Colette O'Neill… Author, Publisher, photographer. Creator of Goddess Permaculture.
There remains much work to be done here in the gardens over the coming days and weeks. It is essential I get on with it! I shall leave you with the rest of the photographs I took this morning as I walked around the gardens.
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There was always understood to be a contract between the people and the land. This reminder formed the words as I walked the woodland sanctuary, on this last day of November. The leaf-covered earth I walked upon reminded me of that sacred contract, one long since forgotten by humankind. From the sacred well flows the life-giving […]
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There is something so simple, yet so unique about Goddess Permaculture. It’s evident to all who visit Bealtaine Cottage. It is the connectedness of everything. Earlier today, whilst walking the woodland gardens, I discovered the body of a fox. It had come to Bealtaine to die…a safe place, a quiet place where only the birdsong […]
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I rarely dip into the outside world in terms of mainstream media, for it unnerves me! I keep myself occupied in the world as I know it…the one where I weave wreathes from Willow and Dogwood… The one where cruelty and chaos are not allowed entry! You’ll understand my terror, for that’s why you’re here…to […]
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“Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, nihil deerit He who has a garden and a library wants for nothing” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero This is very apt today as I have been in and out of the garden, working and reading…Dictator by Robert Harris, the third and last book in the Cicero trilogy. Many of you […]
Read MoreMorning in the west of Ireland on a perfect day in late June. The back door of the cottage is open; wood pigeons call softly to one another as blackbirds swoop noisily in and out of the blackcurrant bushes, feasting on the heavily laden stems. Morning…full of stillness and promise, the prelude to a hot, dry day of […]
Read MoreIsn’t he lovely? This little Robin followed me around the gardens today as I walked Jack. I say the gardens, but after spending time walking all the paths, I am now of the opinion that I have 3 acres of woodland…and am delighted at the ongoing transformation from bare, barren, rushy fields, to magical, thronging-with-life, […]
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Lughnasa (earlier, Lughnasadh) was the feast of Lugh. A harvest festival, its celebration marked the end of the period of summer growth and the beginning of the autumn harvest. Its original name does not survive in popular tradition, that being now the common word in Irish (Lúnasa) for the month of August. The festival is rather […]
Read More“Sanctuary” refers to a place set aside or designated as a protected spot. Under EU Agricultural Policy there is a “Set Aside” plan for farmers to fence off small, protected areas for biodiversity. However, this does not apply to Bealtaine Cottage, as the holding is too small to be significant! I plant and protect for […]
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