Resilience of The Bealtaine Project as Drought and Heatwave Ravage Ireland

Extreme weather conditions have struck once again here in Ireland. Planting over eleven hundred trees over fourteen years has meant resilience for Bealtaine Cottage. This continual onslaught of extreme weather is fast establishing itself as the new normal! From the normally mild summers of Ireland and the UK, numerous locations in the Northern Hemisphere have witnessed their hottest weather ever recorded over the past two weeks! This should be a wake-up call to plant…trees! Only three months ago the country ground to a halt with severe snow storms and massive fall of snow in 48 hours! Now we are experiencing…

Bealtaine Cottage Early Summer Album

May 5, 2018May 8, 2018 Categories: awakening · Bealtaine Cottage · Blessing · Country Living · Gardens · Goddess-Permaculture · Miracles · PermacultureTags: animals · bees · birds · blog · cats · celts · design · dogs · environment · gardens · goddess · grow · happy · hope · humanity · Ireland · life · media · Permaculture · reflections · summer · sun · visitors15 Comments

It has been some time… “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ~ Henry James Just as the rosebuds are swelling, early Summer makes an appearance. It has been a long cold Winter and Spring. Euphorbia has brightened the veranda with its vivid lime green. And finally, finally the garden stirs into full life. “Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly.” ~ Pablo Neruda “Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet…

Early Lughnasadh in the Gardens of Bealtaine

August 13, 2017August 13, 2017 Categories: Bealtaine CottageTags: autumn · Bealtaine cottage · bees · Colette O'Neill · earth · Earth Goddess · garden · Ireland · lughnasadh · oldest permaculture smallholding · Permaculture8 Comments

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…

2nd One Day Workshop at Bealtaine Cottage

April 28, 2017April 28, 2017 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Permaculture · Sustainable LivingTags: Bealtaine cottage · bees · food for the bees · Food Forest · regenerative · sustainable living · workshop3 Comments

The second one day workshop of the year at Bealtaine Cottage is happening on Saturday the 17th 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…

My Wildest Dreams

April 12, 2017April 12, 2017 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Bees · biodiversity · Butterflies · care for the earthTags: bees · bumblebees · butterflies · decline · endangered · food · habitat · Ireland · native · species · wild11 Comments

Bees are declining all over the world, for multiple reasons. The most serious one in my estimation is habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation…in other words… Homelessness! 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! This is a part of the new Lughnasadh Garden, created especially for the bees and butterflies. One only has to plant it and they will come! One only has to be a little untidy and they…

Building an Ark…One Garden At ATime

September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 Categories: Animals · Bees · Birds · Buddha · Earth · Gaia · Garden · GardensTags: allotments · Ark for Earth · barren land · Bealtaine Project · bees · birds · butterflies · cash crop · creating a garden for Nature · food and shelter · forestry · garden · habitat · lughnasadh · monoculture · Planting trees · pollinators · survive and thrive · wildlife37 Comments

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…

This is Why You Should NEVER Use Chemicals in Your Garden!

September 11, 2016September 11, 2016 Categories: GardensTags: bees · compoost · free fertiliser · Goddess-inspired permaculture · Permaculture · using urine in the garden1 Comment

In this video, Colette shows you the progress made in the Lughnasadh Garden, regards the Bees and shares the secret of the magnificent Geraniums! Despite the storm blowing along the west coast today, the gardens are fairly sheltered. Please consider a subscription to Bealtaine Cottage Good Life…here’s the link… https://bealtainecottage.com/bealtaine-cottage-good-life/

Lughnasadh Garden

September 2, 2016September 2, 2016 Categories: Garden · Gardens · LughnasaTags: bees · butterflies · lughnasadh · Permaculture · plantsLeave a comment

Just published over at Bealtaine Cottage Good Life… Lughnasadh Garden…here’s a link for members: https://bealtainecottage.org/2016/09/02/lughnasadh-garden/ If you would like to support the Bealtaine Project by becoming a member, here’s a link: https://bealtainecottage.com/bealtaine-cottage-good-life/