Splashed with pink…the Ribes (Flowering Currant), is one of the first great feasts for the Bees, all wild here at Bealtaine Cottage. This photograph was snapped last night around 7pm as the light was fading in the western sky.
Under a waxing moon directly above the cottage…
Awash with pink…the light is very magical as dusk descends…never any filters used, just the magic of the light! This was snapped at around 7pm last evening.
Enjoy these images below as you listen to the podcast…all taken last night and this morning.
“Man has drawn artificial lines on the chest of the Mother Earth, which have no significance, except for the sake of war and clashes between countries. The soil seems to be the same, the trees the same, the grass the same, and the fragrance of the air, the smell of the earth the same.”
Bread and circuses, but we all know and recognise real life.
It has a colour and fragrance all of its own.
If you would like to support the work of Bealtaine Cottage, completely dependent on people who value what I do, here’s how…
You may remember that last week I visited the Atlantic shoreline to harvest some seaweed to use on the garden. 
The strands to the south of Sligo town have piles of loose seaweed here and there along the beaches.
Always only ever take the loose stuff…don’t pull seaweed from stones as these form habitats and are essential to the ecology of the seashore!
In the end I managed about three big bags of seaweed and headed home with my foraged booty!
The first thing I do is to spread it on the gravel around the cottage and allow the rain to wash out excess salt.
After about a week, I start to spread the seaweed around established plants in the garden and tunnel.
The seaweed acts as a wonderful feed and a weed-suppressing mulch!
One of the best things about growing food in the garden is the opportunity to use local and near resources that are free to be foraged or collected…seaweed is an organic fertiliser! 
Seaweed is washed in by the tide, so is easy to forage!
Only ever take what you need!
It’s packed with Potassium and Nitrogen, bot wonderful for the garden!
Due to the demand from those of you wishing to visit Bealtaine Cottage, I am opening for visitors daily. 
However, please read on… 
To plan and book your visit, (booking is essential, as casual visitors will be turned away), you must be a subscriber to Bealtaine Cottage Good Life website. 
You will find all the details you need to plan and book your visit on 
To become a member of Bealtaine Cottage Good life, simply visit: 
If you have any queries you can contact me on colette0neill2010@hotmail.com
This notion that man can, and should, have absolute dominion over the “chaotic” powers of nature and woman…is what ultimately lies behind man’s famous “conquest of nature” – a conquest that is today puncturing holes in the earth’s ozone layer, destroying our forests, polluting our air and water, and increasingly threatening the welfare, and even survival, of thousands of living species, including our own.
Even the metaphor we use for our planet, ‘Mother Earth’, for instance…our nurturing Earth!
I have lived through the greatest exploitation and destruction of ‘virgin forests’, ever seen.
It is something I would love to be able to wish away and part of the reason I have grown and planted over one thousand trees to co-create Bealtaine Cottage, with, Mother Earth.
Apart from the violence of war and the destruction of the planet, women have been associated with the physical side of life.
Even in biblical terms, women are ‘closer to nature’, and so to be kept controlled.
Nature is more powerful than human life.
The control over Nature allows a fleeting feeling of control and empowerment…but, never for long, as we all know.
So, in my own small way, recognising these truths, I embarked on a journey of making peace…with Her.
The ultimate and final Peace Initiative.
I come from one of the most devastated towns in Northern Ireland…Omagh.
A town that endured such violence and suffering in the worst bombing witnessed on a quiet day in August of 1998.
I mention this as it helps to contextualize my own life and motives for what I do…a complex study in itself!
The only end to violence comes when people make peace with each other, or a situation.
Peace and happiness is never birthed from subjugation and control.
As a society that has both witnessed and endured these past two world wars, we should be in full receipt of that information!
For twelve years now I have striven to make peace with Mother Earth. 
The results are here for all to see.
She is not to be feared.
She is not to be controlled.
She is who we live WITH!
I learned, to my shock, the other day, that Ireland relied heavily on the importation of Chemical Fertilizer from America during the years of World war Two!
That was over sixty years ago, so one must assume that grass has only grown green from chemicals ever since!
One must further conclude that alongside this continued abomination has come the loss of topsoil, for one goes hand-in-hand with the other!
The ultimate Peace Initiative is working with Mother Earth to create topsoil, as evidenced here.
Peace is to be nurtured and worked through.
Peace comes with levels of compromise and sacrifice.
Peace in our own life comes with persistence and negotiation and keeping the vision with us.
Peace comes from the refusal to abuse, the refusal to not live ON Her, but WITH Her!
The greatest war of all time is being fought in every garden, allotment, field, woodland, forest, river, ocean and all that makes up Mother Earth.
Half light and shadows as the morning comes into view. 
Reflections and sunlight as the day rises. 
The silent beauty of the morning is a template for us all to follow into day…quiet simplicity. 
Gazing around the cottage as I follow through on early morning rituals. 
Checking where Sammy-Bear spent the night, opening the door for Jack to go out… 
Lighting the stove to boil the kettle…
Looking for where I put my camera last evening, for I should record this ethereal beauty of the early morning… 
Finally, making my pot of coffee and stepping out to embrace the day… 
The morning, the blessed morning…where all is possible. 
May the Goddess of the morning touch your heart with delight. 
May you be released into day, free from negativity and matters you do not control. 
Embrace your day…it’s a blessing! 
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!
For the past year or so it’s been utterly frustrating not being able to share on this website.
Restrictions were placed upon me in relation to upload space for photographs, as I had used up virtually all of the allocated space of 13GB, which is that allowed on the Premium Plan from WordPress.
Well, today I paid for an upgrade which allows me unlimited upload space…a treat for myself and, I’m hoping one for you too!
As I type there is a lovely soft rain falling outside, refreshing and renewing the earth.
The same has happened here for me on the website…I feel a sense of renewal and excitement!
To be honest, writing and photographing Bealtaine Cottage and Mother Earth constitutes my first love!
Much as I love the interaction on social media, it can be very time-consuming and ultimately takes away from the work I do here!
The payment of an extra 200 Euros was necessary for the extended plan, but this liberates me from the strictures of what I can put out there for everyone to enjoy.
I will continue with the Bealtaine Cottage Good Life website and am working on a plan to do a sort of “joined-up”daily blog…watch this space! 
And so the story of Bealtaine Cottage continues, moving onwards and upwards!
“Country things are the necessary root of our life – and that remains true even of a rootless and tragically urban civilization. To live permanently away from the country is a form of slow death.”
And so I hope to continue bringing the country to you!
Sharing this little sacred space in the west of Ireland, with the world…
The seasonal changes, garden, wildlife and Mother Earth…
The song of the Goddess and her inspired Permaculture…
Thanks for staying with Bealtaine Cottage…
Most of you are familiar with Bealtaine Cottage.
The paid subscription website, Bealtaine Cottage Good Life allows you to support my work in return for some extra special blogs and photographs…and allows me a small, but much needed, income.
To access Bealtaine Cottage Good Life, 