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The old tin bath has been taken down from the wall of the barn.
Used wine bottles are left to steep for a few hours in rainwater.
Washed and clean, ready to be filled with home-made Blackcurrant wine.
There is always at least one day during the Summer, when one feels enthusiastic enough to overcome the reluctance to get stuck into bottling wine…today, all the right chords were struck and the work began!
Cork stoppers were duly washed and left to soak and soften, till, finally…
the wine was securely bottled! All that remains to be done is labelling…Chateau Bealtaine!
Outside the back door, Summer continues in layers of sheer abundance…Feverfew splurges on masses of tiny, daisy-like flowers.
Midsummer has only just crossed over and the garlic is ready to pull, with the first batch of Garlic and Oregano Olive Oil infusing.
Summer just keeps on getting bottled!
There is so much food and flowers, it’s sheer Heaven!
Walking around the cottage is a feast for the senses!
Even the ancient Polygonum is covered with bright red flowers…one of the very few plants here that has nothing for the Bees…but a delight for me! Â
Yellow Loosestrife stands tall in the casual cottage borders.
Roses fall over in a drunken Summer stupor, heavy with scent and bees.
Petals cascade onto stone steps, ivory wraps for blushing fairies.
Valerian falls onto the gravel path, dropping seeds and heavy flower-heads onto the visitor’s shoe.
And the Summer that was bottled today, will be brought out amidst smiles and raised glasses in the depths of Midwinter.
The light is changing.
As it does, a new growing season begins to unfold.
This is the year of change, as more and more people realize, that civilization, as we have come to know it in these past decades, holds little hope of holding together.
I do not say this lightly and the reasons I see for it are manifold, but the main contributors to the calamitous and increasing loss of habitat and stable environment on the planet, is civilization itself!
Our civilization has created the perfect conditions for collapse of the very systems that sustain us.
We have watched the collapse of the financial world over the past few years.
There is no recovery!
Have you joined the endless queues in your local bank recently, just to be served?
Governments, like mine here in Ireland, are extracting carbon taxes from impoverished people and are not planting trees! 
Extreme weather events are fast becoming an accepted part of our weather systems…have you noticed?
If you know how the Jet Stream works, or should work, then you will be aware of the reasons why climate change is happening.
Quote science for or against and waste time debating…or simply look around you and keep a weather diary.
So, as always with my writing, I move onto the positive, the can-do…and what comes to mind is a simple skills set, that we need to acquire, if we are to move beyond the last years of civilization as we know it.
These are skills we need to acquire and pass on to younger members of our society…the ones who will be left adrift, without the security blanket we have used and abused.
It’s time to start putting plans in place for a better world.
The politicians are not bothered about our future, but we should be!
The permaculture gardens are very wet today…the rain has been quite relentless!
Anyway, you can have a peek, using the link at the top of the page!
Missy continues to make a steady recovery, though has refined her taste-buds to a rather expensive prescription cat food, available only from Suzy the Vet, in Boyle.
I take Jack into see Suzy the Vet, tomorrow morning, to have his “thumb nails” clipped.
Dodging in and out, to collect up the logs, my friend Marian delivered to me yesterday, I still managed to get wet!
Despite the dull, rainy day, the gardens continue to look colourful!
There is never any shortage of work to be done here at Bealtaine Cottage!
Tree coppicing continues along the north bank, in front of the cottage, opening up the view just a little, as well as supplying the stove with kindling and small logs.
The fact is, no matter what the weather is like, it is simply wonderful to be outdoors in the gardens, working here and there!
Have a good week ahead everyone…Blessings from Bealtaine Cottage X
Stepping out in search of breakfast…the potager beds are full and the apple trees drip with fruit…lots of good, fresh food to juice this morning! 
The morning is mild and very still…I can hear the birds move through the bushes, as they dip and swoop along the paths in the gardens.
Sammy-Bear sits atop the stone seat, watching Che-Mousy as he creeps towards him…
It’s a delight to watch young animals at play…I wonder what they’re thinking and saying to each other…
The streams around the land are beginning to flow, as the rain returns. 
