A Loaded Gun

Posted February 7, 2015

Filed under care for the earth, EU, government, Ireland, Permaculture, Sustainable Living

“Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.”
― Terence McKenna

I was shocked when I first read this quote!

However, it is not a statement I can debate, because, from where I am at this moment in time, I have to agree.

It is short and succinct!

It is true.

Returning recently from a shopping trip to Sligo, my head aching from the slow trawl around shops, keeping apace with other shoppers, most of whom seemed in a trance-like state, almost zombified; it struck me that many were there as a source of passive entertainment.

Shopping has become a pastime for many.

What does this say about our society?

Is it merely that we are nothing more than consumers?

Let’s face it, our governments have long since created the global economic model upon that premise, that we are consumers of a vast global shopping mall.

I live in the EU, where the government in Brussels are continually at odds with people, like myself, who demand a more democratic representation of our views.

Many of these disagreements focus around the EU contamination by big business and corporations which run inherently different policies to the representation of the people.

Those I speak with, especially on the Bealtaine Cottage website, are sickened and angry with such things as the TTIP, Monsanto, agricultural policies and suchlike!

For my part, I loathe guns and any analogies to them.

I do not want to be part of a loaded gun pointed at Mother Earth!

Yet, we are governed in a way which is opposite to what we believe to be right!

I was happy to get home from shopping.

My head was sore!

All the over-wrapped, cheaply produced goods made me feel sick.

Plastic and chemicals that I knew my beautiful Mother Earth would have to deal with!

As the car turned into the entrance to Bealtaine, I heaved a sigh of relief.

I imagine that feeling to be an integral part of what the land releases on a daily basis…

I can’t change the system of corruption within government, but I am aware of its inexorable collapse…for this madness is not sustainable.

We all know, like the Titanic, it’s going down.

And, like the Titanic, those on the bridge can neither see the disaster in front of them, nor believe their vessel to be so easily destroyed.

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

Thanks for supporting Bealtaine Cottage website

Know Your Seeds

Posted February 19, 2014

Filed under Bealtaine Cottage, Bees, biodiversity, Earth, Food, Garden, Gardens, GM Food, Growing Food, Herbs, Inspiration, Monsanto, Organic Garden, Permaculture, Seed-Saving, Seeds, Sustainable Living

There are basically four different kinds of seed you can purchase.

Open Pollinated Seed.
This is the most natural seed, simply because it has not been interfered with in any laboratory.
This seed is pollinated by Nature…bees, insects and wind. Occasionally by us too as we brush up against flowers and accidentally get pollen on our clothes, carrying it to another flower and so on. Sometimes we help Mother Nature a little by gently brushing the pollen from one flower to another. It’s all good! These seeds are what are commonly referred to more and more as “Organic” on the packaging. Organic seeds are fast becoming more difficult to obtain in Garden Shops etc. This is because the big seed companies are busy buying up the small seed companies, leaving the consumer with less and less choice!
High Yielding Seed. These look attractive in the packet, with lots of blurb attached to get you to buy, but, these seeds thrive on chemicals and are sort of married to chemicals too! Definitely not organic and in many cases a danger to bees and insects.
Hybrids. These are actually designed not to be saved!
G.E. Seed. Otherwise known as GM, GMO and all about genetic engineering Nature and patenting the result. These seeds are injected with chemicals and then patented by corporations such as Monsanto. Monsanto declares to be above God Almighty, by stating, and being supported by US Law, that it created the seed!

This is merely a guide for you to build on.

Find out all you can about seed, for it is your future and that of your children.

Vandana Shiva: The seed in its essence is all of the past evolution of the Earth, the evolution of human history, and the potential for future evolution. The seed is the embodiment of culture because culture shaped the seed with careful selection—women picked the best, diversified. So from one grass you get 200,000 rices.

That is a convergence of human intelligence and nature’s intelligence. It is the ultimate expression of life, and in our language, it means “that from which life arises on its own, forever and ever and ever.”

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

Here at Bealtaine Cottage in the West of Ireland I save seed…grown under Permaculture conditions which seek to protect both the integrity of the seed and the environment!

Open pollinated seed is available from Bealtaine Cottage.

Click on the link below to see the current list of seed.

https://bealtainecottage.com/seeds-for-sale/

A Grievous Sin

Posted February 18, 2014

Filed under Bealtaine Cottage, biodiversity, Current Affairs, E.U., Ecology, GM Food, Monsanto, Organic Garden, Permaculture, Seeds

The biggest threat to our food security lurks in the shadowy depths of the Halls of Power…the buildings housing the European Parliament in Brussels.

