Tag Archives: Iran

Shame On Us All!

 www.bealtainecottage.com 001Wisdom grows from thinking, acting and interacting!

www.bealtainecottage.com 058This is how change for the better actually happens…on the human interface, one to one, one with one and many together.

permaculture at Bealtaine Cottage 004The need to protect  family, friends, community and Mother Earth is not about killing…yet we have been brainwashed to believe that soldiers fight for peace!

permaculture at Bealtaine Cottage 001Countries rarely, if ever, invaded by a foreign army, need to invade other countries to keep the peace in their own.

Celtic Cross at Bealtaine CottageMadness… total, irrational madness!

The War machine is the biggest industrial complex upon this Sacred Earth.

light a candle at Bealtaine Cottage IrelandThe War Machine is driven by the elite and the puppets of the elite, all bought and paid for with blood money!

Shame on us all!

Bealtaine Cottage candles in the windowEven Neutral Ireland, while we held the Presidency of the EU, and could have led a motion to stop sanctions against Iran, did nothing!

Bealtaine Cottage PermacultureIran has not invaded another country in over 300 years!

Bealtaine Cottage 003Shame on me!

I could have protested and demanded our leader, Enda Kenny, did something, anything…I did not…

candle and spiral at bealtaine cottageThe children, sick and vulnerable continue to die, as they did in Iraq!

Over 500,000 children died in Iraq because of sanctions!

Bealtaine Cottage PermacultureWorld military expenditure in 2012 totalled $1753 billion, around 2.5% of world GDP.( http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex )

Xmas eve Dec 11 009If one percent, just one percent of that money, had been spent on planting trees worldwide, every human being on this planet would be better off and looking at a future!

Damned Shame!

The USA, Iran and Nowruz

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Filed under celebrations, Country Living, Current Affairs, Life, Spring, Thoughts, Uncategorized

Today is the Ides of March. We are halfway through this month of Spring and the Winter now seems far behind us. There is still much to be done in the garden in preparation for the growing season. Seeds to be sown, plants to be divided and trees to be pruned. The list is as long as one wants to make it really!

The Laurel Arch has grown and spread. It could do with a hard pruning, but I may not get the time as other work is more pressing.  Whether it is cut or not will really only be noticeable to me!

I have lit the stove in the sitting room this evening and Jack stands in front of the fire, just staring into the flames. I wonder if dogs have thoughts and reminiscences?

There’s a long stretch in the days now, with dawn breaking around 7am and light fading in the evening at 6.30pm or so.  I love this time of the year as I am a morning person and have all my best thoughts and energy then.

Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between Winter  and  Summer.

In all that is written about Spring, the same themes are covered of rebirth, renewal and regrowth.

We are coming closer to the Vernal Equinox, which is around the 20th/21st of this month.

With all the talk of war between Iran and the USA, it is good to note that both countries share the same welcoming of Spring on the Vernal Equinox. 

The first day of spring (celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, which usually occurs on 21 March or the previous or following day depending on where it is observed) is the beginning of the new year in the Iranian calendar. This is referred to as Nowruz, which means “New Day.” This is what Spring is for people all over the world, a new day, a new beginning and perhaps why we love to have a Spring Clean!

We have more in common as people on this lovely Earth than what we have dividing us!

The Ancient Greeks believed that spring was a time of renewal and fertility, represented by the Return of Persephone to her mother Demeter after her sojourn with Hades in the underworld.

If, like me, you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you will be welcoming Spring and celebrating the lengthening days!

Permaculture Notes from Bealtaine Cottage, Ireland

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Filed under Food, Garden, Growing Food, Herbs, Organic Garden, Roscommon, Sligo, Uncategorized

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium ), a member of the sunflower family, has been used for centuries in European folk medicine.

This sweet smelling flower is commonly associated as a remedy for headaches, arthritis, and fevers.

The name Feverfew is derived from the Latin word for fever…febrifugia, meaning, fever reducer!

It grows really easily from seed, self-seeding all over the gravel here at Bealtaine Cottage.

This is growing in a pot near the back door of the house, on the southern side.

These are rambling roses, climbing and pushing their way across a willow arch I made to help support them last year.

Roses are best known as ornamental plants grown for their flowers in the garden.

There are several different varieties here, though I don’t really know the names, as I have grown them from slips, mostly purloined from other gardens!

Roses are  used for commercial perfumery and commercial cut flower crops.

Some are used as landscape plants and for hedging.

Although Roses have minor medicinal uses, the fruits, or Rose-hips tell a different story altogether, most famous for the syrup made from them and fed to babies!

This is a little apple tree bought by my mother and planted into a quiet little spot on the land behind the cottage.

The apple is from the species, Malus domestica, in the rose family (Rosaceae).

It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits.

The tree originated in Western Asia, where its wild ancestor, the Alma, is still found today.

There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples.

Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock.

This particular cultivar is a miniature apple tree.

At least 55 million tonnes of apples are grown worldwide, annually. China produces about 35% of this total.

The United States is the second-leading producer, with more than 7.5% of world production.

Iran is third, followed by Turkey, Russia, Italy and India.

Plants in pots and tubs at the back of the cottage today.

I noticed the birds coming down to feed on the flowers of the pansies.

The red and pink plant at the front is the little plant, Herb Robert.

Another rose growing here at Bealtaine…