Colette O'Neill… Author, Publisher, photographer. Creator of Goddess Permaculture.
It has been some time… “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ~ Henry James Just as the rosebuds are swelling, early Summer makes an appearance. It has been a long cold Winter and Spring. Euphorbia has brightened the veranda with its vivid lime […]
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Being able to upload 31 photos is a real treat for me, and, I hope you will get a taste of Bealtaine Cottage today. I have snapped these minutes ago and come straight in to upload and write this blog…taking time en route to give Jack a cracker treat. As you can see he’s fully […]
Read MoreA fabulous sunset on Bealtaine 2015. A Bealtaine filled with much love and sunshine, as visitors came and went all through the day. First arrivals walked up the lane at 10am, with the last leaving at 8pm. At Bealtaine the star cluster known as Pleiades rises in the early morning sky, just before dawn. The Pleiades […]
Read MoreThe 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 […]
Read MoreSummer swells; the Earth heaves a mantle of green over all the land. Swallows dip and turn above tall grass. I see the Goddess rising… Light dances at midnight across the northern horizon. Long swathes of ivy swing from tall branches of goat willow. The Fairy Wood is almost impassable. I see the Goddess rising… […]
Read MoreThe rain taps on the cottage roof as the Eve of Bealtaine draws in. All the dry, warm weather is ended abruptly with heavy, rhythmic rain. This Summer’s Eve will be freshened with Atlantic rain and the dry earth will release scents of green…yes, indeed, colour has a scent! Bealtaine is the […]
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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 […]
Read MoreWinter sunlight turns bare branches, that drip with rain, into fascinating fairy lights. Silver prisms of fantasy, dangling precariously from thin Birch trees. The days of light and dark are confused with bright full moons, illuminating the bare landscape… This is a delightful time of year, as the sun makes its steady progress downwards, ever down… […]
Read MoreStepping 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! Much of my Vegan diet is raw food…I love it! It makes me feel alive and well! The morning is mild and very still…I can hear the birds move through […]
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