An Act of Defiance from the Edge of Empire!

Posted August 19, 2013

Filed under Earth, Fracking, Frugal Living, Garden, Growing Food, Inspiration, Ireland, Lifestyle, Organic Garden, Permaculture, Politics, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized

It seems as though governments all over the western world are colluding with big corporations and the energy companies to deliberately destroy our environments, and, in the face of much opposition from those who elected them into power…the people.

I have yet to meet the person who supports

war, fracking, privatisation of utilities, or GMOs.

Yet, politicians have, and are, engaged in the pursuit of all of these.

As we approach a global food crisis- and all the warning signs are there, such as rising food prices, oil and the effects of extreme weather- we are in desperate need of leadership.

Leadership is absent.

Rhetoric is everywhere.

We are being force-fed a diet of ‘GMOs are all that can save us,’ publicity, when patently this is not true!

The less choice in seed diversity, the more prone we are to potential famine.

I know that as a grower, working 3 acres of poor land…that it is diversity that builds fertility and food security!

What are we to do?

Act as defiantly in the face of bullish nonsense and stupid politicians as one can.

How?

Plant!

Living near the western seaboard of the Atlantic Ocean, I live on the edge of empire.

I refuse to allow the insanity of empire to bellow it’s anarchic way into my home…I have no television.

I plant.

I grow.

I live frugally.

If I lived in the middle of a city I would keep the same philosophy.

Be defiant: buy less; plant more; save seeds and share! It’s your future…don’t let the politicians mess it up!

This is a video I watched earlier and a fantastic template for those without gardens or allotments…or even with!

The Green Backyard

This is the story of a once neglected urban wasteland in Peterborough, recently transformed into a much-loved community resource by a crew of eager volunteer…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IbtR__9FZQ&feature=share

*********************

If you would like to support the work of the Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture website, Youtube (ad-free) videos and Compassion for Mother Earth Gardens project, please feel free to…

Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture Gardens

Posted November 7, 2012

Filed under Cottage, Country Living, Garden, Gardens, Inspiration, Ireland, Lifestyle, Permaculture, Smallholding, Uncategorized, Winter

The gardens in snow.

Yesterday was a day for visitors who spent two and a half hours walking around all the different gardens.

The photo above was taken in the winter of 2010…cold but very beautiful.

Permaculture is about planting and planting without chemicals, but using Nature’s way of mulch, mulch, mulch.

It works incredibly well, for this approach feeds the soil, our food lifeline!

I mulch with shreddings; clippings; wool; compost; manure; grass and leaves, as well as any other biodegradable material I come across, including cardboard, straw etc.

I also collect silt from both ponds as the stream which feeds them often washes lots of silt down from the hill behind the cottage.

This includes pulling most of the seasonal growth from the ponds and spreading that around newly planted trees.

To date, there have been over 700 trees planted on the 3 acres that make up the smallholding of Bealtaine Cottage.

It is trees that give us life and give fertility to the soil.

Let us never forget that.

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The Colours of the Celts

Posted October 31, 2012

Filed under Art, Celtic Mythology, Celts, Folklore, Garden, Inspiration, Life, Lifestyle, Spirituality, Thoughts

Creativity was associated with orange, as well as sexuality and fertility.

Think of the egg yolk…only a deep orange yolk is really healthy and full of goodness.

Invoke this colour in areas of your home where you want to express these elements.

Green is infused with beauty and fertility, but also prosperity.

In Feng Shui, it is advised to paint the front door of one’s home red so as to attract prosperity, but my door is painted green and the real prosperity is quite tangible at Bealtaine Cottage.

As for beauty, well, that speaks for itself, for what is not beautiful in the flowing greens of Nature?

Brown is the essence of earth and the home.

The very centre of the home is the “hearth,” or home earth.

Brown is also for animals.

In old cottages in Ireland the animals were brought near to the “hearth,” or home for the winter.

Winter begins tomorrow in the Celtic Cycle.

The prosperity of purple is long associated with the royal families and indeed was not to be worn by lesser mortals in Europe, upon pain of death…not so the case today where we recognize the equality in all human life and the real meaning of wealth and power being unique to each one of us.

The blue of heaven heralds healing…I keep a long piece of blue silk to lay on a pillow or seat especially for those feeling poorly.

Blue also invokes peace and the sacredness of all under it’s mantle.

There are many colours that represent other aspects of our sacred journey.

As we wear a particular colour, our understanding of how it makes us feel infuses us with a little more knowledge and understanding of its importance to us.

We each have a favourite colour that we wear, one that looks good on us, matches our skin tones and brings out a certain energy.

That is a good place to begin to relate to the energy of colour.

Stonehenge, Newgrange and the Cycle of Life

Posted September 21, 2012

Filed under Autumn, Celtic Mythology, Gardens, Inspiration, Life, Permaculture, Samhain, Thoughts, Uncategorized

The autumn continues to progress through it’s mellow display of earthy colours.

Tomorrow is the Equinox and the beginning of the descent towards midwinter.

The time of year denotes the slowing down of all that is life as we know it.