This summer has been very dry and the land is quite firm to walk upon.
As the vernal equinox approaches, the rhythms of Nature beat a pace to follow towards Samhain. 
The last of the herbs will be harvested before the equinox.
Willow and Dogwood, grown tall, will be cut, or trimmed, according to the use.
New beds, like this one, will be completed and shredding continued to be applied throughout the months of winter, up until the new planting.
But, I digress…my journey into the gardens this morning took me in search of breakfast…I must keep going…
More distractions catch my eye…the bees continue to work on the Sunflowers nestling among the Apple-mint.
As I turn around, I see part of my breakfast, fresh to pick and juice!
Finally! Picked and ready to wash, then juice…Kale, Apples and Celery. 
Roses on the veranda are making a spectacular show and the delicate scent fills the morning air 
As we ascend towards Midsummer plants have suddenly taken off and appear to have grown overnight.
Poppies have opened all over the gardens, even in the tunnel. 
Herbs are filling the beds as bees buzz busily overhead. 
The grass within and around the stone circle has turned to meadow. 
Cow Parsley vies with Ferns for space around the Stone Circle. 
Bluebells are just visible in the lushness of a June morning in the west of Ireland. 
There’s a sense of magic in the air around the ancient stones!
As I write, the dogs are in their baskets and the cats are lounging on the sofas. 
This kind of weather often makes an appearance after Spring has been called. 
They know it won’t last! 
The wind has settled down and the sun is shining. 
The gardens came back to life with new leaves on the Photinia
Blossom opened on the Nectarine tree in the polytunnel.
Rhubarb seemed to grow in spurts overnight!
Home made Blackcurrant wine was started as I began to empty the freezer.
Lichens opened up in the warmth of the Spring days.
Beautiful, delicate colours of Spring.
The warming sun began to work it’s magic on the north facing gardens of Bealtaine Cottage.
Garden benches dried out and warmed up enough to beckon the visitor to stop awhile!
Sun, glorious sun…this old piece of driftwood stood up to it’s eighth winter of storms and winds.
As always, there was an early crop of herbs and greens from the tunnel.
I grow over fifty different herbs here at Bealtaine Cottage.
The garden has begun it’s slow transitional journey into Autumn. 
The Birch trees are colouring into autumn hues, the Willow hangs low in the early morning frost and harvesting food is well under way. 
There are many hundreds of metres of pathways in this garden, connecting many different types of growing areas and gardens, all of them organic and all permacultured for ease of managing.
Did you know that there are over 300 species of Willow?
Lughnasa fades into Samhain and there is magic in the air!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvxwWHHiizY&list=UUHkXJ9wsrdPEpzb-KMgmt-A&index=1&feature=plcp
Climate change is quite evidential here at Bealtaine Cottage in the west of Ireland!
Walking through the gardens this morning I am shocked to find many flowers still in bloom.
Borage in flower this morning, the first day of December 2011. This herb is growing in a fairly exposed spot near the gate to Bealtaine.
The Borage is growing alongside a miniature Rudbeckia, grown from seed this year and in flower from early autumn.
This is indicative of just how mild the weather has been!
I used home made compost to plant out the Rudbeckia and the Borage has come up through it!
This time last year the ground was frozen solid. Today it is more like early autumn than December!
Fuschia in flower down near the Bog Garden…this is not the semi-native one that is hardy, so the flowers this morning are quite a shock to see!
Even the spring water in the ponds is warm…
Leaving the tunnel and walking towards one of the orchards. Crocosmia to the right with water barrels. Oregano growing on the left, just outside the door of the tunnel.
Blackthorn trees on the edge of the woodland near the tunnel. These are now heavy with Sloes, ripe for picking after the first frost…then making Sloe Gin, for Christmas!
Looking back at the tunnel and the Blackthorn trees.
And a little later in the morning as the rain fell.
Willow, cut recently and stored in the Willow Hide.
The hips of the Rosa Rugosa are yet to turn red.
Rugosa rose is widely used as an ornamental plant. As a seaside plant it is invaluable as it can tolerate the salty wind and storms really well.
