The promise of peaches growing outdoors in the west of Ireland, another Bealtaine Cottage first! Blossom on these home grown trees, grown from seed, is looking good. So far, with only the first month behind us, this has been a remarkable Spring!
New Bird Boxes have been added to the rich habitat, now in its fifteenth year on these three acres.
The interior of the tunnel has been remodelled to create a sanctuary in which to enjoy being in the garden, even in very wet weather!
Sanctuaries are much needed in today’s world!
The plastic has been washed inside and out, ready for its fourteenth year!
The area around the tunnel, which includes compost heaps and potting corner, is now tidy.
Crocosmia is growing into fine clumps of lime green foliage.
Rhubarb doesn’t need forcing in the mild climate enjoyed here in the west of Ireland. 
Beds have been well mulched and Rhubarb banked up with enriched compost.
Work in the garden never stops, because Mother Earth never sleeps.
Sweet Peas have successfully germinated outdoors in plastic buckets. Many of you have been following this experiment.
There are lots more seeds germinating in this way and I expect them to be stronger and hardier for their experience being outdoors, even through the recent snow!
In between the outdoors work, clothes are hand-washed and hung out to dry in the wind and sporadic sunshine.
Potatoes are arranged to chit, as pots are brought together and prepared for potato planting.
In a home without television, reading is the great entertainment…my book of the moment is all about the incredible life of Vita Sackville-West…a rollicking good read in the form of a wonderful biography by Victoria Glendinning.
And, as always, whenever the weather allows, the back door is thrown open to welcome in the day that’s in it!
Books, Map, Calendar and Bumper Sticker selection…
Bealtaine Cottage Press:
https://bealtainecottage.com/bealtaine-cottage-publications-books-and-maps/
Hawthorn is also known as the fairy tree for it is believed, especially a solo tree in a field, that it is a place that fairies would stop to rest (or party!) as they traversed across the land.
Myself and Jack set off for a morning stroll in the woodland gardens.
Dandelion, another exceptional wild herb growing abundantly here, with Its young leaves that can be used to make a tea with potassium-saving diuretic properties, so very useful for treating people suffering from high blood pressure.
Consumption of the bitter leaves will also aid digestion and act as a general laxative, while eating the ground root helps detoxify the liver.
It’s good to remember that the sticky, milky- white latex contained within its stalks can be used externally to kill warts and veruccas.
There are many wild and naturalised herbs growing in this semi-wild area, such as Comfrey, Nettle and Wild Garlic. Sweet Bay is planted to the right of the path in this picture. The Potager Bed is filled with many other cultivated herbs, growing happily alongside their wild cousins!
Wild Angelica was eaten in past times as a vegetable and used for dyeing cloth.
Traditionally it was used to treat rheumatism, gout and indigestion or to flavour liqueurs.
It really is amazing the vast quantities of wild herbs that are growing all around us. We have forgotten many of them and know very little of the edibility and uses of many of the recognisable plants. You can see some of the Chives spilling out from one of the Potager beds here by the Sedum.
My birthday has passed.
It was a wonderful day and here I am in a new year of my life, another journey around the sun!
It’s been an extraordinary journey so far and, as usual, it’s been a wonderful time for casting the occasional, cursory glance over my shoulder to the past.
To this end, I have recalled many aspects of my relationship with my parents, especially in my younger years, realising more and more just how wonderful they both were!
When one is in the thick of it all it’s sometimes very hard to see the people behind the parent mask.
As a parent it became obvious to me how much of a mask one had to don, at times…from the tough to the understanding and sometimes with little in-between!
However, I recall much of my memories of my parents with enduring humour, for I now am fully cognisant of what I put them through!
And so my birthday was a time to celebrate with both my parents in mind, especially my Mother! 
Her permanent optimism must have been difficult to carry at times, especially when faced with loss, grief, unhappiness and the all-permeating poverty.
I admire her more than ever with each passing year of wisdom and reflection.
Love endures.
I am fortunate to have reached a point in my journey where it is possible for me to understand the woman who was my Mother and the man behind the mask of fatherhood…one he rarely let slip, but I was lucky enough to see the interesting and caring man behind that mask.
The celebrations continue into Samhain, the 31st of October.
Tomorrow the fire will be lit and the ancestors invited into the midst of the family and friends who will gather.
The following day will herald in the first day of the Celtic New Year…a great time of renewal, wishes and hopes for the journey ahead.
On another note, I am aware that Thursday will be the first day of November and I have several boxes of calendars here in the study, waiting to be re-homed!
So if you want to think about possible Yuletide gifts, then look no further!
I am happy to post on your behalf to anywhere in the world!
There is also a wonderful selection of Bealtaine Cottage books and a magical, mythical map…here are the links:
I have, once again, over-stretched myself across social media platforms, as well as working every day in the gardens and continuing to refresh and update the interior of Bealtaine Cottage…and all my own work, unaided.
My main work should be focused on writing, as this is my income, but, more often than not, I allow my energies to flow in too many directions.
So, for the next month, I am away from social media, concentrating my efforts on this website and YouTube channel instead.
All the little finishing tasks that are outstanding in the cottage will, hopefully, get finished!
I managed to finally hand-sew the curtain for underneath the worktop in the kitchen and hang it.
This week has been spent working in the Lughnasadh Garden and tidying up around the upper woodland.
I even managed a trip into town and to the market…not often enough I think, for I do need to get out more as I am becoming too much of a recluse!
Of course it is hard to leave Bealtaine Cottage at present as the colours of Autumn are simply divine!
Often times I feel there is a constant pull from FaceBook and Twitter, but then this is the clever way both are set up…to keep drawing one back!
This website is my first love and will remain so, above all other aspects of the internet, for it is where so many discovered Bealtaine Cottage and fell in love with this land as I have done.
It is where I found community and support. It is also a safe place to post all my photographic work, on this website which hosts thousands of images of Bealtaine Cottage and Woodland Sanctuary.
It is a labour of love and devotion to Mother Earth, for sometimes I am at the computer for over an hour just uploading the images to the website…I don’t have internet, just a hotspot on my phone!
Much of social media is so fast-flowing that images get drowned in the tide of ‘stuff!’
All of the images I capture on camera add up to a tiny fraction of what I want to photograph.
These are then sifted down to what I upload onto this website.
I am on a daily quest to present the beauty of Mother Earth here at Bealtaine Cottage to the world.
So, for the next twenty eight days or so, a lunar month, I shall be posting here on my website and YouTube.
