long and have a somewhat wrinkled texture. Plants attract a lot of activity from insects that feed on the nectar produced by the flowers.

Mulching

This clump grows well beneath the Copper Beech tree and wedged between it and the Apple tree. I recently mulched around the area with cardboard and straw in oreder to clear some ground for planting out this Autumn.

I once spent Autumn in Toronto in Canada and that was definitely the most gloriously colourful place ever for that season…it took my breath away!

Roses and Willow

Roses, Willow and Copper Beech…some of my favourite plants. I must take lots of cuttings this Autumn and grow these Roses on! I took some last year and they all did well!

Planting Together

Why is it that plants like to be together? They obviously thrive well like this! Perhaps they are aware that they are not alone…

The Butterfly Bush

The white Buddleia near the Barn is coming into bloom. Soon the Butterflies will be around and about!

Hothouse Flowers in a Permaculture Environment. Evening @ Bealtaine Cottage

Posted May 5, 2011

Filed under Country Living, Eco-Living, Ecology, Garden, Inspiration, Uncategorized, Wild Flowers

Laburnum and Ferns, hastily picked, make a casual, summer bouquet for the sitting room window of the cottage. I never buy flowers and don’t support the polluting, hothouse methods involved in growing shop bought arrangements. The seasonal look is more in keeping with caring for the environment as well as being much more stylish.

The rain has passed over for the day as the evening sweeps in from the East. Hoping for a lot more if the wells are going to resume full flow! I still haven’t moved the logs as the rain has continued unabated for most of the day. Added to this is the task of clearing out the barn in order to stack the logs, which is pending…ahem!

Jack has been having a ripping time, literally…nothing is safe around him! I got him some massive bones from the butcher yesterday and he has been crunching and chewing away to his heart’s content! I can’t quite get over just how intelligent he is! I would advise anyone thinking of getting a pet to visit their local animal sanctuary first…you might be as lucky as myself and come away with a gem like Jack!

Looking out the window onto the veranda is uplifting when the roses are in bloom. I planted a grapevine further along, into a couple of tyres and have big expectations for equally bountiful harvests of grapes!

Spring growth~Photos from Bealtaine Cottage Ireland…Permaculture Smallholding.

Posted April 18, 2011

Filed under Abundance, Bealtaine Cottage, Cottage, Country Living, Eco-Living, Ecology, Garden, Gardening, Inspiration, Ireland, Leitrim, Organic Garden, Permaculture, PermaGoddess, Roscommon, Sligo, Smallholding, Uncategorized

Tulips planted several years ago under one of the many Beech trees at Bealtaine.

London pride growing on either side of the steps. This is a perfect permaculture flowering plant, as it takes over, even in weedy, clay soil. Small bits were planted alongside the steps about 4 years ago and managed to push out the creeping buttercup, which can be very resolute and defiant! London Pride will flower during May and keep it’s flowers for many weeks!

Bealtaine Cottage is beginning to merge into the Spring growth…another few weeks and it will not be visible at all!

Little pots of Sedum are flowering atop the old fireplace at the back of the barn. Sedum is a great plant for enduring dry periods, then flourishing after rain!

Lilac has blossomed in a sheltered corner of the front garden. I pruned this last Autumn, cutting out all the spindley and crossover branches and consequently the blooms are lush.