Enjoy this morning’s video, shot in the rain-misted splendour of the Goddess Gardens.
Listen to the first podcast from the gardens at Bealtaine Cottage…birdsong is free!
Even though the day has been drizzly, most of it has been spent out on the land, cutting, pruning and clearing.
The paths need cutting back to keep them open.
It’s hard work, but there’s lots of brushwood and thicker bits for the stove.
Leaves are laying a thick and colourful carpet on the ground.
It’s good to be outdoors.
The air is invigorating!
The light is more silvery and as the trees shed their leaves, more can be touched by the low autumn sun.
The Goat Willow has grown remarkably well over the past ten years, creating canopy and helping to establish a healthy woodland floor.
Now it’s the turn of greater trees like this young Ash, to take the reins and establish woodland that will see the next century and more!
Many of you have followed the journey of Bealtaine, as the gardens have taken the small tentative steps into woodland.
It has been a magical journey and continues to enthrall and inspire me and all who visit on foot or online.
The spirit of Bealtaine has emerged from a small, desolate piece of land…
It is heartening indeed to hear from so many of you who are inspired to plant trees and heal the Earth…it is so very important that we do this!
I am hoping to be able to get a landline link so as to get a reliable Broadband connection.
This will make uploading blogs and videos much faster and reliable.
Uploading a five minute video takes over an hour with the present connection.
Sometimes it fails at the last minute and I have to begin the process all over again!
The initial cost of getting a landline installed is quite expensive.
If you feel you can help at all with a small donation, it will be greatly appreciated…blessings X
Visitors to Bealtaine Cottage have been welcomed in their thousands over the past ten years.
Many have become good friends.
I have enjoyed sharing Bealtaine Cottage with foot visitors from all over the world, as well as over half a million through the website.
Increasing amounts of my time have been spent happily showing visitors around the three acres of gardens.
However, as the website has grown in popularity, I get more and more requests from people who want to visit the cottage and gardens.
A decision simply had to be made, to draw a line under visits, instead, opening the gardens as many times as I can manage, during the year, for Open Days!
The first of these Open days is planned for the 5th of April.
I am happy to open my home and gardens on these days to all visitors.
There will be an admission charge for charity and more details can be found on this link.
http://bealtainecottage.com/open-day-at-bealtaine-cottage-permaculture-gardens/
Any questions regarding visiting the gardens can be posted in the comments section of the blog.
I can no longer respond to emails, as subscribers to the blog increase.
I trust you understand the increasing demand on time I face and the need for me to simply get on with work, serving Mother Earth as best I can!
Blessings as always for your love and support for this little place in the West of Ireland.
xxx Colette
Bealtaine Cottage has built up a Permaculture Seed Bank.
If you want to see a list of available seeds, this link will take you there… http://bealtainecottage.com/seeds-from-bealtaine-cottage/
Seeds from Bealtaine Cottage in Ireland are posted all over the world!
************************
Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 110 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living. There are almost 700 blogs in the archives on this site.I write, photograph and film, in a small way, to give a voice to Mother Earth.
Morning at Bealtaine Cottage is a lazy affair as far as the cats are concerned.
No sooner do I get out of bed than the cats find a warm spot to snooze away the morning!
The morning was dry and with no threat of rain, it was important to get into the garden and get some more work done.
Most of the work is coppicing and logging, to make a new wood pile, ready for next winter.
I am yet to get down to the Bog Garden and clear around the ponds and besides which, my waders have sprung a leak!
I shall wait until the weather warms up and then do a summer clear.
Moss has grown everywhere over the course of a wet Autumn and Winter.
It’s possible to collect bags of it just on the gravel on the lane-way!
Masses of buds everywhere, especially here on the Red Robin (Photinia).
I cut it back quite hard last Autumn!
Cleaning the steps and pruning back the Beech trees and roses.
Another eight weeks or so and the London Pride on either side of the steps will be in bloom.
The Willow fedge will be growing and greening!
Euphorbia is greening and growing…and spreading a lot!
Time to pot some up for gifting later in the year.
Magical reflections in the magical gardens… even the smallest amount of water in a container, pulls the sky down into the garden!
And the silver Moon Pennies of the Lunaria have endured the ravages of the winter in this little sheltered spot under the Laurel arch.
The stillness and warmth of the cottage is comforting after working in the cold air outside.
In the pantry…the lovely happy faced terracotta jar was bought for £4 in a Charity shop and holds all the garlic grown last summer in the potager beds.
It has little air holes and keeps a cool temperature inside…just perfect!
This is another bargain picked up at a Boot Fair and costing £8…it holds a candle inside and is a storm-proof garden light.
The shower room window faces south and catches lots of light…a good place to over-winter plants.
Summer began to melt into Autumn at Bealtaine Cottage amidst a flurry of bees and butterflies, more than ever witnessed in the permaculture gardens.
Harvesting began and the kitchen was a place of jam jars and bottles, all waiting to be filled and labelled.