You may or may not be aware of something called The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

TTIP is a trade agreement presently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States.

In my estimation, this will allow full and unfettered access to our food production, from multi-national corporations, such as Monsanto, that carry the weapon of GMOs.

I call this manifestation of utter madness, GMOs, a weapon, because that is precisely what it is…and a weapon that will cause more devastation to the environment than anything concocted in laboratories ever before!

This is already the case in the US, as small farmers, producing Organic food, are hauled before courts accused of property rights violations by Monsanto.

Monsanto claims ownership of any plant material infected by their GMOs!

Once this insidious and odious polluted seed of mass destruction is unleashed into the environment of Europe, supported in Law by the TTIP, then the takeover will be fast-tracked by our own governments, who are mandated by us to protect us, not US Corporate interests!

The countdown to the ultimate weapon of mass control and destruction is under way.

You need to know what is happening.

Knowledge is power.

For my part, I will not comply with any law that says a corporation controls and profits from the very essence of life itself…seed.

For their part, all they have done is take the seed of the Divine Creator and pollute it.

That, in my eyes, is a grievous sin.

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… https://bealtainecottage.com/seeds-from-bealtaine-cottage/

Seeds from Bealtaine Cottage in Ireland are posted all over the world!

No More Seed Available At Present!

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

Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 110 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.

There are almost 800 blogs in the archives on this site.

I write, photograph and film, in a small way, to give a voice to Mother Earth.

Images on the First Morning of Lughnasa

Posted August 1, 2013

Filed under Autumn, Bealtaine Cottage, Bees, Buddha, Cats, Celtic Mythology, Celts, Country Living, Culture, Edible Gardens, Food, Garden, Growing Food, Inspiration, Ireland, Monsanto, Organic Garden, Permaculture, polytunnel gardening, Seed-Saving, Seeds, Uncategorized

The first day of Celtic Autumn has arrived.

It’s cool.

Last night seen the hot water bottle come out of storage and be filled.

Rudbeckia has opened its beautiful deep orange petals…a marker of the time of year. This has been grown from seed, this year.

I started it off in the tunnel in February, from seeds I collected last Autumn.

As I walked the gardens, Sammy-Bear walked in front of me, finally stopping in the tunnel and rolling in the dirt!

For a white cat, he can be a dirty little rascal at the best of times!

On the plus side, he doesn’t seem to mind the rain, so cleans up well!

Seed-saving continues apace and the bees keep up the good work, even on a wet morning like today…

…this is where the tunnel works really well!

These are seeds from the three year old Purple Sprouting Broccoli, still in the pods, drying.

These seeds are big and plump and represent the very strongest, biggest, most productive and oldest of the Purple Broccoli.

Monsanto eat your heart out!

Pom-Pom Dahlias are making a show of themselves.

This is the first year I have grown these.

This Buddleia was grown from Bealtaine Cottage seed and planted in the tyres two years ago.

Many followers of Bealtaine cottage ask me for Lunaria (Honesty) seeds…and here are some drying on the veranda of the Lodge, hung up last evening.

This is a nice airy place to start off the drying process, though I may need to bring them indoors, if the wet weather prevails for much longer.

The Apple harvest continues to delight as the fruit appears so healthy and untarnished for another year.

I NEVER spray my Apple trees, or, for that matter, ANY of the fruit trees, and am rewarded with a bountiful, healthy crop year after year!

Truly Organic!

The rain settles onto the leaves of the Crocosmia Montbretia, a beautiful harbinger of Autumn!

A pot of tea beckons…

Sammy-Bear is sad to see me go indoors…

Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 100 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.

Thank you for supporting this blog

Monsanto and Why Your Vigilance is Needed…

Posted July 29, 2013

Filed under Bees, biodiversity, Cottage, Current Affairs, E.U., Food, GM Food, Growing Food, Monsanto, Organic Garden, Permaculture, Seed-Saving, Uncategorized

We have been informed that Monsanto are backing out of Europe.

We have been told that Monsanto do not see a viable market for their GMOs in the EU.

However, it is important to realise that Monsanto have cultivated friends in the highest echelons of government worldwide.

The EU is now officially in bed with the US administration, via the recently verified Trade Agreement.

