The last flush of Summer happens in early Lughnasadh.
As I walk the gardens in late evening, the earthy taste of Autumn pervades the air.
The wheel turns as endings and beginnings wind their way through the days of change.
All is change…
Mists form in early morning cool air as heat continues to rise from the earth.
Soon the clothes of summer will be packed away, to be replaced with woollens and woven items more suited to the cooling of Lughnasadh.
In the world of man the destruction and threats of destruction continues, as though in another dimension. Mother Earth is unaware of their arrogance and hubris…She just goes on, as they huff and puff and eventually blow themselves out…She just goes on!
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Twitter…
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!
As the thousand and more trees and thousands of plants of the Bealtaine Project grow taller and more dense, so it is the once barren land seems more and more as it is…an Ark for Earth, set into a monoculture landscape of Cash-Crop-Forestry and animal grazing fields. 
This summer witnessed the most Bees, Butterflies, Pollinators and Birds ever! 
The wildlife in search of home are migrating to the oasis of Bealtaine Cottage. 
They know where the food, shelter and ultimate habitat is to be found! 
So, I thought to myself, what if those with gardens, allotments, smallholdings etc., pledged to devote a percentage of what they tend or own to wildlife?
We are talking Arks, where wildlife can not only survive, but thrive! 
This takes the presumption that one cannot make a difference and turns it on it’s ridiculous head! 
For one can make a difference! 
Two can double that little Ark for Earth…hundreds can create a huge difference and thousands…well, thousands can begin to stack the odds in favour of Mother Earth! 
Now don’t get me thinking of hundreds of thousands or even millions, for my head will almost explode with possibilities…but you see where this is going, don’t you? 
And as for Guerrilla Gardening…oh joy!
What about seed bombs chucked out of the car window onto the motorway verges? 
We are creative people who care…if you’ve landed here on this website you most certainly are! 
So let’s get to it! 
Oh, and the Lughnasadh Garden is being worked on little by little, with a grand opening and dedication ceremony next Bealtaine (May 1st)
…the Ark is being extended…
…One Garden At A Time
and…it’s going to be mighty!
A big task is underway. It’s a labour of love for the Butterflies and Bees…so bound to be beautiful, with lots and lots of flowers and flowering shrubs.
This is a garden I have often dreamed of creating, so am very excited about getting stuck in!
The video will introduce you to the task in hand…
“The symbol of Goddess gives us permission. She teaches us to embrace the holiness of every natural, ordinary, sensual dying moment. Patriarchy may try to negate body and flee earth with its constant heartbeat of death, but Goddess forces us back to embrace them, to take our human life in our arms and clasp it for the divine life it is – the nice, sanitary, harmonious moment as well as the painful, dark, splintered ones.