The glut of blackcurrants became wine, jam and chutney, with even more added to the freezer.
Open days and workshops seen a steady stream of visitors to the cottage and gardens.
Kindling for the winter stoves continued to be collected and stored in the barn.
And the Potager beds kept growing!
The recipe for Blackcurrant Chutney was added to a blog post that had runaway success!
And all around, flowers showed off with total abandon!
Drying and labelling in every container I had to spare!
Seedheads were stored for winter flower arrangements.
As the boys played in the Fairy Wood.
It was a magical time for all!
Summer never really went away, for the wine of that season kept bubbling with life.
And misty mornings began to appear.
Cobwebs shimmied in the morning breeze…
As the light and shadows began to change.
My son got married and I designed and made the flower arrangements, on a lovely day with my new daughter’s mother, here at Bealtaine.
Everyone came to the west of Ireland for a three day wedding in a 500 year old castle. Here I am with my eldest daughter.
And when all was over, the harvest continued.
But not for long, as friends delivered cardboard for mulching…
Lords and Ladies made an Autumn appearance in the Fairy Wood.
And the cottage and gardens were opened for a special fundraiser in aid of Leitrim Animal Welfare.
Raising a magnificent sum of money for a wonderful charity.
And logs were stacked in readiness for the stove.
The days darkened as Midwinter approached…
And candlelight illuminated the dark days.
Bringing cheer to the silent grey…
And soft light into the Midwinter Cottage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So few do, but if you choose to make a small donation, then Bless You!
Distance from:
Keadue 2km
Boyle 12km
Carrick on Shannon 11km
Sligo 35km
Dublin 160km
******************************************************************************************************************
**************************************
The archives here at Bealtaine Cottage on WordPress contain over 500 blogs
You can also visit Bealtaine Cottage on YouTube, with over 80 videos uploaded for you to enjoy.
Thank you for supporting this blog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4UZMObLSIc&list=UUHkXJ9wsrdPEpzb-KMgmt-A&index=1&feature=plpp_video
Footage from the Fairy Dell, this morning…
First of all a BIG TA VERY MUCH for all who have visited my blog over the past year. I began in the middle of August 2010 and in little over a year, 70,000 of you have made the journey to Bealtaine Cottage at Ballyfermoyle, here in the beautiful West of Ireland…well, actually, a very great many of you have visited many times over and subscribed to the blog. Hopefully in the next year the blog will expand even more in some exciting ways…ssshhh, it’s still a secret!
Fuschia and Fedges grow side by side. Both are grown from slips or cuttings. It will soon be time to harvest the willow and plant more cuttings, which is really the story of these gardens. Planting has been ongoing now for seven years, since day one of Bealtaine…
So much rain and so much water gushing along the stream beds in the Bog Garden…the rain brings music!
Walking up towards the woodland that is the Fairy Dell, through new plantings of Willow and Ash…
Spring water gushes up from the well in the woodland.
Deep within the Fairy Dell…has midsummer really passed that quickly?
Perfect apples…never ever sprayed, no chemicals and a bountiful harvest every year!
The Wisdom of the Hopi Indians…something to share with you, just click on the link…http://youtu.be/zNlNUJcEcoY
Have a great weekend! Plant a tree for the Mother…Gaia… x
The beautiful Kilronan Mountain…
Rubbish dumped over a bridge into the Mountain Stream Bed below…How we perceive the world around us depends largely on how we connect with it, if at all. Most dog owners will know this to be true, because an otherwise dull morning can be transformed by simply walking the dog…getting OUT into the natural world. Walking and connecting with Nature is tremendously uplifting and inspiring…the Romantic Poets and Artists did a lot of walking in Nature and we have their legacy of work to prove that uplifting feeling.
Walking out to the tunnel in the morning is enough to make the heart happy!As I write this I am listening to the radio and am shocked to hear that Ireland has the 2nd highest alcohol consumption per capita, (that means per person), in the world, spending on average 2000euros per person.
Drinking large amounts of alcohol depresses the body, causing bio rhythmns to move chaotically, eventually causing depression. The suicide rate here in Ireland is also fairly high with many deaths from suicide not being reported as such. Playstation users in Ireland rank amoung the highest users in the world. There are many signs that the disconnect from the land is causing unhappiness. Litter is a big problem here also. How we treat the land can be a reflection of how we view ourselves…we are connected but are more often than not in denial about this.
Re-connecting with Gaia is the best one single action to make/take for personal health and wellbeing…
The north facing bank which protects the cottage from the worst of the weather is filling out as the trees and shrubs come into flower and leaf. The variety of planting gives all year round colour.Lettuce and Oregano growing together in a home made planter box. This sits on the veranda and so is close by for quick and easy salads…usually an add-on thought at any meal, so I don’t have to go far!
Conditions have been exactly right over the past nine months or so for the germination of Blackcurrant seeds and these tiny Blackcurrant seedlings are all over the gardens here at Bealtaine.