Monsanto are not going away.

The lure of money and power is too great!

Be vigilant!

Monsanto have been around for some time and used to playing the long game.

Do not let your guard slip on this one.

The stakes are too high!

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

Update on 2nd of August.

As I suspected…

http://rt.com/news/court-overturns-french-monsanto-ban-930/

Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 100 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.

Thank you for supporting this blog

How is That Agriculture?

Posted June 28, 2013

Filed under Animals, Buddha, Current Affairs, E.U., Food, GM Food, Growing Food, History, Inspiration, Monsanto, Organic Garden, Permaculture, Smallholding, Thoughts

Food is now grown under mass monoculture systems of what is called Agriculture.

This is the madness of monoculture…

The Earth’s soil is depleting rapidly, at more than 13% the rate it can be replaced.

Massive amounts of chemicals and sprays are need to keep food growing.

How is that agriculture?

Monoculture is now being extended into the very seeds we use to grow food.

We have lost 75% of the world’s crop varieties over the last century!

Monsanto want to reduce that even more!

How is that agriculture?

Over recent years, we’ve had hundreds of millions of tons of herbicides, pesticides, pollutants and chemicals dumped onto crops, polluting our soil and waterways.

How is that agriculture?

More than one million chickens are kept at any one time in intensive warehouse conditions.

Pig farms can house several thousands of pigs at a time.

How is that agriculture?

In many of these pits of despair the animals never see sunlight or touch earth.

Is 20,000 pigs in a warehouse now called Pig-Farming??

How is that agriculture?

The quality of life for those animals in factory farming is so horrid, that many people cannot bear to look.

How is that agriculture?

“Beginning in the fifties and sixties, the flood tide of cheap corn made it profitable to fatten cattle on feed-lots instead of on grass, and to raise chickens in giant factories rather than in farmyards.

Iowa livestock farmers couldn’t compete with the factory- farmed animals their own cheap corn had helped spawn, so the chickens and cattle disappeared from the farm and with them the pastures and hay fields and fences.

In their place the farmers planted more of the one crop they could grow more of than anything else: corn.

And whenever the price of corn slipped they planted a little more of it, to cover expenses and stay even.

By the 1980s the diversified family farm was history in Iowa, and corn was king.”

~Michael Pollan

Thank You, Monsanto!

Posted June 24, 2013

Filed under biodiversity, Current Affairs, Garden, GM Food, Growing Food, Inspiration, Monsanto, Permaculture, polytunnel gardening, Seeds, Sustainable Living, Trees, Uncategorized, Wild Flowers

So much for panicking…my computer is fixed!

I was really in a tiz thinking that I was going to be without the means of spreading the energy from Bealtaine Cottage and I’m glad about that, because as the evening progressed and my computer was being fixed, I had time to think about all the people I have met through this blog…and what we all have in common…Passion!

Growing life from seed and sharing the abundance of the ensuing seed and all because of Monsanto!

If Monsanto had not attempted to own and monopolize our seed, I would never have met Elena from Greece, who posted me this Rocket seed…now in the process of making more seed!

Or David from the U.S. who sent me these Oak seeds, now growing in pots in the shelter of one of the sheds.

And Eric who posted me a selection of tree seeds, all scattered in the gardens, for me to find in the autumn, as flowers and fruit and vegetables die back.

For then I will carefully lift and pot them on.

And the package I recently received from Switzerland, filled with Ginkgo seeds, a unique species of tree with no close living relatives.

A tree that tolerates pollution and indeed even survived the Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima!

Or the Black Tomato seeds from Tara in New York!

The wickedness perpetrated by Monsanto, in trying to arrest, control and kill off the great biodiversity of life, has awakened so many to the very essence of life itself…seed!

We are now aware and able to articulate what it is that makes life so fantastic…and it all stems from seed.

Nine years ago, my main interest in seed was far from protecting it, but simply in growing.

Thanks to Monsanto, I got to know great people like Dr Vandana Shiva, who opened the door into a wonderful world of possibilities and challenges, to save and nurture seed.

Nine years ago I was growing food and flowers…today I am growing an Ark for Mother Nature, one that is more than the sum total of everything I have ever done before!

Monsanto has aroused passions in people that few were ever aware of…certainly I never felt this passionate about Mother Earth!

And that is the difference between Monsanto executives and Seed savers and nurturers…passion.

They just don’t have it!