The sweetly scented flowers are used to make pot-pourri in Japan and China, Â where it has been cultivated for about a thousand years. This grows well here at Bealtaine Cottage.
The other rose growing abundantly here at Bealtaine is the Rosa Canina, or Dog Rose.
During world war two, the shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables was having an adverse effect on the nation’s health, so the call went out for the collection and distribution of rose hips  from the hedgerows, as they provided the highest home-grown source of Vitamin C.
In response, the government organised a nationwide initiative to collect roadside rose hips which, with the help of the Women’s Institutes, were processed into syrup for babies and children.
Oregano is an important culinary herb, used for the flavor of its leaves, which can often be more flavourful when dried than fresh. It has an aromatic, warm and slightly bitter taste, which can vary in intensity. Factors such as climate, seasons and soil composition may affect the aromatic oils present.
The leaves are most often used in Greece to add flavour to Greek salad, and is usually added to the lemon-olive oil sauce that accompanies many fish or meat barbecues and some casseroles. I grow heaps of this lovely herb and dry it for daily use all the year round. It is a mainstay of my cooking, especially tomato sauces!
Hippocrates used oregano as an antiseptic, as well as a cure for stomach and respiratory ailments.
Oregano is high in antioxidant activity, due to a high content of phenolic acids and flavonoids. The flowers can be dried and used in tea and as it is a good antiseptic it is useful to stave off colds during the winter.
The easy to grow corm, Crocosmia, this evening at Bealtaine Cottage. The chains of corms are fragile and easily separated, a quality that has enabled some species to become invasive and difficult to control in the garden. However, I welcome invasive flowers…less weeds!They are commonly known in the United States as coppertips or falling stars, and in Britain as montbretia. Crocosmia are winter-hardy in Ireland. They can be propagated through division, removing offsets from the corm in spring.
It’s hard to believe that this is not a garden flower…but the beautiful herb, Chives. This plant has been flowering since the middle of Spring! Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are the smallest species of the edible onions.
Chives are a commonly used household herb, frequently grown in gardens. In culinary use, chives leaves (straws) are shredded for use as a seasoning for fish, potatoes, soups, and other dishes. Chives have insect-repelling properties that can be used in gardens to control pests.I think they make great border edging plants as well!
The first day of Autumn in the Celtic calendar and the harvest continues. Blackcurrants are being picked at Bealtaine, along with masses of herbs, including Oregano, Chives, Dill and Fennel…though the Fennel in the tunnel is seeding and will be dried and stored for baking purposes later on.
The Plum trees are bearing up well with the wight of the fruit and this will be used for jam and wine. I have planted four Plum trees so far and am also growing some trees from seed.
Yes…it’s hard to believe, but there have been bumper harvest every year at Bealtaine and this is set to continue as the land moves from monoculture in year one to wonderful biodiversity in year seven, with shelter developing and compost heaps bursting…
This is the Fennel in the tunnel this morning, with a good crop of seeds developing.
Apple too are plumping out well…juice, chutneys, pies and crumbles here!
Remember the immense power as a consumer you have…and ultimately, your ability, with others, to control the market…buying Fairtrade and supporting local producers is one way to control the market for the good, rather than giving your precious money and support to the global corporations who wreak havoc on our world…
The weather has forced me indoors a lot recently, encouraging a hive of activity that includes knitting and sorting cupboards and reading… I’ve just completed this scarf for someone who wanted me to knit for her in these colours and in natural wool. So hard to get a scarf knit in natural 100% wool these days apparently. So there it is, completed and ready for collection.
I enjoyed the task so much, I decided to use all the leftover wool and knit one for myself…
This is a great book I’m enjoying reading at present…picked up in a charity shop for 50cents. it’s amazing just how much info I’ve gleaned from this so far and Im only on the second chapter!
Finished reading this book a few days ago and again, so much info and fascinating facts that have been forgotten and yet are so useful for us today…simple things like the fact that a cobweb, placed over a cut, will stem the bleeding and help to heal the wound! Soldiers going into battle hundreds of years ago carried a tiny box with cobwebs inside to treat deep cuts inflicted by the sword!
