“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”
― John Burroughs, Leaf and Tendril
A simple life is not impoverished…it’s knowing what is enough!
Here I made a board for jigsaws…something I love to do.
It’s simple…look closely and see how it was made…wood, glue and edging strip to keep the bits from falling off the board.
All these photographs were snapped today, the first day of July….a few last night!
A little record of a simple life… Enjoy!
Colour is important to me, as you can see from both the cottage and the garden. 
I am led to infuse it into my daily life, as in the tie-dyed sheet that hangs as a curtain on the old doorway. 
Sometimes it’s all too easy to go to the shops and buy what is deemed suitable for covering a doorway…usually a door! 
But, as always, a cottage can be very forgiving and accommodating to whatever furniture or resources one has. 
A cottage is never in competition with the big, new house down the road! 
It’s more of a “make do and mend” kind of home, where anything goes, be it period or modern, or just recycled, as is the case here at Bealtaine. 
As I snapped these photos this morning, my gaze was being continually led outside…and so it should be, for that connectivity is immensely important. 
I recall living in an old house in Muswell Hill in London and how I loved tending the window boxes beyond the old sash windows. 
How just the simple act of pushing them up and the outside coming in provided a kind of release of energy both ways! 
The connectivity of life!
I have finally given away my hens…as I no longer eat eggs and there was a lovely home ready and waiting for them where they would be more useful, as they are good layers and their eggs will be anticipated and appreciated where there is a family of people to eat them. 
I shall miss them, but as with life at Bealtaine Cottage, the void is quickly filled and the hen-house will be re-purposed and appreciated further. 
In the past, their manure was a part of developing the fertility of the land at Bealtaine, but this is no longer needed. 
Seed production is well under way, with some of the harvest already collected and much more coming to fruition. 
We are now one week away from Midsummer, as evidenced in the lush growth seen here! 
We inter-breath with the rain forests, we drink from the oceans. They are part of our own body. ~Thich Nhat Hanh 
The fruit trees and bushes were pruned back quite hard over the course of last Autumn and Winter and they are happily producing yet another bumper harvest.
…no matter how complex or affluent, human societies are nothing but subsystems of the biosphere, the Earth’s thin veneer of life, which is ultimately run by bacteria, fungi and green plants. 
Your deepest roots are in nature. No matter who you are, where you live, or what kind of life you lead, you remain irrevocably linked with the rest of creation. 
Ten O’Clock rings out as I take up my camera and head out into the warm evening. 
I have enjoyed visitors for much of the day, so stepping out into the evening allows me time to be quiet and absorb the ending of the day. 
“Be calm…calm as a calm lagoon, then you will look beautiful as a beautiful calm lagoon crowned by the Moon and sheltered by the brilliance of the stars reclaiming your royalty of regal life…”
The light lends an ethereal touch to everything. 
“When one tunes in into nature’s frequency, life becomes change, change becomes hope!”
The birds continue to fly to and fro their nestlings in a frenzy to keep them fed. 
Fortunately, Bealtaine Cottage can now support dozens of pairs of breeding birds and all from the plentiful supply of food in the gardens and food forest. 
“It was that time of dusk when there is a—deepening of the interior shadows. It is a melancholy time: all you need do is switch on one lamp and the inside and the outside will separate, held apart by the reflections in the glass, and evening will begin.”
As always at this time of evening, there is magic in the air. 
Flowers are dancing in billows of colour around the cottage. 
As I walk, snapping pictures here and there, I fancy my camera may capture an image of the other world that is veiled so very thinly at this time of day… 
I sense the watchers… 
and is gone in the blink of a lens.
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! 
The candle is lit in the kitchen window, a soft light to welcome the night, while on the far side of the room a small lamp illuminates the dark. 
“I love to watch the fine mist of the night come on,
The Blackbird has sung out the day and in the night, as it flies around it’s territory, marking out it’s boundary in song.
“Inhale and hold the evening in your lungs.”
“Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
The time between blue and black is quiet, almost timeless. 
There is an ethereal glow that conjures night. 
And slowly, slowly, the hush becomes night. 
Goodnight from Bealtaine Cottage…goodnight.
I have snapped these minutes ago and come straight in to upload and write this blog…taking time en route to give Jack a cracker treat. 
Thanks and blessings to my dear friends and supporters of the Bealtaine Cottage project.
There was enough rain overnight to half-fill the water barrels and all is looking lush this morning! 
Aquilegia is in full bloom and has grown well from an extra scattering of seeds I did last Autumn. 
Here is the perennial Yellow Poppy. 
I’ve moved potted seedlings and more robust plants out of the tunnel. 
The symbolism of the Goddess is not a parallel structure to the symbolism of God the Father.
The Permaculture design and planting at Bealtaine is not just inspired by the Goddess, but is the Goddess manifest…as natural and intuitive as the energy that flows from Mother Earth herself. 
This is the difference between Permaculture and Goddess-inspired Permaculture. 
Hawthorn has opened…
Garden paths become enclosed, dark, shady places…
The Spindle bush sits covered with blossom yet to open…
“I walk without flinching through the burning cathedral of the summer. My bank of wild grass is majestic
To meet it — nameless as it is —
Lilac is open…
“That beautiful season the Summer!
“Dirty hands, iced tea, garden fragrances thick in the air and a blanket of color before me,
“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most
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…
Photographs (18 exclusive photos taken today) from the gardens of Bealtaine Cottage on EarthDay 2016.
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. 