Eat your heart out, Monsanto!

Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 120 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.

There are over 550 blogs in the archives on this site.

Donations are always welcome.

Thank you!

Thank you for supporting this blog

G8 Summit of Charlatans

Posted June 15, 2013

Filed under E.U., Earth, Food, Fracking, Garden, Growing Food, Ireland, Organic Garden, Permaculture, Politics, Trees, Uncategorized

What is happening in our societies is not about austerity.

It is not about the economy either.

It is about the blatant, criminal misuse and misappropriation of our taxes.

Was any government you ever voted for, mandated to give our tax money to banks?

Was that the platform that the trustees we elected, in trust, to hold in trust, our state, voted into office?

The media keeps talking about our “Economy”, as though it were our lack of work or effort that caused any of these problems.

We are told continually that the past is the past, what’s done is done and to move on!

We are told that we need to get the economy moving by spending!

I do not want to buy stuff.

I want an equitable society where all are cared for.

Recently, here in Ireland, our government at the behest of the EU, inflicted a “carbon tax” upon us in the form of 75 cents rise on a bag of coal.

But here’s the catch…it is the poorest people who are reduced to buying coal to keep warm…and usually the oldest and most vulnerable in our society.

Where is this tax going?

Well, Ireland has the lowest tree cover in Europe and it is not being re-invested into the planting of deciduous trees.

Most of this money will be traded for Carbon Tax credits…total madness!

We need trees here in Ireland!

I am currently sitting in a G8 Exclusion Zone.

They will be converging just up the road from me, in the next few days, to start the carve-up of what is left in societies.

The forces that be have recently been out on the roads around the G8 Summit Hotel, removing anti-fracking signs…leaders must not be subjected to any kind of opposition to their distorted world views!

I can tell you what they WILL NOT be talking about…

Planting trees!

How we expand education for all!

Ways of supporting the Carers in society!

Creating a more just and equitable society.

Putting programmes in place to encourage people to grow organic food.

Nationalising water and all major utilities to ensure front-line democracy for all citizens!

Social unrest is being driven by corporate greed and the resulting societal chaos compounded by unemployment, mental trauma, & poverty!

Will the G8 address any of these real issues?

I’m not holding my breath!

There’s some real work to be done here at Bealtaine Cottage…trees to plant, food to grow and Nature to engage with…with the occasional cup of tea brewed up on the rocket stove!

Bealtaine Cottage is also on YouTube…with over 100 videos about Permaculture, planting, growing and living.

Thank you for supporting this blog

The Nature of the Beast

Posted June 8, 2013

Filed under Abundance, biodiversity, E.U., Garden, Seeds, Wild Flowers

The patenting of seeds is a violation against Nature.

The patenting of genes is also a violation against Nature.

Nature cannot be owned by any corporation or government, for it is for us all to share.

The privatisation of the planet is under way, supported by the very governments who are under trust to protect us all and represent our best interests in state.

Greed is rewarded with patents in the US courts, as the very essence of life itself is being pimped as a product of the corporation…seed.

Quite simply…Nature is being subjected to Corporate Cannibalism, as corporations like Monsanto feast upon small seed companies, the last hope of a planet in crisis!

The Earth offers her bounty…the Divine harvest of love and promise, first in food and then in seed, a gift for all to share!

However, the nature of the beast that eyes the feast is greed…eye-popping, drooling, slathering greed!

There will never be enough profit for the beast.

Nature must be protected.

My message to those who wish to dominate, control and own Mother Nature?

This law is wrong.

Patenting the seeds of Nature is wrong!

My conscience says “No!”

The patenting of seeds leads to monoculture and loss of diversity.

At a time when the planet is in such crisis, with loss of eco-systems and bio-diversity, governments need to be actively encouraging people to protect, nurture and save seed…not allowing chemical companies to enslave humanity to a corporate controlled seed bank!

The nature of the beast is greed.

That greed will destroy what remains of a planet and its’ people in crisis.

Bealtaine Cottage is free and has over 850 blogs, as well as over 3,500 photographs.

Bealtaine Cottage Good Life is a mere 12 euros per year and allows me a small income, to keep doing what I love doing most…writing about Mother Earth and photographing her.

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“Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.” ― Terence McKenna

I was shocked when I first read this quote!

However, it is not a statement I can debate, because, from where I am at this moment in time, I have to agree.

It is short and succinct!

It is true.