As the weather has blown a gale outside, I’ve been in the kitchen making chutney and curries…freezing the curries for ready meals later on. Imagine having to light the stove in July, but the weather has really been that bad!
Bad weather means I get to sit and drink tea and read…so there are advantages to be had from the wettest day!
I picked these flowers from the garden last week and as you can see, the display includes Dill. Over recent days the scent of the Dill has changed from a liquorice smell to a very sweet coconut scent and it is gorgeous!
The Cottage Garden Approach…
A cottage garden is the most informal garden it is possible to create and the easiest to maintain, if following the permaculture, no-dig method and approach.
Ladys Mantle will grow, fall, spread, then grow some more from the centre, outwards…if allowed, and that is what happens in a cottage garden!
Plants are ‘allowed,’ to do their own thing to a large extent!
Formal or Not
The hedge or bush…there is both here at Bealtaine Cottage, can only be brought back into semi-formality after the flowering period!
The Bees adore them!
Absolute Anarchy…
Just let it be!
At the end of the day that’s the great joy to be found in a cottage garden.
Prepare to be surprised, shocked even!
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It’s amazing to think that this compost heap in the making can lead to…
This incredible, rich, nourishing soil and plant food.
And some of the compost is used to help grow trees here at Bealtaine, many of which, like these in the pic., are grown from seed and seedlings.
This is the first of four huge compost heaps that were started, topped and thatched last year…as you can see from the heap it is a good quality compost!
The woodland known as the Fairy Dell is high with fragrant wild herbs and flowers. Seven years Chemical-Free! No certificates of Organic testing here…see for yourself is my advice to all visitors. 
Have a good day everyone!
The delicate an exquisite flowers on the Dogwoods are beautiful close-up. For colour all winter, flowers in summer and berries during the autumn, dogwoods are hard to beat.
Wildflowers…the most delicate and delicious blooms at Bealtaine Cottage…Elderflower Cordial, mmm!
The time of the butteflies is very near. Last summer seen a huge upturn in the butterfly population as the garden matured. This summer should be good for butterflies too, although some of the buddleia was killed off in the prolonged frost of last winter. 
Seed heads from last summer. All so-called weeds are in fact valuable herbs, some of which we have not yet found a use for. It’s amazing just how much knowledge we have lost over the post-industrial time, a mere 150 years!
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Another beautiful day at Bealtaine…it looks like there is an early summer for sure. Wild herbs are up in the woodland, as are the Bluebells. Primroses are continuing to bloom and seem to be in abundance this year. Nights are quite balmy and there is no sign of any ground frost, as the grass in the early morning is holding the dew.
  There remains a problem with the uploader/browser, so apologies for the stacking effect of the photographs!
Normality Will Resume…
The need for a decent bed has been uppermost in my thoughts recently…I had made a bed using pallets, but kept banging my feet on the wood, tripping and, the worst thing of all…could not shove boxes of old shoes etc., under the bed. So, I had a long hard think about the problem and came up with two possible solutions…Buy a new bed, a mere 300 euros, yes, okay, beam me up spotty! Or, dismantle the old sofa bed and use the bed part with a mattress on the top…so guess which one I went with then?
You guessed right…now I’m chopping up the remains of the sofa for the stove, composting the material and storing the foam for future cushions…cost, ahem, sorry multinationals…zero!
Every Sunday I visit the second-hand market, always on the lookout for bargains and objet d’art. Last Sunday was a lovely day and there were plenty of stalls selling lots of interesting items…and I bought this for 5euros! Handknitted and warm and colourful and beautiful, the perfect throw for another old sofa! Rather gorgeous, don’t you think?
Strawberry flowers are opening up in the tunnel today.
And the strawberry plants in the hanging baskets on the veranda are not far behind! I have planted up lots more baskets and have them hanging in the tunnel, this time with lettuce and lots of other edibles, including herbs.
The tunnel has certainly come to life over recent weeks. I shall move the baskets to the veranda once they are established.
