An Irish Cottage Garden and Homestead in Spring

The promise of peaches growing outdoors in the west of Ireland, another Bealtaine Cottage first! Blossom on these home grown trees, grown from seed, is looking good. So far, with only the first month behind us, this has been a remarkable Spring! New Bird Boxes have been added to the rich habitat, now in its fifteenth year on these three acres. The interior of the tunnel has been remodelled to create a sanctuary in which to enjoy being in the garden, even in very wet weather! Sanctuaries are much needed in today’s world! The plastic has been washed inside and…

Kitchen Garden in May

May 22, 2017May 22, 2017 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Simple Living · Sustainable Living · vegetable gardenTags: carrots · cauliflower · grow vegetables · kale · organic · peas · Permaculture · potager · tunnel · veg garden8 Comments

Between the Potager Beds, shown here, and the tunnel, there’s lots of food being harvested, even in these early days of Summer! Masses of Carrots here in the shelter of the tunnel and thinning them out is such a tasty task, as I get to eat the smaller ones, complete with vitamin B12. Maybe that’s something you didn’t know…but B12 is found in the soil and why red meat has it in abundance, for cows and sheep are herbivores! If we ate more homegrown veggies, lightly rinsed and raw, our B12 intake would be taken care of! I ran out…

Goddess Permaculture and what it looks like…

December 10, 2016December 10, 2016 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · goddess · Goddess-Permaculture · Organic Garden · PermacultureTags: garden · goddess · growing · Ireland · one woman · open gardens · Permaculture · Planting trees · recycling · smallholding · sustainable living in ireland · tunnel · vegetable8 Comments

In between making soup and working in the gardens today, I’ve made this screen show for your enjoyment… The Bealtaine Project is a full-time labour of love for Colette O’Neill, aiming to encourage and support those wishing to live more sustainably “with” rather than “on”” Mother Earth. To this end, Colette writes, photographs, films and podcasts regularly every day in multi media form. If you enjoy all the stuff shared from Bealtaine Cottage here and on FaceBook, Youtube, Pinterest and Twitter…why not consider a small donation.

Permaculture Potagers, Polytunnel and Gardens

May 14, 2016 Categories: Abundance · agriculture · UncategorizedTags: bees · garden · Mother Earth · Peach Tree · Permaculture · potager beds · tunnel · woodland8 Comments

Walk with me around the production gardens at Bealtaine Cottage on this May evening in the West of Ireland. Potager beds and Peach trees, Polytunnel and Bees…all looking lush on this early Summer evening. The soundtrack of birds is all around us!

Earth Day at Bealtaine Cottage

April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 Categories: Earth · Earth Day · Permaculture · Permaculture in Ireland · Spring · Uncategorized · WoodlandTags: climate change · cottage · Earth Day · garden · Ireland · Mother Earth · nature · Permaculture · planting · trees · tunnel · woodland12 Comments

Photographs (18 exclusive photos taken today) from the gardens of Bealtaine Cottage on EarthDay 2016. Words from the Earth Day network…on Bealtaine Cottage Good Life. We are now entering the 46th year of a movement that continues to inspire, challenge ideas, ignite passion, and motivate people to action. In 1970, the year of our first Earth Day, the movement gave voice to an emerging consciousness, channelling human energy toward environmental issues. Forty-six years later, we continue to lead with ground-breaking ideas and by the power of our example. And so it begins. Today. Right here and right now. Earth Day is more than just a…

As Evening Descends…

March 13, 2016March 13, 2016 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Eco-Living · Eden · Garden · Gardening · Gardens · Growing Food · Organic Garden · Permaculture · Permaculture in Ireland · Permaculture Ireland · UncategorizedTags: birdsong · fruit gardens · potting seedling · potting up strawberries in hanging baskets · recycling · tunnel · using moss in baskets · veggie gardens · west of Ireland18 Comments

Towards the end of a perfect day at Bealtaine Cottage. The gardens are looking well tended as the evening descends. Strawberries have been potted up in hanging baskets and seedlings rescued from the gravel around the cottage and potted up. These will make fine plants for the Summer ahead! And…all the while…the birds sing! Please consider supporting Bealtaine Cottage

Garden in February (Part One)

February 12, 2016February 12, 2016 Categories: Garden · Growing Food · hens · Permaculture · Permaculture Ireland · polytunnel gardening · ponds · Smallholding · UncategorizedTags: awakens · bronze fennel · catkins · Coltsfoot · eggs · euphorbia · fig tree · first herb to flower · frogs · frogspawn · fruit on fig tree · garden in February · gardening year · hazel flowers · hens · herbs in February · laying eggs · Mother Earth · rocket · self-sufficiency for everyone · spring salad · survival handbook · tunnel7 Comments

The year in the garden is now well under way, as Mother Earth awakens in a very visible way…not that she ever slept! Coltsfoot is one of the first herbs to come into flower, for it flowers before it leafs and a very welcome sight this is! Bronze fennel, that most vigorous of herbs and also a brilliant addition to the flower garden, starts to produce tasty leaves that can be added to early Spring salads. Rocket has over-wintered well in the tunnel and forms the base ingredient. Daffodils are now up and beginning to flower. Daffodils on the hill above…

How To Build Your Own Polytunnel!

November 17, 2015November 17, 2015 Categories: homesteading · Organic Garden · Permaculture · polytunnel gardening · UncategorizedTags: all year round growing · build your own polytunnel · design own tunnel · garden · polytunnel · smallholding · tunnel1 Comment

The polytunnel at Bealtaine Cottage has stood for eleven years, retaining it’s structure extremely well and providing all year round space for growing food. The plastic remains “as tight as a drum,” as any visitor to Bealtaine Cottage gardens will attest to. In this blog I will endeavour to give you simple instructions on how to build your own polytunnel from scratch, as was done here… To read more, go to Bealtaine Cottage Good life website at… https://bealtainecottage.com/bealtaine-cottage-good-life/

Renewal

January 4, 2015January 4, 2015 Categories: Bealtaine Cottage · Ireland · new Year Clearout · painting · Permaculture · stuff · Sustainable LivingTags: cleaning a polytunnel · clearing out stuff · hen house · mixing paint · New Year · painting · stuff · tunnel · veranda3 Comments

You may recall how I began clearing out “stuff” before the Midwinter. Since then I have begun to enjoy the freedom of less and less stuff. In keeping with this new sense of space and energy in and around the cottage, I have gone in seek of leftover paint, so as I could begin the task of painting and renewing as much of the cottage and gardens as possible. The veranda wall of the cottage has not seen paint in several years, so a good wash down and paint was begun this afternoon. I scavenged two pots of paint and…