Returning recently from a shopping trip to Sligo, my head aching from the slow trawl around shops, keeping apace with other shoppers, most of whom seemed in a trance-like state, almost zombified; it struck me that many were there as a source of passive entertainment.

Shopping has become a pastime for many.

What does this say about our society?

Is it merely that we are nothing more than consumers?

Let’s face it, our governments have long since created the global economic model upon that premise, that we are consumers of a vast global shopping mall.

I live in the EU, where the government in Brussels are continually at odds with people, like myself, who demand a more democratic representation of our views.

Many of these disagreements focus around the EU contamination by big business and corporations which run inherently different policies to the representation of the people.

Those I speak with, especially on the Bealtaine Cottage website, are sickened and angry with such things as the TTIP, Monsanto, agricultural policies and suchlike!

For my part, I loathe guns and any analogies to them.

I do not want to be part of a loaded gun pointed at Mother Earth!

Yet, we are governed in a way which is opposite to what we believe to be right!

I was happy to get home from shopping.

My head was sore!

All the over-wrapped, cheaply produced goods made me feel sick.

Plastic and chemicals that I knew my beautiful Mother Earth would have to deal with!

As the car turned into the entrance to Bealtaine, I heaved a sigh of relief.

I imagine that feeling to be an integral part of what the land releases on a daily basis…

I can’t change the system of corruption within government, but I am aware of its inexorable collapse…for this madness is not sustainable.

We all know, like the Titanic, it’s going down.

And, like the Titanic, those on the bridge can neither see the disaster in front of them, nor believe their vessel to be so easily destroyed.

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

Thanks for supporting Bealtaine Cottage website

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No More Seed Available At Present!

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The first day of Celtic Autumn has arrived.

It’s cool.

Last night seen the hot water bottle come out of storage and be filled.

Rudbeckia has opened its beautiful deep orange petals…a marker of the time of year. This has been grown from seed, this year.

I started it off in the tunnel in February, from seeds I collected last Autumn.

As I walked the gardens, Sammy-Bear walked in front of me, finally stopping in the tunnel and rolling in the dirt!

For a white cat, he can be a dirty little rascal at the best of times!

On the plus side, he doesn’t seem to mind the rain, so cleans up well!

Seed-saving continues apace and the bees keep up the good work, even on a wet morning like today…

…this is where the tunnel works really well!

These are seeds from the three year old Purple Sprouting Broccoli, still in the pods, drying.

These seeds are big and plump and represent the very strongest, biggest, most productive and oldest of the Purple Broccoli.

Monsanto eat your heart out!

Pom-Pom Dahlias are making a show of themselves.

This is the first year I have grown these.

This Buddleia was grown from Bealtaine Cottage seed and planted in the tyres two years ago.

Many followers of Bealtaine cottage ask me for Lunaria (Honesty) seeds…and here are some drying on the veranda of the Lodge, hung up last evening.

This is a nice airy place to start off the drying process, though I may need to bring them indoors, if the wet weather prevails for much longer.

The Apple harvest continues to delight as the fruit appears so healthy and untarnished for another year.

I NEVER spray my Apple trees, or, for that matter, ANY of the fruit trees, and am rewarded with a bountiful, healthy crop year after year!

Truly Organic!

The rain settles onto the leaves of the Crocosmia Montbretia, a beautiful harbinger of Autumn!

A pot of tea beckons…

Sammy-Bear is sad to see me go indoors…

Share this:

Like this:

We have been informed that Monsanto are backing out of Europe.

We have been told that Monsanto do not see a viable market for their GMOs in the EU.

However, it is important to realise that Monsanto have cultivated friends in the highest echelons of government worldwide.

The EU is now officially in bed with the US administration, via the recently verified Trade Agreement.

Monsanto are not going away.

The lure of money and power is too great!

Be vigilant!

Monsanto have been around for some time and used to playing the long game.

Do not let your guard slip on this one.

The stakes are too high!

Share this:

Like this:

Food is now grown under mass monoculture systems of what is called Agriculture.

This is the madness of monoculture…

The Earth’s soil is depleting rapidly, at more than 13% the rate it can be replaced.

Massive amounts of chemicals and sprays are need to keep food growing.

How is that agriculture?

Monoculture is now being extended into the very seeds we use to grow food.

We have lost 75% of the world’s crop varieties over the last century!

Monsanto want to reduce that even more!

“Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.”
― Terence McKenna