Time to sort out the winter woolies and hang the heavy curtains to keep out the drafts.

One of the big tasks I have lined up here at Bealtaine Cottage is the coppicing of the majority of the trees that were planted eight years ago, in the first flush of restoring the fertility of the land.

Trees are one of the most important connections we have to the Divine, embodying the sacred fertility that anchors us all on this planet.

Where trees grow, life is abundant…without them we are bereft of all that makes life comfortable and good.

One of the great delights of the shorter days is the ritual lighting of the stove and the chance to sit around the fire and enjoy the scent of woodsmoke on the air.

There are few pleasures in life quite so comforting.

From this point in time the autumn will wend its way through to Samhain and evolve into the dark depths of winter, finally rising towards the light in the deep midwinter, a time of renewal, hope and promise.

Life is cyclical.

The builders of Stonehenge and Newgrange knew all about that.

Abundant Harvest at Bealtaine Cottage…seeing is believing!

Posted September 2, 2012

Filed under Abundance, Bats, Bees, biodiversity, Butterflies, Country Living, Food, Garden, Growing Food, Inspiration, Ireland, Lifestyle, Permaculture, Smallholding

Despite the problems with weather and lack of sunshine, this is turning out to be one of the best years on record for the harvest at Bealtaine Cottage.

Continual adaptation to climate change is paying off, as the Potager Beds have excelled themselves in little over ten weeks since construction and planting.

Designed and built in the truly vernacular style, using stone sourced on site, these beds have been a blessing in production and style.

Blessed with continual warmth and shelter at the back of the cottage, the plants have excelled themselves, doing better than those planted in the tunnel!

Bees and, blessed be, Butterflies are all in abundance too, a sight to behold!

The Apple harvest is the best ever, as these trees have brought apples to my table every year since planting.

I have been out this morning and made a video for you to see for yourselves…it is amazing.

Oh, and as a joyous footnote…the Bats are back at Bealtaine Cottage…small and few, I suspect a new colony, but it is a stunning sight to watch at dusk!

Today’s video…just click on the link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWLrpb6_9Wc

Permaculture is…

Posted April 20, 2012

Filed under Abundance, Bealtaine Cottage, Lifestyle, Permaculture, Sustainable Living, Uncategorized

Permaculture is… a design system…

It’s a simple and effective way to apply the principles of ecology in the design of sustainable human habitats.

Building a veranda on the south side of Bealtaine Cottage was a practical and sustainable way of applying the principles…there is now an all-weather area in which to shelter and store humans, plants and fuel.

Permaculture is not just about growing things.

Although permaculture focuses on food production, it is more than just food, as it embraces every aspect of living holistically on this Earth…with this Earth!

All aspects of living well, such as health, and education, are integrated in this new way of living… Aspects of community and architecture, especially living architecture and always sustainable architecture…using locally source materials, especially wood.

It brings sustainability into all aspects of life, even art, as in the stained glass wheel of life using beer bottles!

Permaculture uses resources from, essentially, three main areas.

These are nature, traditional systems…as in the application of permaculture principles at this old stone cottage, and modern scientific /technological knowledge.

Embracing knowledge and applying it in a permaculture way is one way of describing what I do here at Bealtaine Cottage.

For example, retro-fitting the cottage for maximum insulation using minimum £resources, such as sheep’s wool for insulation in the cottage and fertility on the hungry land!

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You can also subscribe to the new website”Bealtaine Cottage Good Life”…there’s a link at the top of this page.

Bealtaine Cottage Calendar 2020

This calendar celebrates the magic of Bealtaine and the evolution to a Sanctuary for Life. The Hare was viewed by the ancient Celts as being the link between this world and the Otherworld-a supernatural world which is directly linked to nature. The Hare is known for being able to run between our world and the 'Otherworld'. Shapeshifters are widely known in Ireland to take on the form of the Hare. This is told in the famous story of the Celtic warrior Oisín. The Hare guards both the entrance to and exit from, the Fairy Wood at Bealtaine. The Calendar, which features over 50 photographs and all the Celtic festivals, includes Postage and packing WORLDWIDE and can be posted on your behalf as a gift, from Bealtaine Cottage, Ireland. (Pre-orders now accepted)

€16.50

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Aug
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

It seems as though governments all over the western world are colluding with big corporations and the energy companies to deliberately destroy our environments, and, in the face of much opposition from those who elected them into power…the people.

I have yet to meet the person who supports

war, fracking, privatisation of utilities, or GMOs.

Yet, politicians have, and are, engaged in the pursuit of all of these.

As we approach a global food crisis- and all the warning signs are there, such as rising food prices, oil and the effects of extreme weather- we are in desperate need of leadership.

Leadership is absent.

Rhetoric is everywhere.

We are being force-fed a diet of ‘GMOs are all that can save us,’ publicity, when patently this is not true!

The less choice in seed diversity, the more prone we are to potential famine.

I know that as a grower, working 3 acres of poor land…that it is diversity that builds fertility and food security!

What are we to do?

Act as defiantly in the face of bullish nonsense and stupid politicians as one can.

How?

Plant!

Living near the western seaboard of the Atlantic Ocean, I live on the edge of empire.

I refuse to allow the insanity of empire to bellow it’s anarchic way into my home…I have no television.

I plant.

I grow.

I live frugally.

If I lived in the middle of a city I would keep the same philosophy.

Be defiant: buy less; plant more; save seeds and share! It’s your future…don’t let the politicians mess it up!

This is a video I watched earlier and a fantastic template for those without gardens or allotments…or even with!

If you would like to support the work of the Bealtaine Cottage Permaculture website, Youtube (ad-free) videos and Compassion for Mother Earth Gardens project, please feel free to…

Share this:

Like this:

The gardens in snow.

Yesterday was a day for visitors who spent two and a half hours walking around all the different gardens.

The photo above was taken in the winter of 2010…cold but very beautiful.

Permaculture is about planting and planting without chemicals, but using Nature’s way of mulch, mulch, mulch.

It works incredibly well, for this approach feeds the soil, our food lifeline!

I mulch with shreddings; clippings; wool; compost; manure; grass and leaves, as well as any other biodegradable material I come across, including cardboard, straw etc.

I also collect silt from both ponds as the stream which feeds them often washes lots of silt down from the hill behind the cottage.

This includes pulling most of the seasonal growth from the ponds and spreading that around newly planted trees.

To date, there have been over 700 trees planted on the 3 acres that make up the smallholding of Bealtaine Cottage.

It is trees that give us life and give fertility to the soil.

Let us never forget that.

Share this:

Like this:

Creativity was associated with orange, as well as sexuality and fertility.

Think of the egg yolk…only a deep orange yolk is really healthy and full of goodness.

Invoke this colour in areas of your home where you want to express these elements.

Green is infused with beauty and fertility, but also prosperity.

In Feng Shui, it is advised to paint the front door of one’s home red so as to attract prosperity, but my door is painted green and the real prosperity is quite tangible at Bealtaine Cottage.

As for beauty, well, that speaks for itself, for what is not beautiful in the flowing greens of Nature?

Brown is the essence of earth and the home.

The very centre of the home is the “hearth,” or home earth.

Brown is also for animals.

In old cottages in Ireland the animals were brought near to the “hearth,” or home for the winter.

Winter begins tomorrow in the Celtic Cycle.

The prosperity of purple is long associated with the royal families and indeed was not to be worn by lesser mortals in Europe, upon pain of death…not so the case today where we recognize the equality in all human life and the real meaning of wealth and power being unique to each one of us.

The blue of heaven heralds healing…I keep a long piece of blue silk to lay on a pillow or seat especially for those feeling poorly.

Blue also invokes peace and the sacredness of all under it’s mantle.

There are many colours that represent other aspects of our sacred journey.

As we wear a particular colour, our understanding of how it makes us feel infuses us with a little more knowledge and understanding of its importance to us.

We each have a favourite colour that we wear, one that looks good on us, matches our skin tones and brings out a certain energy.

That is a good place to begin to relate to the energy of colour.

Share this:

Like this:

The autumn continues to progress through it’s mellow display of earthy colours.

Tomorrow is the Equinox and the beginning of the descent towards midwinter.

The time of year denotes the slowing down of all that is life as we know it.

Time to sort out the winter woolies and hang the heavy curtains to keep out the drafts.

One of the big tasks I have lined up here at Bealtaine Cottage is the coppicing of the majority of the trees that were planted eight years ago, in the first flush of restoring the fertility of the land.

Trees are one of the most important connections we have to the Divine, embodying the sacred fertility that anchors us all on this planet.

Where trees grow, life is abundant…without them we are bereft of all that makes life comfortable and good.

One of the great delights of the shorter days is the ritual lighting of the stove and the chance to sit around the fire and enjoy the scent of woodsmoke on the air.

There are few pleasures in life quite so comforting.

From this point in time the autumn will wend its way through to Samhain and evolve into the dark depths of winter, finally rising towards the light in the deep midwinter, a time of renewal, hope and promise.

Life is cyclical.

The builders of Stonehenge and Newgrange knew all about that.

Share this:

Like this:

Despite the problems with weather and lack of sunshine, this is turning out to be one of the best years on record for the harvest at Bealtaine Cottage.

Continual adaptation to climate change is paying off, as the Potager Beds have excelled themselves in little over ten weeks since construction and planting.

Designed and built in the truly vernacular style, using stone sourced on site, these beds have been a blessing in production and style.

Blessed with continual warmth and shelter at the back of the cottage, the plants have excelled themselves, doing better than those planted in the tunnel!

Bees and, blessed be, Butterflies are all in abundance too, a sight to behold!

The Apple harvest is the best ever, as these trees have brought apples to my table every year since planting.

I have been out this morning and made a video for you to see for yourselves…it is amazing.

Oh, and as a joyous footnote…the Bats are back at Bealtaine Cottage…small and few, I suspect a new colony, but it is a stunning sight to watch at dusk!